Photo: Archives départementales de l'Hérault (France) DAASI · CC BY-SA 4.0Pignan stands out for drug use: 4.8 times the rate of a typical town its size
The crimes the grade counts rose 24% per resident from 2023 to 2025. On violence it beats 71% of compared French towns; on burglary, vehicle theft and damage, only 40%. Taking everything together, Pignan scores B− (#37 of 84 in Hérault): close to the middle of compared French towns, measured on offenses police and gendarmerie recorded between 2023 and 2025. Behind the grade sit 5.1 violent crimes and 15.6 incidents of burglary, vehicle theft and damage per 1,000 people a year.
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 Pignan
Theft from vehicles rose sharply
Police and gendarmerie recorded 14 cases of theft from vehicles in Pignan in 2023 and 27 in 2025. Small counts swing from year to year; the grade averages the three years. Year by year ↓
Less violence than burglary, vehicle theft and damage
Pignan recorded an average of 5.1 violent incidents per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, fewer than in 71% of compared French towns, and 15.6 burglaries, vehicle thefts, thefts from vehicles and acts of criminal damage, fewer than in 40%. Safety Grade ↓
Among towns its size
Among the 985 French towns of 5,900 to 11,400 people with a Safety Grade, Pignan is 398th 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’s behind Pignan’s grade
A fairly firm grade. Built on 519 offenses recorded in the graded categories over three years; with a town of 8,431, a few cases more or fewer would move it between B− and B.
Hidden counts: for sexual violence and 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, 0.9% 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 use (5.6 per 1,000 against 1.2), vehicle theft (3.1 per 1,000 against 0.7) and theft from vehicles (3.2 per 1,000 against 1.2). Not published for 2025: armed robbery, robbery without a weapon 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.
Pignan, 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 | 22 | 18 | 25 |
| Other physical violence | Violence | 14 | 15 | 16 |
| Sexual violence | Violence | n.p. | n.p. | 15 |
| Armed robbery | Violence | 0 | 0 | n.p. |
| Burglary | Burglary, vehicle theft, damage | 26 | 23 | 24 |
| Vehicle theft | Burglary, vehicle theft, damage | 26 | 23 | 26 |
| Theft from vehicles | Burglary, vehicle theft, damage | 14 | 11 | 27 |
| Criminal damage | Burglary, vehicle theft, damage | 55 | 76 | 63 |
| Theft without violence | Not in the grade | 52 | 49 | 53 |
| Robbery without a weapon | Not in the grade | n.p. | n.p. | n.p. |
| Theft of vehicle parts | Not in the grade | 6 | 9 | 7 |
| Fraud | Not in the grade | 50 | 55 | 52 |
| Drug use | Not in the grade | 11 | 5 | 47 |
| 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).
Towns its size: Pignan comes 398th of 985
| # | Town | People | Violence | Homes, vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Grand-Santi French Guiana | 9,668 | 4.9 | 1.6 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 29 | Saint-Gély-du-Fesc Hérault | 10,472 | 2.5 | 8.8 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 70 | Clapiers Hérault | 6,006 | 2.6 | 10.8 | A |
| … | |||||
| 104 | Prades-le-Lez Hérault | 6,184 | 3.9 | 11 | A− |
| … | |||||
| 164 | Jacou Hérault | 6,924 | 4.5 | 11.7 | A− |
| … | |||||
| 395 | Beaufort-en-Anjou Maine-et-Loire | 6,901 | 9.6 | 11 | B− |
| 396 | Saint-Mitre-les-Remparts Bouches-du-Rhône | 6,175 | 6.8 | 13.9 | B− |
| 397 | Jassans-Riottier Ain | 6,247 | 6.8 | 13.9 | B− |
| 398 | Pignan Hérault | 8,431 | 5.1 | 15.6 | B− |
| 399 | Nangis Seine-et-Marne | 8,867 | 10.2 | 10.5 | B− |
| 400 | Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux Drôme | 8,981 | 7.2 | 13.5 | B− |
| 401 | Molsheim Bas-Rhin | 9,318 | 9.4 | 11.3 | B− |
| … | |||||
| 985 | Argelès-sur-Mer Pyrénées-Orientales | 10,616 | 21.1 | 40.6 | D− |
Per 1,000 residents a year. Context only: the grade compares Pignan with every compared French town, not just towns its size.
Lowest rate in the graded categories first, 2023–2025 average, with the closest to Pignan and up to four from Hérault.
Crime in Pignan 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 16 burglaries, vehicle thefts, thefts from vehicles and acts of criminal damage, and 12 thefts without violence and frauds: a year, 2023–2025 average.
Pignan and the towns around it
| Town | People | Violence | Homes, vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pignan | 8,431 | 5.1 | 15.6 | B− |
| Saint-Georges-d'Orques | 5,676 | 5.4 | 16.5 | B− |
| Lavérune | 3,302 | 2.7 | 20.4 | C+ |
| Fabrègues | 7,447 | 6.8 | 24.3 | C− |
| Cournonterral | 7,359 | 5 | 11.2 | A− |
| Juvignac | 14,055 | 7.2 | 20.3 | C |
| Saint-Jean-de-Védas | 13,328 | 9.2 | 28.4 | D |
1 of its 6 graded neighbors has a lower recorded rate in the graded categories than Pignan.
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 Pignan
Is Pignan safe?
It has less crime per resident than 53% of compared French towns: an average of 5.1 recorded violent incidents and 15.6 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, #37 of 84 in Hérault. Among the 985 French towns of 5,900 to 11,400 people, it is 398th from the lowest rate.
Is crime going up in Pignan?
The recorded rate in the graded categories rose 24% from 2023 to 2025: 18.9 per 1,000 residents in 2023, 23.3 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 Pignan?
Criminal damage: 63 in 2025. Then theft without violence (53), fraud (52) and drug use (47).
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.