Photo: Gadeau · CC BY-SA 4.0Roubaix records more crime per resident than almost every compared French town
The crimes the grade counts held steady per resident from 2023 to 2025. Of all the kinds of crime, drug dealing is where Roubaix departs most from towns its size: 4 per 1,000 against 1.3. Measured on offenses police and gendarmerie recorded here between 2023 and 2025, it earns a Safety Grade of D−: #183 of 189 in Nord. Violence and property crime split as 17.5 violent crimes and 32.5 incidents of burglary, vehicle theft and damage per 1,000 residents 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.
Roubaix: D− for safety, and why
A firm grade. Built on 14,735 offenses recorded in the graded categories over three years; with a town of 98,286, a few cases more or fewer would move it between D− and D−.
Hidden counts: every graded count is published for Roubaix.
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 dealing (4 per 1,000 against 1.3), theft from vehicles (11 per 1,000 against 4.3) and armed robbery (0.3 per 1,000 against 0.1).
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.
Among 54 towns its size, Roubaix ranks 50th for the least graded crime
| # | Town | People | Violence | Homes, vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Le Tampon Réunion | 82,579 | 10.5 | 6.9 | B+ |
| … | |||||
| 26 | Dunkerque Nord | 86,263 | 12.9 | 19.1 | C− |
| … | |||||
| 38 | Tourcoing Nord | 98,772 | 13.5 | 23.6 | D |
| … | |||||
| 47 | Lyon 3e Rhône | 100,679 | 11 | 34.9 | D− |
| 48 | Avignon Vaucluse | 92,188 | 13.4 | 34 | D− |
| 49 | Paris 10e Paris | 83,873 | 21.8 | 28 | D− |
| 50 | Roubaix Nord | 98,286 | 17.5 | 32.5 | D− |
| 51 | Marseille 8e Bouches-du-Rhône | 84,683 | 9.4 | 42.6 | D− |
| 52 | Marseille 15e Bouches-du-Rhône | 79,161 | 14.7 | 38.6 | D− |
| 53 | Rouen Seine-Maritime | 117,662 | 16.2 | 39.2 | D− |
| 54 | Lyon 7e Rhône | 88,326 | 10.4 | 56.4 | D− |
Per 1,000 residents a year. Context only: the grade compares Roubaix with every compared French town, not just towns its size.
Lowest rate in the graded categories first, 2023–2025 average, with the closest to Roubaix and up to four from Nord.
Crime in Roubaix 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 32 burglaries, vehicle thefts, thefts from vehicles and acts of criminal damage, and 19 thefts without violence and frauds: a year, 2023–2025 average.
The graded rate, 2023 to 2025: about level
Violence · per 1,000 residents
Burglary, vehicle theft, damage · per 1,000 residents
| Kind | In the grade | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Family violence | Violence | 878 | 681 | 650 |
| Other physical violence | Violence | 684 | 678 | 663 |
| Sexual violence | Violence | 269 | 271 | 308 |
| Armed robbery | Violence | 22 | 19 | 30 |
| Burglary | Burglary, vehicle theft, damage | 415 | 437 | 363 |
| Vehicle theft | Burglary, vehicle theft, damage | 416 | 370 | 366 |
| Theft from vehicles | Burglary, vehicle theft, damage | 849 | 1,092 | 1,085 |
| Criminal damage | Burglary, vehicle theft, damage | 1,513 | 1,322 | 1,354 |
| Theft without violence | Not in the grade | 1,610 | 1,220 | 1,138 |
| Robbery without a weapon | Not in the grade | 259 | 197 | 173 |
| Theft of vehicle parts | Not in the grade | 132 | 219 | 267 |
| Fraud | Not in the grade | 601 | 546 | 510 |
| Drug use | Not in the grade | 1,182 | 1,077 | 1,277 |
| Drug dealing | Not in the grade | 343 | 308 | 389 |
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).
Roubaix and the towns around it
Roubaix’s recorded rate in the graded categories is higher than each of its 6 graded neighbors’.
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 Roubaix
Is Roubaix safe?
It has more crime per resident than 99% of compared French towns: an average of 17.5 recorded violent incidents and 32.5 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, #183 of 189 in Nord. With 38,350 jobs for 29,150 working residents, Roubaix 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 Roubaix?
The recorded rate in the graded categories held steady from 2023 to 2025: 51.3 per 1,000 residents in 2023, 49 in 2025. The grade uses the three-year average, so one unusual year moves it less.
What is the most common recorded offense in Roubaix?
Criminal damage: 1,354 in 2025. Then drug use (1,277), theft without violence (1,138) and theft from vehicles (1,085).
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.