St Luke's has a lot of crime, and the published rate leaves little room for argument. It runs far above the rest of Islington. A good share of it is theft from the person, which happens to people walking around far more than it happens to homes. Violence and sexual offences make up a smaller share than you would expect. Even so, the overall number is high enough that a buyer should take it at face value.
The Metropolitan Police recorded 12,712 crimes in St Luke's in the twelve months from June 2025 to May 2026, a published rate of about 333 for every 1,000 residents. That is roughly 77% above the Islington average.
Islington as a whole comes in at about 188 crimes per 1,000 residents over the same period, set against about 333 here. Islington is hardly a sleepy borough, and St Luke's still stands out from it.
St Luke's is packed. Average density across its neighbourhoods is about 25,100 people per square kilometre, about 9% of households are overcrowded and unemployment is about 4%. That describes the place and explains nothing about the crime on its own. What it does mean is a lot of people, at close quarters, in flats stacked above some of the busiest pavements north of the City.
The mix is where St Luke's breaks from the national pattern. Theft from the person makes up about 17% of crime here, against about 2% across England and Wales, and other theft about 13%, against about 7%. Drugs are about 7%, against 4%. Violence and sexual offences, a broad legal category that includes common assault without injury, account for about 17% against about 35% nationally, so a smaller share of crime here involves anyone getting hurt. Anti-social behaviour, at about 14% against 16%, and shoplifting, at about 10% against 8%, are close to the national shares. Most of the crime here is aimed at what people carry. The people themselves are targeted less often than in most places.
The Metropolitan Police charges a suspect in about 10% of the cases it closes, against about 12% nationally, which puts it 33rd of 42 forces. About 53% of its cases end with no suspect identified. Those are force-wide figures for the whole of London, and they measure what happens after a report, which is a different thing from how likely a crime is in the first place. Across the capital, whoever took your bag is more likely than not to stay a stranger.
Walk the route from any flat you are considering to Old Street station after dark. The figures above can describe the area, but the stretch between your front door and the station is the part you will walk every day.
Safety is a real weakness for St Luke's. The theft-heavy mix makes the place feel less dangerous than its rate, but the rate is the one an insurer will look at.