Yes, Streatham is safe by London standards, and well below its own borough. Crime runs about a third under the Lambeth rate. Nuisance and car crime make up more of it than usual. Violence makes up less. The district's reputation was mostly built on the borough's headline numbers.
In the year from June 2025 to May 2026, the published crime rate for Streatham was about 98 crimes per 1,000 residents, from 10,421 recorded crimes. That rate sits roughly 36% below the Lambeth average over the same twelve months.
Across Lambeth as a whole, the rate was about 151 per 1,000, against Streatham's 98. Sharing a borough with busier, more central neighbourhoods flatters Streatham's figure, though it would read decently without the flattery.
The district is crowded. It averages about 12,400 people per square kilometre, about 4% of residents were unemployed at the 2021 Census, and about 11% of households were overcrowded. That is the texture of a dense, working part of inner south London, with a lot of neighbours within earshot of each other.
The mix of crime is where Streatham differs from the national picture. Violence and sexual offences, a broad legal grouping that includes common assault without injury, made up about 27% of recorded crime, against about 35% across England and Wales, so that share is lower here. Anti-social behaviour was about 23%, against 16% nationally, and vehicle crime about 9%, against 5%. Shoplifting was level at about 8% locally and nationally, other theft about 8% against 7%, and public order offences about 5% against 7%. Streatham's trouble leans towards being kept up at night more than being knocked down.
What happens after a report is a separate question, and it is answered force-wide. Over the same year, the Metropolitan Police Service charged a suspect in about 10% of cases, against about 12% nationally, which puts it 33rd of 42 forces. About 53% of its cases were closed with no suspect identified. Those are the Met's figures across London, and no amount of good behaviour in Streatham will move them.
Safety is one of Streatham's real strengths, with a crime rate well under the borough's and a mix weighted towards nuisance over harm.