Old Basing is safe, in the unexciting way most buyers are hoping for. Crime runs at about half the borough rate. Almost nobody is out of work. Overcrowded homes barely register. Whatever reputation the wider Basingstoke area carries stops at the village sign.
Police figures for the year to May 2026 give Old Basing a published rate of about 37 crimes per 1,000 residents, about 49% below the Basingstoke and Deane average. Over those twelve months, 184 crimes were recorded across the area. For a village of this size, that's a year's worth of police work most districts would take gladly.
For comparison, the rate across Basingstoke and Deane as a whole was about 72 per 1,000 over the same period. That puts Old Basing's figure of about 37 at roughly half. The two numbers side by side matter more than "below average" on its own, because the borough average includes Basingstoke town centre, and Old Basing is living a different life a short drive away.
The texture of the place fits the numbers. Population density averages about 1,800 people per square kilometre, which is suburban-village rather than town. Unemployment is about 2%, and only about 1% of households are overcrowded. None of that causes low crime on its own, but it describes a settled, owner-occupied, not-very-crowded place, which is the kind of place that tends to produce short crime reports.
The mix of crime needs care, because the totals are small enough that a handful of incidents moves any share by several points. With that caveat, violence and sexual offences made up about 45% of recorded crime in the year to May 2026, against about 35% nationally. That category is the largest almost everywhere and covers a wide legal range, including common assault with no injury, so on a total of 184 it's a small number of cases, not a pattern. Anti-social behaviour made up about 18%, close to the national 16%. Public order offences were about 11%, against about 7% nationally. Criminal damage and arson, other theft and vehicle crime sat at about 7%, 7% and 5%, each almost exactly in line with the national shares. None of this is a settled characteristic of the village; one busy weekend next year could rearrange it.
What happens after a crime is reported is a separate question, and the answer sits with the force, not the village. Hampshire Constabulary charged a suspect in about 9% of cases over the year to May 2026, against about 12% nationally, placing it 38th of 42 forces. About 35% of its cases were closed with no suspect identified. That's a force-wide figure about outcomes, not a measure of how safe Old Basing is, and it says nothing about any street in it. The honest reading is that crime here is rare, and when it does happen, the odds of someone being charged are lower than the national average.
Safety is one of Old Basing's strongest cards: crime at about half the borough rate, in a quiet, settled village. Buyers after a low-crime village near Basingstoke will find it here, and the police clear-up rate is the part of the picture to be realistic about.