Yes, and the figures leave very little to worry about. Crime sits about a third under the district rate. Violence makes up a smaller share of it than the national norm. Burglary is a minor part of the total. Anyone scrolling crime maps for excitement will leave Petworth disappointed.
The published crime rate for Petworth in the year to May 2026 was about 53 crimes per 1,000 residents, roughly 35% below the average for the Chichester district. Police recorded 174 crimes over those twelve months, running from June 2025 to May 2026. For a town sitting where two main roads cross, that's a modest total.
The district comparison looks like this in numbers: about 53 per 1,000 in Petworth against about 81 per 1,000 across the Chichester local authority area as a whole. The district itself isn't a hotspot, and the town still comes in well under it. That gap is the main reason to call the place safe.
As for the kind of place producing these figures, Petworth averages about 2,420 people per square kilometre. That's a compact town centre rather than scattered farmhouses. Unemployment stands at about 2%, and about 3% of households are overcrowded. These describe the neighbourhood's character rather than explaining its crime figures. It's a settled, uncrowded town, and it doesn't look like the setting for a gritty crime drama.
The crime mix needs care, because the totals are low enough that a handful of incidents moves any share by several points. With that caveat, in the same twelve months anti-social behaviour made up about 31% of recorded crime, against about 16% nationally. Violence and sexual offences made up about 22%, against about 35% nationally. That's a broad legal category that includes common assault without injury, and it's the biggest category almost everywhere. Here it runs well under the national share. Criminal damage and arson came to about 13% against 7% nationally. Other theft and public order each came to about 10%, against about 7% nationally for each. Burglary accounted for about 5%, against about 4% nationally, which is close to the national figure. Read the mix as the pattern of one small year, not a permanent trait: the local tilt is towards nuisance and damage rather than harm to people.
After a crime is reported, charging decisions sit with the force, not the town. Sussex Police charges a suspect in about 10% of cases, against about 12% nationally, which places it 35th of 42 forces. About 48% of its cases close with no suspect identified. That's the honest answer to whether someone will be caught, and it's a county-wide statistic that says nothing about how safe Petworth's streets are. The crime rate answers that. The charge rate answers what happens next, and the answer is often nothing.
Safety is one of Petworth's real strengths: a town where crime runs well below an already calm district, and where the bigger risk is your car getting scratched rather than you getting hurt.