Photo: Wikipedro · CC BY-SA 4.0Per resident, Besançon records more violent crime than 87% of compared French towns
The rate the grade counts climbed 9% from 2023 to 2025. Across all the graded crimes, Besançon lands on C− (#26 of 28 in Doubs): more crime per resident than 76% of compared French towns, on offenses police and gendarmerie recorded from 2023 to 2025. With 344 cases in 2025, drug dealing reaches 2.9 per 1,000 residents in the town, well above the typical 1.3. Year on year, 12.4 violent crimes and 15.8 incidents of burglary, vehicle theft and damage occur per 1,000 residents.
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 Besançon
More violence than burglary, vehicle theft and damage
Besançon recorded an average of 12.4 violent incidents per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, fewer than in 13% of compared French towns, and 15.8 burglaries, vehicle thefts, thefts from vehicles and acts of criminal damage, fewer than in 38%. Safety Grade ↓
Counted where it happens
73,900 jobs are based in Besançon, for 47,800 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 51 French towns of 82,900 to 160,000 people with a Safety Grade, Besançon is 14th 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.
Inside Besançon’s C− for safety
A fairly firm grade. Built on 10,044 offenses recorded in the graded categories over three years; with a town of 118,489, a few cases more or fewer would move it between C− and C.
Hidden counts: every graded count is published for Besançon.
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: drug dealing (2.9 per 1,000 against 1.3).
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.
Set against 51 towns its size, Besançon is 14th
| # | Town | People | Violence | Homes, vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Versailles Yvelines | 84,095 | 7 | 11.4 | B |
| … | |||||
| 11 | Angers Maine-et-Loire | 159,022 | 9.7 | 17.2 | C |
| 12 | Orléans Loiret | 116,357 | 12.7 | 14.6 | C |
| 13 | Saint-Pierre Réunion | 85,038 | 15.7 | 12.3 | C |
| 14 | Besançon Doubs | 118,489 | 12.4 | 15.8 | C− |
| 15 | Vitry-sur-Seine Val-de-Marne | 93,963 | 8.9 | 19.6 | C− |
| 16 | Paris 11e Paris | 138,170 | 9.3 | 19.5 | C− |
| 17 | Paris 17e Paris | 159,212 | 7.7 | 22.9 | C− |
| … | |||||
| 51 | Lyon 7e Rhône | 88,326 | 10.4 | 56.4 | D− |
Per 1,000 residents a year. Context only: the grade compares Besançon with every compared French town, not just towns its size.
Lowest rate in the graded categories first, 2023–2025 average, with the closest to Besançon and up to four from Doubs.
Besançon, year by year
Violence · per 1,000 residents
Burglary, vehicle theft, damage · per 1,000 residents
| Kind | In the grade | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Family violence | Violence | 451 | 528 | 559 |
| Other physical violence | Violence | 695 | 685 | 645 |
| Sexual violence | Violence | 219 | 273 | 296 |
| Armed robbery | Violence | 18 | 25 | 23 |
| Burglary | Burglary, vehicle theft, damage | 258 | 229 | 207 |
| Vehicle theft | Burglary, vehicle theft, damage | 158 | 224 | 165 |
| Theft from vehicles | Burglary, vehicle theft, damage | 307 | 402 | 371 |
| Criminal damage | Burglary, vehicle theft, damage | 1,105 | 980 | 1,221 |
| Theft without violence | Not in the grade | 1,174 | 1,109 | 1,341 |
| Robbery without a weapon | Not in the grade | 113 | 109 | 106 |
| Theft of vehicle parts | Not in the grade | 114 | 150 | 111 |
| Fraud | Not in the grade | 764 | 680 | 795 |
| Drug use | Not in the grade | 670 | 843 | 905 |
| Drug dealing | Not in the grade | 353 | 227 | 344 |
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).
About 12 in 1,000: recorded violent incidents a year
Each dot is one resident’s share: offenses are counted, not victims, and one person can be the victim of several.
And 16 burglaries, vehicle thefts, thefts from vehicles and acts of criminal damage, and 16 thefts without violence and frauds: a year, 2023–2025 average.
Besançon and the towns around it
| Town | People | Violence | Homes, vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Besançon | 118,489 | 12.4 | 15.8 | C− |
| École-Valentin | 2,579 | 5.9 | 11.5 | B+ |
| Miserey-Salines | 2,661 | —1 | —1 | —1 |
| Thise | 2,994 | —1 | —1 | —1 |
| Les Auxons | 2,533 | —1 | —1 | —1 |
| Saône | 3,195 | 4.3 | 9.9 | A |
| Saint-Vit | 5,133 | 9.6 | 11.7 | B− |
1 Not graded: over 25% of the index would rest on département averages, where SSMSI doesn’t publish small counts.
Besançon’s recorded rate in the graded categories is higher than each of its 3 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 Besançon
Is Besançon safe?
It has more crime per resident than 76% of compared French towns: an average of 12.4 recorded violent incidents and 15.8 recorded burglaries, vehicle thefts, thefts from vehicles and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. It grades C− for safety, #26 of 28 in Doubs. Among the 51 French towns of 82,900 to 160,000 people, it is 14th from the lowest rate. With 73,900 jobs for 47,800 working residents, Besançon 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 Besançon?
The recorded rate in the graded categories rose 9% from 2023 to 2025: 27.1 per 1,000 residents in 2023, 29.4 in 2025. The grade uses the three-year average, so one unusual year moves it less.
What is the most common recorded offense in Besançon?
Theft without violence: 1,341 in 2025, shown for information, not in the grade. Then criminal damage (1,221), drug use (905) and fraud (795).
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 October 30, 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.