Photo: Sylvain Machefert · CC BY-SA 4.0Pessac records more burglary, vehicle theft and damage per head than nine in ten compared French towns
Ranked from the least crime, the 114 compared French towns closest in size put it 46th. Across all the graded crimes, Pessac lands on C− (#74 of 100 in Gironde): more crime per resident than 81% of compared French towns, on offenses police and gendarmerie recorded from 2023 to 2025. By contrast, the graded rate fell 9% from 2023 to 2025. Per 1,000 residents a year, 5.4 violent crimes and 24.6 incidents of burglary, vehicle theft and damage were recorded.
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 Pessac
Vehicle theft fell sharply
Police and gendarmerie recorded 90 cases of vehicle theft in Pessac in 2023 and 60 in 2025. The grade averages the three years. Year by year ↓
Less violence than burglary, vehicle theft and damage
Pessac recorded an average of 5.4 violent incidents per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, fewer than in 68% of compared French towns, and 24.6 burglaries, vehicle thefts, thefts from vehicles and acts of criminal damage, fewer than in 8%. Safety Grade ↓
Among towns its size
Among the 114 French towns of 47,100 to 90,900 people with a Safety Grade, Pessac is 46th 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 grade: C− for Pessac
A firm grade. Built on 6,050 offenses recorded in the graded categories over three years; with a town of 67,339, a few cases more or fewer would move it between C− and C−.
Hidden counts: every graded count is published for Pessac.
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: burglary (5.3 per 1,000 against 2.8) and theft from vehicles (7.3 per 1,000 against 4.3).
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.
Crime in Pessac 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 25 burglaries, vehicle thefts, thefts from vehicles and acts of criminal damage, and 14 thefts without violence and frauds: a year, 2023–2025 average.
Pessac, 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 | 179 | 149 | 170 |
| Other physical violence | Violence | 80 | 98 | 108 |
| Sexual violence | Violence | 108 | 80 | 87 |
| Armed robbery | Violence | 7 | 5 | 13 |
| Burglary | Burglary, vehicle theft, damage | 386 | 446 | 355 |
| Vehicle theft | Burglary, vehicle theft, damage | 90 | 95 | 60 |
| Theft from vehicles | Burglary, vehicle theft, damage | 576 | 577 | 494 |
| Criminal damage | Burglary, vehicle theft, damage | 639 | 650 | 598 |
| Theft without violence | Not in the grade | 522 | 543 | 563 |
| Robbery without a weapon | Not in the grade | 35 | 28 | 48 |
| Theft of vehicle parts | Not in the grade | 92 | 113 | 123 |
| Fraud | Not in the grade | 356 | 407 | 412 |
| Drug use | Not in the grade | 66 | 67 | 79 |
| Drug dealing | Not in the grade | 19 | 38 | 13 |
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).
Pessac places 46th of 114 towns its size, the least crime first
| # | Town | People | Violence | Homes, vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Le Tampon Réunion | 82,579 | 10.5 | 6.9 | B+ |
| … | |||||
| 43 | Mérignac Gironde | 78,090 | 7.3 | 22.5 | C− |
| 44 | Sevran Seine-Saint-Denis | 52,535 | 11.3 | 18.5 | C− |
| 45 | Paris 5e Paris | 55,252 | 9.2 | 20.7 | C− |
| 46 | Pessac Gironde | 67,339 | 5.4 | 24.6 | C− |
| 47 | Antibes Alpes-Maritimes | 77,637 | 8.6 | 21.4 | C− |
| 48 | Pau Pyrénées-Atlantiques | 80,441 | 12.5 | 17.9 | C− |
| 49 | Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni French Guiana | 54,429 | 19.1 | 11.6 | C− |
| … | |||||
| 114 | Lyon 7e Rhône | 88,326 | 10.4 | 56.4 | D− |
Per 1,000 residents a year. Context only: the grade compares Pessac with every compared French town, not just towns its size.
Lowest rate in the graded categories first, 2023–2025 average, with the closest to Pessac and up to four from Gironde.
Pessac and the towns around it
5 of its 6 graded neighbors have a lower recorded rate in the graded categories than Pessac.
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 Pessac
Is Pessac safe?
It has more crime per resident than 81% of compared French towns: an average of 5.4 recorded violent incidents and 24.6 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, #74 of 100 in Gironde. Among the 114 French towns of 47,100 to 90,900 people, it is 46th from the lowest rate. With 35,550 jobs for 28,550 working residents, Pessac 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 Pessac?
The recorded rate in the graded categories fell 9% from 2023 to 2025: 30.7 per 1,000 residents in 2023, 28 in 2025. The grade uses the three-year average, so one unusual year moves it less.
What is the most common recorded offense in Pessac?
Criminal damage: 598 in 2025. Then theft without violence (563), theft from vehicles (494) and fraud (412).
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.