Photo: Wikipedro · CC BY-SA 4.0Pontarlier records drug dealing at 4.3 times the rate of a typical town its size
The crimes the grade counts fell 23% per resident from 2023 to 2025. The overall Safety Grade is B− (#19 of 28 in Doubs), which means close to the middle of compared French towns, judged on offenses police and gendarmerie recorded from 2023 to 2025. Ranked from the least crime, the 421 compared French towns closest in size put it 90th. In a usual year, 11.5 violent crimes and 10.1 incidents of burglary, vehicle theft and damage are logged per 1,000 inhabitants.
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 Pontarlier
Burglary fell sharply
Police and gendarmerie recorded 21 cases of burglary in Pontarlier in 2023 and 14 in 2025. Small counts swing from year to year; the grade averages the three years. Year by year ↓
More violence than burglary, vehicle theft and damage
Pontarlier recorded an average of 11.5 violent incidents per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, fewer than in 18% of compared French towns, and 10.1 burglaries, vehicle thefts, thefts from vehicles and acts of criminal damage, fewer than in 78%. Safety Grade ↓
Among towns its size
Among the 421 French towns of 12,600 to 24,400 people with a Safety Grade, Pontarlier is 90th 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.
What sits behind Pontarlier’s B−
A fairly firm grade. Built on 1,167 offenses recorded in the graded categories over three years; with a town of 18,067, a few cases more or fewer would move it between C+ and B−.
Hidden counts: for armed robbery, this figure isn’t published when it’s small (five or fewer in at least one of the last three years); the index uses the département’s average instead, 0.2% of the index here. What isn’t published ↓
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 (1.2 per 1,000 against 0.3). Not published for 2025: armed robbery and robbery without a weapon.
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 10,000 to 50,000.
Pontarlier, 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 | 115 | 85 | 99 |
| Other physical violence | Violence | 73 | 88 | 52 |
| Sexual violence | Violence | 40 | 43 | 25 |
| Armed robbery | Violence | n.p. | n.p. | n.p. |
| Burglary | Burglary, vehicle theft, damage | 21 | 17 | 14 |
| Vehicle theft | Burglary, vehicle theft, damage | 16 | 7 | 12 |
| Theft from vehicles | Burglary, vehicle theft, damage | 18 | 10 | 13 |
| Criminal damage | Burglary, vehicle theft, damage | 164 | 125 | 130 |
| Theft without violence | Not in the grade | 136 | 116 | 130 |
| Robbery without a weapon | Not in the grade | n.p. | n.p. | n.p. |
| Theft of vehicle parts | Not in the grade | n.p. | 5 | 9 |
| Fraud | Not in the grade | 130 | 101 | 107 |
| Drug use | Not in the grade | 128 | 87 | 70 |
| Drug dealing | Not in the grade | 6 | 12 | 21 |
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).
Among 421 towns its size, Pontarlier ranks 90th for the least graded crime
| # | Town | People | Violence | Homes, vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Montrevault-sur-Èvre Maine-et-Loire | 15,726 | 5 | 8 | A |
| … | |||||
| 87 | Andrésy Yvelines | 13,834 | 6.2 | 15.3 | B− |
| 88 | Guipavas Finistère | 15,538 | 5.6 | 15.9 | B− |
| 89 | Saint-Maurice Val-de-Marne | 14,506 | 6 | 15.6 | B− |
| 90 | Pontarlier Doubs | 18,067 | 11.5 | 10.1 | B− |
| 91 | Fontenay-aux-Roses Hauts-de-Seine | 24,070 | 6 | 15.6 | B− |
| 92 | Vitré Ille-et-Vilaine | 19,365 | 8.2 | 13.4 | B− |
| 93 | Marly-le-Roi Yvelines | 16,756 | 5.3 | 16.3 | B− |
| … | |||||
| 192 | Audincourt Doubs | 14,071 | 11.8 | 14 | C |
| … | |||||
| 421 | Marseille 2e Bouches-du-Rhône | 24,378 | 20.1 | 103.2 | D− |
Per 1,000 residents a year. Context only: the grade compares Pontarlier with every compared French town, not just towns its size.
Lowest rate in the graded categories first, 2023–2025 average, with the closest to Pontarlier and up to four from Doubs.
Crime in Pontarlier 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 10 burglaries, vehicle thefts, thefts from vehicles and acts of criminal damage, and 13 thefts without violence and frauds: a year, 2023–2025 average.
Pontarlier and the towns around it
Pontarlier’s recorded rate in the graded categories is higher than each of its 4 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 Pontarlier
Is Pontarlier safe?
It has more crime per resident than 51% of compared French towns: an average of 11.5 recorded violent incidents and 10.1 recorded burglaries, vehicle thefts, thefts from vehicles and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. It grades B− for safety, #19 of 28 in Doubs. Among the 421 French towns of 12,600 to 24,400 people, it is 90th from the lowest rate. With 11,050 jobs for 8,300 working residents, Pontarlier 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 Pontarlier?
The recorded rate in the graded categories fell 23% from 2023 to 2025: 24.8 per 1,000 residents in 2023, 19.1 in 2025. In a town this size a few dozen cases move the figure, so the grade uses the three-year average.
What is the most common recorded offense in Pontarlier?
Criminal damage: 130 in 2025. Then theft without violence (130), fraud (107) and family violence (99).
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.