Photo: Anonymous Unknown author · Public domainCalais records more crime per resident than 96% of compared French towns
Family violence stands out: 8.8 per 1,000 residents in Calais, against 4.1 in a typical town its size, with 597 recorded in 2025. Measured on offenses police and gendarmerie recorded here between 2023 and 2025, it earns a Safety Grade of D−: #107 of 120 in Pas-de-Calais. For every 1,000 residents, 18.5 violent crimes and 22.2 incidents of burglary, vehicle theft and damage were logged 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 Calais
Theft from vehicles fell sharply
Police and gendarmerie recorded 490 cases of theft from vehicles in Calais in 2023 and 265 in 2025. The grade averages the three years. Year by year ↓
Among towns its size
Among the 111 French towns of 47,300 to 91,200 people with a Safety Grade, Calais is 92nd 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: D− for Calais
A fairly firm grade. Built on 8,242 offenses recorded in the graded categories over three years; with a town of 67,571, a few cases more or fewer would move it between D− and D.
Hidden counts: for 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, under 0.1% 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: family violence (8.8 per 1,000 against 4.1), sexual violence (4 per 1,000 against 2.2) and other physical violence (6.8 per 1,000 against 4.5).
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.
Calais places 92nd of 111 towns its size, the least crime first
| # | Town | People | Violence | Homes, vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Le Tampon Réunion | 82,579 | 10.5 | 6.9 | B+ |
| … | |||||
| 89 | Saint-Herblain Loire-Atlantique | 50,973 | 7.5 | 33 | D− |
| 90 | Vaulx-en-Velin Rhône | 53,069 | 11.2 | 29.3 | D− |
| 91 | Villeneuve-d'Ascq Nord | 62,868 | 8.2 | 32.4 | D− |
| 92 | Calais Pas-de-Calais | 67,571 | 18.5 | 22.2 | D− |
| 93 | Bobigny Seine-Saint-Denis | 56,927 | 16 | 25.4 | D− |
| 94 | Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine Seine-Saint-Denis | 53,615 | 13.4 | 28.5 | D− |
| 95 | Paris 9e Paris | 57,271 | 11.5 | 31.2 | D− |
| … | |||||
| 111 | Lyon 7e Rhône | 88,326 | 10.4 | 56.4 | D− |
Per 1,000 residents a year. Context only: the grade compares Calais with every compared French town, not just towns its size.
Lowest rate in the graded categories first, 2023–2025 average, with the closest to Calais and up to four from Pas-de-Calais.
Crime in Calais 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 22 burglaries, vehicle thefts, thefts from vehicles and acts of criminal damage, and 13 thefts without violence and frauds: a year, 2023–2025 average.
The recorded rate in the graded categories held steady from 2023 to 2025
Violence · per 1,000 residents
Burglary, vehicle theft, damage · per 1,000 residents
| Kind | In the grade | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Family violence | Violence | 411 | 453 | 597 |
| Other physical violence | Violence | 491 | 556 | 462 |
| Sexual violence | Violence | 221 | 279 | 268 |
| Armed robbery | Violence | n.p. | n.p. | 8 |
| Burglary | Burglary, vehicle theft, damage | 122 | 101 | 117 |
| Vehicle theft | Burglary, vehicle theft, damage | 99 | 86 | 63 |
| Theft from vehicles | Burglary, vehicle theft, damage | 490 | 366 | 265 |
| Criminal damage | Burglary, vehicle theft, damage | 920 | 956 | 911 |
| Theft without violence | Not in the grade | 522 | 612 | 543 |
| Robbery without a weapon | Not in the grade | 95 | 91 | 57 |
| Theft of vehicle parts | Not in the grade | 52 | 56 | 41 |
| Fraud | Not in the grade | 278 | 362 | 311 |
| Drug use | Not in the grade | 454 | 478 | 427 |
| Drug dealing | Not in the grade | 87 | 124 | 114 |
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).
Calais and the towns around it
Calais’ 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 Calais
Is Calais safe?
It has more crime per resident than 96% of compared French towns: an average of 18.5 recorded violent incidents and 22.2 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, #107 of 120 in Pas-de-Calais. Among the 111 French towns of 47,300 to 91,200 people, it is 92nd from the lowest rate. With 31,450 jobs for 23,150 working residents, Calais 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 Calais?
The recorded rate in the graded categories held steady from 2023 to 2025: 40.8 per 1,000 residents in 2023, 39.8 in 2025. The grade uses the three-year average, so one unusual year moves it less.
What is the most common recorded offense in Calais?
Criminal damage: 911 in 2025. Then family violence (597), theft without violence (543) and other physical violence (462).
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.