Yes. Heathfield is one of the calmer corners of an already calm district. Crime runs well below the Wealden average. Unemployment is close to zero. Hardly any homes are overcrowded. For a market town, it is as quiet as they come.
Sussex Police's published figures for June 2025 to May 2026 put Heathfield's crime rate at about 42 per 1,000 residents, roughly 24% below the average for Wealden as a whole. That comes to 459 recorded crimes over the twelve months, across the whole town. A town of this size will have some crime. Here it stays well below the level of the district around it.
For comparison, the Wealden-wide rate over the same period was about 55 per 1,000 against Heathfield's 42. Wealden is not a district anyone associates with late-night police chases, and Heathfield still comes in under its average.
The published figures also describe the kind of place behind these numbers. Built-up Heathfield averages about 3,100 people per square kilometre, which is town density, not village scattering. About 2% of residents are unemployed and about 2% of homes are overcrowded. The town is busy enough to have a high street and settled enough that few people are squeezed in or out of work. Those are descriptions of the neighbourhood, not explanations for the crime figures.
The mix of crime deserves a caveat before any number: the totals are small enough that a handful of incidents can move a category's share by several points, so treat this as one year's snapshot and not a fixed characteristic of the town. Violence and sexual offences made up about 38% of the total, against about 35% nationally, so close to normal. That category is the largest almost everywhere and covers a wide legal range, including common assault that causes no injury. Anti-social behaviour was about 24%, against 16% nationally, the one share that clearly sits above the norm. Public order offences were about 8% against 7%, criminal damage and arson about 8% against 7%, shoplifting about 5% against 8% and other theft about 5% against 7%. In other words, Heathfield's crime runs more to nuisance than to theft. That fits a town where the most common complaint is noise from next door, not a stolen car.
After a crime is reported, the numbers are less comforting. Across the whole force area, Sussex Police charges a suspect in about 10% of cases, against about 12% nationally, which puts it 35th of 42 forces. About 48% of cases are closed with no suspect identified. This is a force-wide figure, not Heathfield's own, and it measures what happens after a crime rather than how often one happens. The chance of something happening to you here is low. If it does happen, the chance of anyone being charged is not much higher.
Safety is one of Heathfield's real strengths. Crime sits well below the district average, and most of what is reported is nuisance, not danger.