Living in Portsmouth with a Family: Where the Terraces, the Green Space and the Lower Crime Are (2026)

Portsmouth is a city of terraced houses. Of the 1,847 standard sales in the year to August 2026, 1,121 were terraces, at a median of £263,000. Semis are rarer (250 sales) and cost more, at £339,750. For most families buying here, the question is which terraced streets to look at.

The city as a whole records more crime than England: 124.3 crimes and anti-social behaviour incidents per 1,000 residents, against 94.1. That figure hides a wide spread, from 42.9 in Drayton and Farlington to 256.0 in Charles Dickens, the city-centre ward. This guide compares Portsmouth’s wards on house prices, recorded crime, green space, schools and stations, then looks at Fareham, Havant and Gosport just outside the city.

The short answer

• Lowest crime in the city, at a higher price: Drayton and Farlington, on the mainland, recorded 42.9 per 1,000, about a third of the city rate. Semis there sold for £405,000 and terraces for £340,000.
• Below the England rate with terraces under £290,000: Baffins (83.4, terraces £286,000), Eastney and Craneswater (90.8, £280,000) and Milton (93.4, £268,000), all on the east side of Portsea Island.
• The cheapest terraces with crime close to England’s: Fratton, at £220,000 and 97.6 per 1,000.
• Just outside the city: Fareham borough recorded half Portsmouth’s crime rate (59.3) with semis at about the same price (£345,000). Portchester Castle and Havant’s Cowplain are among the lowest-crime areas near the city.

How Portsmouth’s wards compare

Portsmouth has 14 wards. The table leaves out Charles Dickens, which covers the city centre and Portsmouth and Southsea station and recorded 256.0 per 1,000. The rest are ordered from the lowest recorded crime to the highest. Prices are medians for standard sales in the 12 months to August 2026; a dash means fewer than 10 sales.

Crime is recorded crime and anti-social behaviour per 1,000 residents. Across Portsmouth it was 124.3, and across England 94.1, counting the areas whose police force published all 12 months. Five wards were below the England rate and nine of the 13 in the table were below the city rate.

The mainland north: the lowest crime, and the highest prices

Drayton and Farlington is the stand-out on crime: 42.9 per 1,000, less than half the England rate and the only Portsmouth ward below 80. It is also where Portsmouth’s family houses cost most, with semis at £405,000 and terraces at £340,000. Springfield School is inside the ward.

Its neighbours on the mainland are different. Cosham, which has Cosham station, recorded 144.1. Paulsgrove, to the west, had semis at £265,000, among the cheapest in the city, and recorded 101.4, a little above England’s rate; Castle View Academy is inside it.

The east of the island: below England’s rate at a typical price

Three wards on the eastern side of Portsea Island recorded less crime than England with terraces under £290,000:

• Baffins (83.4, terraces £286,000) has the most green space of any ward in the city: just over a third of its land is public green space in Ordnance Survey’s mapping. Miltoncross Academy is inside it.
• Milton (93.4) had the most terraced sales of any ward (160) at £268,000. Fratton station is inside Milton’s boundary.
• Eastney and Craneswater (90.8, terraces £280,000) runs down to the south-east of the island. Its semi median (£650,000, 16 sales) reflects a few large houses rather than a typical family home.

Hilsea, at the north end of the island, was similar on crime (92.1) and price (terraces £300,000), with Hilsea station, about a quarter of its land as green space, and Trafalgar School and UTC Portsmouth inside it.

Fratton, Copnor and Southsea: more affordable, more mixed

Fratton had the cheapest terraces in the table (£220,000), with crime close to England’s (97.6) and The Portsmouth Academy inside it. Copnor (103.7, terraces £262,500) has two state secondaries inside it, Admiral Lord Nelson School and Mayfield School.

Central Southsea recorded 101.0, with terraces at £272,500. St Jude and St Thomas, which take in more of Southsea’s seafront and the Old Portsmouth end of the island, recorded more (158.3 and 162.5) and sold more flats than houses: 100 of St Jude’s 156 sales were flats.

Just outside the city: Fareham, Havant and Gosport

All three neighbouring boroughs recorded less crime than Portsmouth. They differ on price and on getting into the city.

• Fareham, to the north-west, recorded about half Portsmouth’s rate. Portchester Castle recorded 43.3 per 1,000 with semis at £357,500 and Portchester station inside it.
• Havant, to the east, is closer to Portsmouth on both price and crime. Cowplain (42.8, semis £325,000) and Purbrook (52.2, semis £385,000) recorded the least crime; Emsworth (54.8) has its own station and dearer semis (£400,000). Leigh Park’s two wards recorded 109.7 and 136.3.
• Gosport, across the harbour, has the cheapest terraces of the three (£245,000) and no railway station; the ferry to Portsmouth Harbour leaves from Gosport Ferry Terminal. Alverstoke recorded 44.1 with semis at £371,500, and Hardway 53.0 with terraces at £251,500.

Schools: what the data can and cannot tell you

We do not rank Portsmouth’s schools. Ofsted stopped giving single overall grades in September 2024, so headline grades no longer compare like with like. The table shows how many state secondary schools are inside each ward; Charles Dickens, left out of the table, has two more, Ark Charter Academy and St Edmund’s Catholic School. UTC Portsmouth, in Hilsea, takes students from age 14.

A school inside a ward is not a place: admission depends on each school’s oversubscription criteria, and Catholic and church schools may give priority on faith. Read each school’s latest report and check last year’s allocations for the street you are viewing.

What to check before viewing

1. Read the neighbourhood report for the ward. Portsmouth’s wards are compact, but Copnor’s rate was more than twice Drayton and Farlington’s, about a mile and a half away.
2. Check school allocations. Look at where children in the street you are viewing were offered places last year.
3. Time the journey you will make. Getting on and off Portsea Island at rush hour, or the Gosport ferry, changes how far apart places feel.
4. Visit at school-run time and in the evening. Streets near Fratton Park and the Southsea seafront are busier at weekends and on match days.

Which area suits your family?

• Lowest crime, larger budget: Drayton and Farlington.
• Below England’s crime rate at a typical terraced price: Baffins, Milton or Eastney and Craneswater.
• Cheapest terraces with crime close to England’s: Fratton.
• Lower crime just outside the city: Portchester Castle in Fareham, or Cowplain and Purbrook in Havant.
• Cheaper terraces outside the city: Gosport, if the lack of a station works for you.

FAQs

Which area of Portsmouth has the lowest crime?

Drayton and Farlington, with 42.9 recorded crimes and anti-social behaviour incidents per 1,000 residents in the 12 months to August 2026. Baffins (83.4) and Eastney and Craneswater (90.8) were next. The Portsmouth rate was 124.3.

Is Southsea a good place to live with a family?

Southsea’s wards are mixed. Central Southsea recorded 101.0 per 1,000, a little above England’s rate, with terraced houses at £272,500. St Jude and St Thomas, nearer the seafront and Old Portsmouth, recorded 158.3 and 162.5 and sold more flats than houses. Eastney and Craneswater, at the eastern end of the seafront, recorded 90.8 with terraces at £280,000.

Where is the cheapest family house in Portsmouth?

Fratton had the cheapest terraced houses, at a median of £220,000, with recorded crime of 97.6 per 1,000, close to England’s rate. The cheapest semis were in Nelson (£247,500, from only 10 sales) and Paulsgrove (£265,000).

Methodology & Sources

• Areas: Portsmouth’s 14 neighbourhood reports, which follow the city’s wards. Charles Dickens (the city centre) is left out of the table. Fareham, Havant and Gosport are shown as whole boroughs, with selected wards.
• House prices: HM Land Registry standard residential sales, September 2025 to August 2026. Medians by home type need at least 10 sales.
• Crime: police.uk recorded crime and anti-social behaviour, September 2025 to August 2026, per 1,000 residents (2021 Census).
• Schools: state secondary schools whose address is inside each ward, from the latest Ofsted register. No grades are used.
• Green space: share of land in OS Open Greenspace.
• Part of the city: direction of each ward’s centre from the city centre; the three wards north of Portsea Island are marked as mainland.
• Stations: NaPTAN railway stations inside each ward. Portsmouth Harbour station is on the harbour’s edge, just outside the ward boundaries.