Photo: Mspecht · CC BY-SA 3.0On burglary, vehicle theft and damage, Mérignac has a higher rate per resident than 89% of compared French towns
Out of every 1,000 residents, 7.3 violent crimes and 22.5 incidents of burglary, vehicle theft and damage are reported annually. The overall Safety Grade is C− (#74 of 100 in Gironde), which means more crime per resident than 81% of compared French towns, judged on offenses police and gendarmerie recorded from 2023 to 2025. What’s more, the crimes the grade counts rose 14% per resident from 2023 to 2025. With 566 cases in 2025, theft from vehicles reaches 7.2 per 1,000 residents in Mérignac, well above the typical 4.3.
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 Mérignac
Family violence rose sharply
Police and gendarmerie recorded 205 cases of family violence in Mérignac in 2023 and 309 in 2025. The grade averages the three years. Year by year ↓
Less violence than burglary, vehicle theft and damage
Mérignac recorded an average of 7.3 violent incidents per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, fewer than in 47% of compared French towns, and 22.5 burglaries, vehicle thefts, thefts from vehicles and acts of criminal damage, fewer than in 11%. Safety Grade ↓
Counted where it happens
63,950 jobs are based in Mérignac, for 37,400 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 87 French towns of 54,700 to 105,400 people with a Safety Grade, Mérignac is 35th 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.
The C− for Mérignac, and how it is built
A firm grade. Built on 6,980 offenses recorded in the graded categories over three years; with a town of 78,090, a few cases more or fewer would move it between C− and C−.
Hidden counts: every graded count is published for Mérignac.
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: theft from vehicles (7.2 per 1,000 against 4.3) and burglary (4.5 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.
Mérignac, 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 | 205 | 240 | 309 |
| Other physical violence | Violence | 165 | 164 | 162 |
| Sexual violence | Violence | 176 | 131 | 131 |
| Armed robbery | Violence | 11 | 15 | 7 |
| Burglary | Burglary, vehicle theft, damage | 441 | 410 | 354 |
| Vehicle theft | Burglary, vehicle theft, damage | 208 | 182 | 183 |
| Theft from vehicles | Burglary, vehicle theft, damage | 432 | 532 | 566 |
| Criminal damage | Burglary, vehicle theft, damage | 548 | 627 | 781 |
| Theft without violence | Not in the grade | 631 | 649 | 734 |
| Robbery without a weapon | Not in the grade | 39 | 32 | 42 |
| Theft of vehicle parts | Not in the grade | 129 | 196 | 132 |
| Fraud | Not in the grade | 464 | 507 | 538 |
| Drug use | Not in the grade | 97 | 123 | 92 |
| Drug dealing | Not in the grade | 35 | 38 | 20 |
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 7 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 22 burglaries, vehicle thefts, thefts from vehicles and acts of criminal damage, and 15 thefts without violence and frauds: a year, 2023–2025 average.
Mérignac places 35th of 87 towns its size, the least crime first
| # | Town | People | Violence | Homes, vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Le Tampon Réunion | 82,579 | 10.5 | 6.9 | B+ |
| … | |||||
| 32 | Colmar Haut-Rhin | 66,970 | 12.7 | 16.7 | C− |
| 33 | Drancy Seine-Saint-Denis | 72,390 | 10.5 | 19 | C− |
| 34 | Le Blanc-Mesnil Seine-Saint-Denis | 62,376 | 11.8 | 17.8 | C− |
| 35 | Mérignac Gironde | 78,090 | 7.3 | 22.5 | C− |
| 36 | Paris 5e Paris | 55,252 | 9.2 | 20.7 | C− |
| 37 | Pessac Gironde | 67,339 | 5.4 | 24.6 | C− |
| 38 | Antibes Alpes-Maritimes | 77,637 | 8.6 | 21.4 | C− |
| … | |||||
| 87 | Lyon 7e Rhône | 88,326 | 10.4 | 56.4 | D− |
Per 1,000 residents a year. Context only: the grade compares Mérignac with every compared French town, not just towns its size.
Lowest rate in the graded categories first, 2023–2025 average, with the closest to Mérignac and up to four from Gironde.
Mérignac and the towns around it
| Town | People | Violence | Homes, vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mérignac | 78,090 | 7.3 | 22.5 | C− |
| Pessac | 67,339 | 5.4 | 24.6 | C− |
| Eysines | 24,825 | 9.1 | 25.4 | D |
| Le Bouscat | 25,081 | 4.7 | 25.4 | C− |
| Le Haillan | 11,392 | 6.5 | 22.1 | C− |
| Bordeaux | 267,991 | 12.4 | 43.5 | D− |
| Talence | 46,338 | 6.9 | 25.8 | D |
1 of its 6 graded neighbors has a lower recorded rate in the graded categories than Mérignac.
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 Mérignac
Is Mérignac safe?
It has more crime per resident than 81% of compared French towns: an average of 7.3 recorded violent incidents and 22.5 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, #74 of 100 in Gironde. Among the 87 French towns of 54,700 to 105,400 people, it is 35th from the lowest rate. With 63,950 jobs for 37,400 working residents, Mérignac 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 Mérignac?
The recorded rate in the graded categories rose 14% from 2023 to 2025: 28 per 1,000 residents in 2023, 31.9 in 2025. The grade uses the three-year average, so one unusual year moves it less.
What is the most common recorded offense in Mérignac?
Criminal damage: 781 in 2025. Then theft without violence (734), theft from vehicles (566) and fraud (538).
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.