Photo: Thierry Caro · CC BY-SA 4.0Set against the 36 compared French towns closest in size, Saint-Denis records less crime than 97%
The rate the grade counts climbed 11% from 2023 to 2025. Behind the grade sit 12.6 violent crimes and 11.4 incidents of burglary, vehicle theft and damage per 1,000 people a year. It has less burglary, vehicle theft and damage than 68% of compared French towns, but less violent crime than only 13%.
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 Saint-Denis
Theft from vehicles rose sharply
Police and gendarmerie recorded 249 cases of theft from vehicles in Saint-Denis in 2023 and 448 in 2025. The grade averages the three years. Year by year ↓
Ranks worse on violence than on burglary, vehicle theft and damage
Saint-Denis recorded an average of 12.6 violent incidents per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, fewer than in 13% of compared French towns, and 11.4 burglaries, vehicle thefts, thefts from vehicles and acts of criminal damage, fewer than in 68%. Safety Grade ↓
Among towns its size
Among the 36 French towns of 108,900 to 210,100 people with a Safety Grade, Saint-Denis is 2nd 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 Saint-Denis, and how it is built
A firm grade. Built on 11,228 offenses recorded in the graded categories over three years; with a town of 155,634, a few cases more or fewer would not change the grade: C+.
Hidden counts: every graded count is published for Saint-Denis.
Per resident, against the 4,295 compared French towns with a Safety Grade.
What police and gendarmerie recorded most in 2025
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.
Saint-Denis places 2nd of 36 towns its size, the least crime first
| # | Town | People | Violence | Homes, vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boulogne-Billancourt Hauts-de-Seine | 119,019 | 5.3 | 15.3 | B− |
| 2 | Saint-Denis Réunion | 155,634 | 12.6 | 11.4 | C+ |
| 3 | Paris 20e Paris | 185,140 | 9.7 | 14.4 | C+ |
| 4 | Paris 14e Paris | 136,455 | 8.1 | 18 | C |
| 5 | Annecy Haute-Savoie | 132,117 | 8 | 18.3 | C |
| … | |||||
| 36 | Grenoble Isère | 156,140 | 13.7 | 50.3 | D− |
Per 1,000 residents a year. Context only: the grade compares Saint-Denis with every compared French town, not just towns its size.
Lowest rate in the graded categories first, 2023–2025 average, with the closest to Saint-Denis and up to four from Réunion.
Saint-Denis, 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 | 914 | 905 | 956 |
| Other physical violence | Violence | 645 | 693 | 699 |
| Sexual violence | Violence | 289 | 347 | 401 |
| Armed robbery | Violence | 14 | 10 | 18 |
| Burglary | Burglary, vehicle theft, damage | 138 | 156 | 160 |
| Vehicle theft | Burglary, vehicle theft, damage | 248 | 191 | 157 |
| Theft from vehicles | Burglary, vehicle theft, damage | 249 | 391 | 448 |
| Criminal damage | Burglary, vehicle theft, damage | 1,064 | 1,010 | 1,125 |
| Theft without violence | Not in the grade | 596 | 651 | 726 |
| Robbery without a weapon | Not in the grade | 158 | 198 | 163 |
| Theft of vehicle parts | Not in the grade | 100 | 77 | 84 |
| Fraud | Not in the grade | 382 | 511 | 524 |
| Drug use | Not in the grade | 401 | 357 | 539 |
| Drug dealing | Not in the grade | 57 | 73 | 83 |
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).
Crime in Saint-Denis 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 11 burglaries, vehicle thefts, thefts from vehicles and acts of criminal damage, and 7 thefts without violence and frauds: a year, 2023–2025 average.
Saint-Denis and the towns around it
| Town | People | Violence | Homes, vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saint-Denis | 155,634 | 12.6 | 11.4 | C+ |
| Sainte-Marie | 37,093 | 12.3 | 10.3 | C+ |
| La Possession | 36,568 | 9 | 10.5 | B |
| Sainte-Suzanne | 25,551 | 10.2 | 6.9 | B+ |
| Salazie | 7,268 | 10.8 | 9 | B |
| Le Port | 33,969 | 14.7 | 11.3 | C |
| Saint-André | 58,885 | 13.7 | 8.6 | B− |
5 of its 6 graded neighbors have a lower recorded rate in the graded categories than Saint-Denis.
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 Saint-Denis
Is Saint-Denis safe?
It has more crime per resident than 62% of compared French towns: an average of 12.6 recorded violent incidents and 11.4 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, #17 of 22 in Réunion. Among the 36 French towns of 108,900 to 210,100 people, it is 2nd from the lowest rate. With 69,300 jobs for 54,100 working residents, Saint-Denis 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 Saint-Denis?
The recorded rate in the graded categories rose 11% from 2023 to 2025: 22.9 per 1,000 residents in 2023, 25.5 in 2025. The grade uses the three-year average, so one unusual year moves it less.
What is the most common recorded offense in Saint-Denis?
Criminal damage: 1,125 in 2025. Then family violence (956), theft without violence (726) and other physical violence (699).
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 9, 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.