Photo: U.S. Army Air Forces Spot Number D8520, Sortie PP16-30PRS, Exposure RSV-2034 · Public domainArques records drug use at 4.5 times the rate of a typical town its size
Across all the graded crimes, Arques lands on C− (#73 of 120 in Pas-de-Calais): more crime per resident than 77% of compared French towns, on offenses police and gendarmerie recorded from 2023 to 2025. Police and gendarmerie recorded 50 cases of drug use here in 2025, a rate of 5.3 per 1,000 against a typical 1.2. The rate the grade counts dropped 14% from 2023 to 2025.
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 Arques
Burglary fell sharply
Police and gendarmerie recorded 20 cases of burglary in Arques in 2023 and 11 in 2025. Small counts swing from year to year; the grade averages the three years. Year by year ↓
Counted where it happens
10,100 jobs are based in Arques, for 3,650 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 863 French towns of 6,600 to 12,700 people with a Safety Grade, Arques is 636th 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 Arques’s grade
A fairly firm grade. Built on 809 offenses recorded in the graded categories over three years; with a town of 9,431, a few cases more or fewer would move it between C− and C.
Hidden counts: for armed robbery and vehicle theft, 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, 0.5% 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 (5.3 per 1,000 against 1.2), other physical violence (3.7 per 1,000 against 1.9) and family violence (6.4 per 1,000 against 3.4). Not published for 2025: armed robbery, robbery without a weapon, theft of vehicle parts 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.
Arques, 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 | 70 | 57 | 60 |
| Other physical violence | Violence | 40 | 27 | 35 |
| Sexual violence | Violence | 16 | 25 | 14 |
| Armed robbery | Violence | n.p. | n.p. | n.p. |
| Burglary | Burglary, vehicle theft, damage | 20 | 29 | 11 |
| Vehicle theft | Burglary, vehicle theft, damage | n.p. | 11 | 9 |
| Theft from vehicles | Burglary, vehicle theft, damage | 30 | 17 | 19 |
| Criminal damage | Burglary, vehicle theft, damage | 116 | 99 | 104 |
| Theft without violence | Not in the grade | 30 | 30 | 40 |
| Robbery without a weapon | Not in the grade | n.p. | n.p. | n.p. |
| Theft of vehicle parts | Not in the grade | n.p. | n.p. | n.p. |
| Fraud | Not in the grade | 38 | 60 | 60 |
| Drug use | Not in the grade | 45 | 41 | 50 |
| 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).
Arques is 636th of 863 French towns of 6,600 to 12,700 people
| # | Town | People | Violence | Homes, vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Grand-Santi French Guiana | 9,668 | 4.9 | 1.6 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 80 | Marck Pas-de-Calais | 10,467 | 6.2 | 9.1 | A− |
| … | |||||
| 219 | Leforest Pas-de-Calais | 7,060 | 9.5 | 9.6 | B |
| … | |||||
| 377 | Isbergues Pas-de-Calais | 8,650 | 11.6 | 10.7 | B− |
| … | |||||
| 516 | Houdain Pas-de-Calais | 6,945 | 11.6 | 13.9 | C |
| … | |||||
| 633 | Vétraz-Monthoux Haute-Savoie | 10,949 | 6.7 | 21.9 | C− |
| 634 | Saint-Victoret Bouches-du-Rhône | 6,730 | 8.1 | 20.7 | C− |
| 635 | Bain-de-Bretagne Ille-et-Vilaine | 7,674 | 11.7 | 17.1 | C− |
| 636 | Arques Pas-de-Calais | 9,431 | 12.3 | 16.5 | C− |
| 637 | Louveciennes Yvelines | 7,990 | 9.3 | 19.5 | C− |
| 638 | Vidauban Var | 12,608 | 9.5 | 19.3 | C− |
| 639 | Val de Briey Meurthe-et-Moselle | 8,130 | 13.5 | 15.4 | C− |
| … | |||||
| 863 | Argelès-sur-Mer Pyrénées-Orientales | 10,616 | 21.1 | 40.6 | D− |
Per 1,000 residents a year. Context only: the grade compares Arques with every compared French town, not just towns its size.
Lowest rate in the graded categories first, 2023–2025 average, with the closest to Arques and up to four from Pas-de-Calais.
About 12 recorded violent incidents a year for every 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 9 thefts without violence and frauds: a year, 2023–2025 average.
Arques and the towns around it
| Town | People | Violence | Homes, vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arques | 9,431 | 12.3 | 16.5 | C− |
| Blendecques | 4,859 | 12 | 9.2 | B− |
| Longuenesse | 10,548 | 22.2 | 12.6 | D |
| Saint-Omer | 14,382 | 29.7 | 24.5 | D− |
| Saint-Martin-lez-Tatinghem | 5,843 | 7.4 | 8.3 | A− |
| Wizernes | 3,321 | 8 | 5.8 | A |
| Watten Nord | 2,564 | 6.8 | 9.3 | A− |
4 of its 6 graded neighbors have a lower recorded rate in the graded categories than Arques.
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 Arques
Is Arques safe?
It has more crime per resident than 77% of compared French towns: an average of 12.3 recorded violent incidents and 16.5 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, #73 of 120 in Pas-de-Calais. Among the 863 French towns of 6,600 to 12,700 people, it is 636th from the lowest rate. With 10,100 jobs for 3,650 working residents, Arques 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 Arques?
The recorded rate in the graded categories fell 14% from 2023 to 2025: 31.2 per 1,000 residents in 2023, 26.8 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 Arques?
Criminal damage: 104 in 2025. Then family violence (60), fraud (60) and drug use (50).
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.