Yes, and safer than the district around it. Crime runs well below the Horsham average. Violence makes up about the same share as anywhere else. Unemployment and overcrowding barely register. What gets reported here leans towards nuisance, and residents in quieter places tend to be the ones who pick up the phone.
Police data for the year from June 2025 to May 2026 puts Southwater's crime rate at about 41 recorded crimes per 1,000 residents, roughly 29% below the Horsham district average. Over the same twelve months, 581 crimes were recorded across the area. Both are published figures and should be read as they stand. The rate is calculated on its own population base, so dividing one number by a headcount won't reproduce it, however tempting that is at two in the morning on a property portal.
For comparison, the Horsham district as a whole runs at about 57 crimes per 1,000 residents over the same period, against Southwater's 41. Horsham isn't a trouble spot by most standards, so coming in this far below it puts the village among the quieter corners of a quiet district.
The setting makes those numbers easier to picture. Average population density across the area is about 3,400 people per square kilometre, which is suburban rather than rural. Unemployment is about 2% and overcrowding about 2%. None of that causes a crime rate, but it describes a neighbourhood of settled households with room to live in, and most estate agents would kill for that description.
Violence and sexual offences are the largest category at about 34% of recorded crime, against about 35% across England and Wales. That's essentially the national share, and the category is a broad statutory grouping that includes common assault with no injury, so the headline sounds worse than it is anywhere you look. Anti-social behaviour is where Southwater stands out, at about 22% locally against 16% nationally. Criminal damage and arson make up about 10% against 7%, and public order offences about 9% against 7%. Other theft sits at about 7% against 7%, and vehicle crime at 5% against 5%, both level with the national share. So the local mix leans a few points towards nuisance and damage. That's the kind of crime that gets a residents' group started, not the kind that gets a street avoided.
Recording a crime and getting a result are two separate questions. Sussex Police charges a suspect in about 10% of cases, against about 12% nationally, which ranks it 35th of 42 forces. About 48% of its cases close with no suspect identified. Those are force-wide figures covering all of Sussex, not Southwater's own, and they say nothing about how safe the village is. They answer the question of what happens after you report something, and the honest answer is that often nothing much does.
Safety is one of Southwater's real strengths. The crime rate sits well below a district that's already calm, and what does get recorded is more irritating than frightening.