Photo: Chaitanya · CC BY-SA 4.0Recorded crime per resident is higher in Caen than in 88% of compared French towns
It has more violent crime than 86% of compared French towns, and more burglary, vehicle theft and damage than 85%. Counting offenses police and gendarmerie recorded in Caen from 2023 to 2025, it grades D for safety: #41 of 46 in Calvados. In a usual year, 12.2 violent crimes and 21.0 incidents of burglary, vehicle theft and damage are logged per 1,000 inhabitants. The rate the grade counts held about level from 2023 to 2025.
Offenses recorded per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025 average (INSEE population of each year). Violence, and burglaries, vehicle thefts, thefts from vehicles and criminal damage, count equally.
What stands out about safety in Caen
Counted where it happens
78,300 jobs are based in Caen, for 44,000 working residents. Offenses are counted in the commune where they happen, then divided by its number of residents, so a town people come into for work and shops records more per resident than one they leave. How to read it ↓
Among towns its size
Among the 54 French towns of 76,600 to 147,700 people with a Safety Grade, Caen is 25th from the lowest recorded rate per resident. Towns its size ↓
Written from the SSMSI and INSEE data on this page. Figures are offenses police and gendarmerie recorded, not convictions.
Caen: D for safety, and why
A firm grade. Built on 10,894 offenses recorded in the graded categories over three years; with a town of 109,400, a few cases more or fewer would move it between D and D.
Hidden counts: every graded count is published for Caen.
Per resident, against the 4,295 compared French towns with a Safety Grade.
What police and gendarmerie recorded most in 2025
Well above the median of towns its size: sexual violence (3.4 per 1,000 against 2.2).
Theft without violence, robbery without a weapon, theft of vehicle parts, fraud and drug offenses are shown for information but left out of the Safety Grade, which counts violence plus burglaries, vehicle thefts, thefts from vehicles and criminal damage per resident.
Per 1,000 residents in 2025; the tick is the median of the graded French towns of 50,000 or more.
Crime in Caen per 1,000 residents
Each dot is one resident’s share: offenses are counted, not victims, and one person can be the victim of several.
And 21 burglaries, vehicle thefts, thefts from vehicles and acts of criminal damage, and 21 thefts without violence and frauds: a year, 2023–2025 average.
The graded rate, 2023 to 2025: about level
Violence · per 1,000 residents
Burglary, vehicle theft, damage · per 1,000 residents
| Kind | In the grade | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Family violence | Violence | 333 | 322 | 394 |
| Other physical violence | Violence | 709 | 592 | 655 |
| Sexual violence | Violence | 284 | 308 | 367 |
| Armed robbery | Violence | 12 | 11 | 12 |
| Burglary | Burglary, vehicle theft, damage | 293 | 265 | 261 |
| Vehicle theft | Burglary, vehicle theft, damage | 197 | 199 | 151 |
| Theft from vehicles | Burglary, vehicle theft, damage | 801 | 654 | 669 |
| Criminal damage | Burglary, vehicle theft, damage | 1,199 | 1,010 | 1,196 |
| Theft without violence | Not in the grade | 1,580 | 1,625 | 1,624 |
| Robbery without a weapon | Not in the grade | 121 | 90 | 97 |
| Theft of vehicle parts | Not in the grade | 103 | 88 | 91 |
| Fraud | Not in the grade | 721 | 663 | 693 |
| Drug use | Not in the grade | 707 | 612 | 811 |
| Drug dealing | Not in the grade | 71 | 55 | 62 |
Counts mix units, as SSMSI publishes them: victims for violence, offenses for burglary and damage, vehicles for vehicle theft. That’s why the page never adds them into one “total crimes”.
Offenses recorded each year. n.p.: not published (small: five or fewer in at least one of the last three years).
Towns its size: Caen comes 25th of 54
| # | Town | People | Violence | Homes, vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Le Tampon Réunion | 82,579 | 10.5 | 6.9 | B+ |
| … | |||||
| 22 | Nanterre Hauts-de-Seine | 97,783 | 9.9 | 20.9 | C− |
| 23 | Dunkerque Nord | 86,263 | 12.9 | 19.1 | C− |
| 24 | Brest Finistère | 142,346 | 10.9 | 21.4 | D |
| 25 | Caen Calvados | 109,400 | 12.2 | 21 | D |
| 26 | Limoges Haute-Vienne | 129,937 | 10.8 | 22.5 | D |
| 27 | Paris 12e Paris | 138,024 | 12.5 | 21.5 | D |
| 28 | Argenteuil Val-d'Oise | 106,130 | 11.5 | 22.9 | D |
| … | |||||
| 54 | Lyon 7e Rhône | 88,326 | 10.4 | 56.4 | D− |
Per 1,000 residents a year. Context only: the grade compares Caen with every compared French town, not just towns its size.
Lowest rate in the graded categories first, 2023–2025 average, with the closest to Caen and up to four from Calvados.
Caen and the towns around it
| Town | People | Violence | Homes, vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Caen | 109,400 | 12.2 | 21 | D |
| Hérouville-Saint-Clair | 23,470 | 10.5 | 12.7 | C+ |
| Louvigny | 2,612 | —1 | —1 | —1 |
| Fleury-sur-Orne | 5,941 | 6 | 14.9 | B− |
| Bretteville-sur-Odon | 4,494 | 4.8 | 8.6 | A |
| Cormelles-le-Royal | 5,377 | 2.8 | 11.7 | A− |
| Mondeville | 10,331 | 8.6 | 22.2 | C− |
1 Not graded: over 25% of the index would rest on département averages, where SSMSI doesn’t publish small counts.
Caen’s recorded rate in the graded categories is higher than each of its 5 graded neighbors’.
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025 average.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Where offenses happen, not where victims live. SSMSI counts each offense in the commune where police or gendarmerie recorded it happening. Towns with shops, stations, a hospital or nightlife record more per resident, and visitors are part of that count but not of the population it is divided by.
- An index, not a total. The kinds are counted in different units (victims, offenses, vehicles), so the grade adds their rates per 1,000 residents into an index and never shows a “total crimes” or a chance of being a victim.
- Hidden counts. SSMSI doesn’t publish a commune’s count when it’s small (five or fewer in at least one of the last three years). In its place it gives the average among the département’s communes whose count is hidden; the grade uses that average, never zero, and a town gets no Safety Grade when over a quarter of its index would come from such averages.
- Recorded, not all crime. Only offenses reported to or found by police and gendarmerie are counted. Reporting rates differ by kind: most vehicle thefts are reported, much family and sexual violence isn’t.
Questions about safety in Caen
Is Caen safe?
It has more crime per resident than 88% of compared French towns: an average of 12.2 recorded violent incidents and 21 recorded burglaries, vehicle thefts, thefts from vehicles and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. It grades D for safety, #41 of 46 in Calvados. Among the 54 French towns of 76,600 to 147,700 people, it is 25th from the lowest rate. With 78,300 jobs for 44,000 working residents, Caen draws people from neighboring communes, and crimes are counted in the commune where they happen, then divided by its number of residents.
Is crime going up in Caen?
The recorded rate in the graded categories held steady from 2023 to 2025: 35 per 1,000 residents in 2023, 33.9 in 2025. The grade uses the three-year average, so one unusual year moves it less.
What is the most common recorded offense in Caen?
Theft without violence: 1,624 in 2025, shown for information, not in the grade. Then criminal damage (1,196), drug use (811) and fraud (693).
Sources: SSMSI (Interior Ministry), recorded crime by commune, 2023–2025 (base communale de la délinquance enregistrée, 2026 edition) · INSEE, legal populations for each year · INSEE, census 2023 (jobs and working residents) · IGN Admin Express (boundaries) · TownRatings grades: our own summary of the data, ranking French towns against each other only, updated November 4, 2026. Under the Licence Ouverte / Open Licence 2.0 (Etalab).
Contains public sector information under the Licence Ouverte / Open Licence 2.0 (Etalab): INSEE, DGFiP, the Interior Ministry’s statistics service (SSMSI), the Ministry of Education (DEPP), the Health Ministry’s statistics service (DREES) and the Housing Ministry (Carte des loyers). Commune boundaries: IGN Admin Express.