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Safety in Nîmes · SSMSI, 2023–2025

Per resident, Nîmes records more crime than 86% of compared French towns

Counting from the least crime, it is 16th of the 37 compared French towns nearest it in size. That puts it at D for safety, judged on offenses police and gendarmerie recorded in Nîmes from 2023 to 2025: #56 of 60 in Gard. Per resident, the graded crimes were down 7% from 2023 to 2025. Annual rates stand at 11.3 violent crimes and 20.9 incidents of burglary, vehicle theft and damage for every thousand residents.

C⁻Violence DBurglary, vehicle theft, damage #56of 60 in Gard 16thof 37 towns its size

Violence

11.3

recorded per 1,000 residents a year · in the grade

Burglary, vehicle theft, damage

20.9

burglaries, vehicle thefts, thefts from vehicles, criminal damage · in the grade

Theft and fraud

21.3

theft without violence, fraud, per 1,000 residents a year · Not in the grade

Drug use

recorded offenses per 1,000 residents a year · Not in the grade

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 · In brief

What stands out about safety in Nîmes

1.6jobs per working resident: Nîmes draws people from neighboring communes 16thof 37 towns its size, lowest rate first

Counted where it happens

84,300 jobs are based in Nîmes, for 53,300 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 37 French towns of 106,300 to 205,000 people with a Safety Grade, Nîmes is 16th 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.

Safety Grade

What’s behind Nîmes’s grade

Violence: physical, sexual, armed robbery (11.3 per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025 average)Lower rate than in 18% of compared French towns

Burglary, vehicle theft and damage (20.9 per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025 average)Lower rate than in 15% of compared French towns

DC⁻

A fairly firm grade. Built on 14,706 offenses recorded in the graded categories over three years; with a town of 151,839, a few cases more or fewer would move it between D and C−.

Hidden counts: every graded count is published for Nîmes.

Per resident, against the 4,295 compared French towns with a Safety Grade.

By type

What police and gendarmerie recorded most in 2025

Theft without violence14

Criminal damage9.1

Drug use7.1

Fraud6.8

Other physical violence4.9

Burglary4.6

Family violence4

Theft from vehicles3.5

Vehicle theft2.7

Drug dealing2.2

Sexual violence2

Theft of vehicle parts1.6

Robbery without a weapon1.2

Armed robbery0.3

ViolenceBurglary, vehicle theft, damageNot in the gradeMedian of towns its size

Well above the median of towns its size: armed robbery (0.3 per 1,000 against 0.1), drug dealing (2.2 per 1,000 against 1.3) and burglary (4.6 per 1,000 against 2.8).

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.

For every 1,000 residents

Crime in Nîmes per 1,000 residents

ViolenceBurglary, vehicle theft, damageTheft and fraud (not in the grade)

recorded violent incidents

burglaries, vehicle thefts, thefts from vehicles and acts of criminal damage

thefts without violence and frauds

of the three together

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.

Year by year

Nîmes, year by year

Violence · per 1,000 residents

202311.4

202411.4

202511.2

Burglary, vehicle theft, damage · per 1,000 residents

202322

202420.9

202519.9

Kind	In the grade	2023	2024	2025
Family violence	Violence	626	605	605
Other physical violence	Violence	816	774	747
Sexual violence	Violence	246	313	307
Armed robbery	Violence	43	37	44
Burglary	Burglary, vehicle theft, damage	596	619	705
Vehicle theft	Burglary, vehicle theft, damage	505	463	407
Theft from vehicles	Burglary, vehicle theft, damage	707	637	534
Criminal damage	Burglary, vehicle theft, damage	1,540	1,448	1,382
Theft without violence	Not in the grade	2,304	2,191	2,127
Robbery without a weapon	Not in the grade	257	197	181
Theft of vehicle parts	Not in the grade	263	231	245
Fraud	Not in the grade	1,088	956	1,036
Drug use	Not in the grade	944	709	1,078
Drug dealing	Not in the grade	236	306	337

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

Nîmes against towns its size

#	Town	People	Violence	Homes, vehicles	Safety
1	Boulogne-Billancourt Hauts-de-Seine	119,019	5.3	15.3	B⁻
…
13	Le Havre Seine-Maritime	166,687	12.5	17.4	C⁻
14	Paris 17e Paris	159,212	7.7	22.9	C⁻
15	Aix-en-Provence Bouches-du-Rhône	149,695	8.2	23.5	C⁻
16	Nîmes Gard	151,839	11.3	20.9	D
17	Brest Finistère	142,346	10.9	21.4	D
18	Toulon Var	179,116	12	20.7	D
19	Caen Calvados	109,400	12.2	21	D
…
37	Grenoble Isère	156,140	13.7	50.3	D⁻

Per 1,000 residents a year. Context only: the grade compares Nîmes with every compared French town, not just towns its size.

Lowest rate in the graded categories first, 2023–2025 average, with the closest to Nîmes and up to four from Gard.

Neighbors

Nîmes and the towns around it

CaissarguesRodilhanMilhaudBouillarguesCaveiracMarguerittesNîmes

ABCDNot graded

Town	People	Violence	Homes, vehicles	Safety
Nîmes	151,839	11.3	20.9	D
Caissargues	4,079	7.1	16.3	C⁺
Rodilhan	2,799	4.7	11.2	A⁻
Milhaud	6,297	8.3	16.4	C⁺
Bouillargues	6,070	7.2	12.7	B
Caveirac	4,408	—¹	—¹	—¹
Marguerittes	8,346	10.5	23.9	D

¹ Not graded: over 25% of the index would rest on département averages, where SSMSI doesn’t publish small counts.

4 of its 5 graded neighbors have a lower recorded rate in the graded categories than Nîmes.

The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025 average.

How to read these numbers

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.

How the Safety Grade works in France →

Questions about safety in Nîmes

Is Nîmes safe?

It has more crime per resident than 86% of compared French towns: an average of 11.3 recorded violent incidents and 20.9 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, #56 of 60 in Gard. Among the 37 French towns of 106,300 to 205,000 people, it is 16th from the lowest rate. With 84,300 jobs for 53,300 working residents, Nîmes 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 Nîmes?

The recorded rate in the graded categories fell 7% from 2023 to 2025: 33.4 per 1,000 residents in 2023, 31.2 in 2025. The grade uses the three-year average, so one unusual year moves it less.

What is the most common recorded offense in Nîmes?

Theft without violence: 2,127 in 2025, shown for information, not in the grade. Then criminal damage (1,382), drug use (1,078) and fraud (1,036).

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.