Uxbridge is less safe than the borough around it, and most of the difference is nuisance, not danger. Recorded crime runs at about 160 for every 1,000 residents. That is roughly a fifth higher than the rest of Hillingdon. Anti-social behaviour makes up much more of it than usual. Violence makes up less.
The Metropolitan Police Service recorded 8,654 crimes in Uxbridge in the year to May 2026, a published rate of about 160 per 1,000 residents. That is about 22% above the Hillingdon average. Uxbridge is the borough's headquarters town, with two shopping centres, a bus terminus and a pedestrianised high street, so it gets the borough's evening crowds along with its council meetings.
The two figures side by side: Hillingdon as a whole records about 131 crimes per 1,000 residents, against about 160 in Uxbridge. A gap of around 29 crimes for every thousand people is enough to show up on any crime map a buyer looks at.
Uxbridge is a dense town, with about 6,900 people per square kilometre on average across its neighbourhoods. About 4% of working-age residents were unemployed at the 2021 Census, and about 11% of households were overcrowded. That is the background these numbers come from, a busy commercial centre with a lot of people in a small space. None of it explains the crime rate on its own.
The mix of crime matters more than the total. Violence and sexual offences, the largest category almost everywhere, make up about 28% of crime in Uxbridge against 35% across England and Wales. That category covers a wide legal range, including assault with no injury, and here it is below the national share. Anti-social behaviour goes the other way, at about 24% locally against 16% nationally, and that is what most of the gap with the borough is made of. Shoplifting is level with the national share at about 8%. Vehicle crime is slightly higher at 6% against 5%, and public order and other theft are both a point or so lower, at about 6% each against 7% nationally. In the early 1800s the jurist William Arabin claimed people here would steal the teeth out of your mouth, and said he knew from experience. The modern record shows a town that is noisy, not one that robs people.
The noise is the part a buyer should check in person. A house close to the high street or the bus station feels very different on a weekday afternoon and late on a Friday, so visit at both times.
Once a crime is reported, the figures cover the whole of London. The Metropolitan Police Service charges a suspect in about 10% of cases, against about 12% nationally, which puts it 33rd of 42 forces. About 53% of its cases close with no suspect identified. These are force-wide figures for the whole capital and have nothing to do with how safe any particular street is. They answer a different question, about what happens after something goes wrong.
On safety Uxbridge is below par. It is not a dangerous town, but it is busier and rowdier than the rest of the borough, and a buyer should plan on hearing it.