Harlow is about as safe as you'd expect for a town of its size. Its crime rate comes in a little under the district's. Violence makes up a slightly bigger share of recorded crime than the national mix. Anti-social behaviour makes up a noticeably smaller share. Nothing in the record marks Harlow out as unusually safe or unusually unsafe.
In the twelve months to May 2026, the national police crime records put Harlow's rate at about 106 crimes per 1,000 residents, from about 11,000 recorded offences. That's roughly 4% below the average for the Harlow council area. The rate is published against a fixed statistical population, so it isn't the same thing as the offence count divided by the number of people who live here.
The district rate over the same year was about 110 per 1,000, against Harlow's 106. The town makes up most of its own district, so the two figures were always going to be close. The gap is a few crimes per thousand people. Read it as Harlow being in line with its district, with a slight edge, and not as a clean bill of health.
Harlow is a dense place. The average neighbourhood holds about 6,250 people per square kilometre. Unemployment was about 3% at the 2021 census and about 8% of households were overcrowded. A new town built close together around neighbourhood centres and a busy town centre will log more incidents than a scattered village of the same population, because more people pass through the same few places.
Violence and sexual offences make up about 39% of recorded crime in Harlow, against about 35% nationally. The category is a broad legal grouping that takes in common assault without injury, and it's the largest category almost everywhere. Anti-social behaviour is about 10% here against 16% nationally. Criminal damage and arson make up about 8% against 7%, public order about 8% against 7%, shoplifting about 8% against 8% and other theft about 7% against 7%. Most of the mix is close to the national pattern. The town that built Britain's first pedestrian precinct records a smaller share of anti-social behaviour than the national pattern, which isn't what the precinct jokes would lead anyone to expect. For a particular street, the national police crime site's street-level map shows what was recorded there month by month. It's a better guide than the town-wide rate.
Essex Police charges a suspect in about 11% of cases, against about 12% nationally, putting it 28th of 42 forces. About 37% of the force's cases are closed with no suspect identified. That's a figure for the whole force, from Harlow to the rest of the county, and it describes what happens after a crime is reported, not how likely one is.
Harlow comes out as ordinary on safety. That's a fair result for a dense town, and buyers looking for something better will have to look for it street by street.