Photo: Georgestib · CC0Bessèges stands out for other physical violence: 5.2 times the rate of a typical town its size
It has less burglary, vehicle theft and damage than 67% of compared French towns, but less violent crime than only 12%. Year on year, 12.8 violent crimes and 11.6 incidents of burglary, vehicle theft and damage occur per 1,000 residents. Bessèges’s overall Safety Grade is C+ (#42 of 60 in Gard): more crime per resident than 63% of compared French towns, on offenses police and gendarmerie recorded from 2023 to 2025. Per resident, the graded crimes were up 36% 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 Bessèges
Other physical violence rose sharply
Police and gendarmerie recorded 15 cases of other physical violence in Bessèges in 2023 and 25 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
Bessèges recorded an average of 12.8 violent incidents per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, fewer than in 12% of compared French towns, and 11.6 burglaries, vehicle thefts, thefts from vehicles and acts of criminal damage, fewer than in 67%. Safety Grade ↓
Among towns its size
Among the 1,001 French towns of 1,800 to 3,500 people with a Safety Grade, Bessèges is 788th 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 Bessèges’s C+ for safety
A less sure grade than most. Built on 166 offenses recorded in the graded categories over three years; with a town of 2,606, a few cases more or fewer would move it between C− and B. 13.0% of the index uses the département’s average for crimes not published here, over 10%.
Hidden counts: for sexual violence, burglary, vehicle theft and theft from vehicles, 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, 13.0% of the index here. What isn’t published ↓
Per resident, against the 4,295 compared French towns with a Safety Grade.
Bessèges, 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 | 10 | 12 | 18 |
| Other physical violence | Violence | 15 | 14 | 25 |
| Sexual violence | Violence | n.p. | n.p. | n.p. |
| Armed robbery | Violence | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Burglary | Burglary, vehicle theft, damage | n.p. | n.p. | n.p. |
| Vehicle theft | Burglary, vehicle theft, damage | n.p. | n.p. | n.p. |
| Theft from vehicles | Burglary, vehicle theft, damage | n.p. | n.p. | n.p. |
| Criminal damage | Burglary, vehicle theft, damage | 25 | 19 | 28 |
| Theft without violence | Not in the grade | 19 | 19 | 11 |
| 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 | n.p. |
| Fraud | Not in the grade | 17 | 7 | 12 |
| Drug use | Not in the grade | 11 | 10 | n.p. |
| Drug dealing | Not in the grade | n.p. | n.p. | n.p. |
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).
What police and gendarmerie recorded most in 2025
Well above the median of towns its size: other physical violence (9.6 per 1,000 against 1.9), family violence (6.9 per 1,000 against 3.4) and criminal damage (10.7 per 1,000 against 6.6). None recorded in 2025: armed robbery. Not published for 2025: sexual violence, burglary, vehicle theft, theft from vehicles, robbery without a weapon, theft of vehicle parts, drug use and drug dealing.
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 2,500 to 10,000.
Towns its size: Bessèges comes 788th of 1,001
| # | Town | People | Violence | Homes, vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Barbazan-Debat Hautes-Pyrénées | 3,478 | 1 | 6.5 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 135 | Aigues-Vives Gard | 3,331 | 2.5 | 10.6 | A |
| … | |||||
| 184 | Bernis Gard | 3,286 | 4.1 | 9.9 | A |
| … | |||||
| 200 | Saint-Laurent-des-Arbres Gard | 2,996 | 3.9 | 10.3 | A |
| … | |||||
| 294 | Le Cailar Gard | 2,578 | 2.5 | 13 | A− |
| … | |||||
| 785 | Barjols Var | 2,984 | 10 | 14.3 | C+ |
| 786 | Saint-Médard-de-Guizières Gironde | 2,438 | 13.9 | 10.4 | C+ |
| 787 | Fretin Nord | 3,214 | 5.3 | 19 | C+ |
| 788 | Bessèges Gard | 2,606 | 12.8 | 11.6 | C+ |
| 789 | Miramont-de-Guyenne Lot-et-Garonne | 3,081 | 13.4 | 11 | C+ |
| 790 | Saint-Étienne-de-Saint-Geoirs Isère | 3,425 | 7.2 | 17.3 | C+ |
| 791 | Capinghem Nord | 2,728 | 3.8 | 20.7 | C+ |
| … | |||||
| 1001 | Roissy-en-France Val-d'Oise | 2,674 | 120.7 | 203.7 | D− |
Per 1,000 residents a year. Context only: the grade compares Bessèges with every compared French town, not just towns its size.
Lowest rate in the graded categories first, 2023–2025 average, with the closest to Bessèges and up to four from Gard.
Crime in Bessèges 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 12 burglaries, vehicle thefts, thefts from vehicles and acts of criminal damage, and 11 thefts without violence and frauds: a year, 2023–2025 average.
Bessèges and the towns around it
| Town | People | Violence | Homes, vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bessèges | 2,606 | 12.8 | 11.6 | C+ |
| Saint-Ambroix | 3,445 | 15.8 | 12.8 | C− |
| La Grand-Combe | 4,783 | 14.5 | 17.5 | C− |
| Rousson | 4,456 | 4.8 | 6.5 | A+ |
| Les Vans Ardèche | 2,662 | 11 | 14.7 | C |
| Saint-Julien-les-Rosiers | 3,533 | —1 | —1 | —1 |
| Salindres | 3,648 | 8.5 | 11.9 | B |
1 Not graded: over 25% of the index would rest on département averages, where SSMSI doesn’t publish small counts.
2 of its 5 graded neighbors have a lower recorded rate in the graded categories than Bessèges.
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 Bessèges
Is Bessèges safe?
It has more crime per resident than 63% of compared French towns: an average of 12.8 recorded violent incidents and 11.6 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, #42 of 60 in Gard. Among the 1,001 French towns of 1,800 to 3,500 people, it is 788th from the lowest rate. With 850 jobs for 600 working residents, Bessèges 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 Bessèges?
The recorded rate in the graded categories rose 36% from 2023 to 2025: 22.3 per 1,000 residents in 2023, 30.3 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 Bessèges?
Criminal damage: 28 in 2025. Then other physical violence (25), family violence (18) and fraud (12).
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.