Photo: Richard Carline · Public domainCrime per resident in Lens runs higher than in almost every compared French town
On the record of offenses police and gendarmerie recorded in Lens from 2023 to 2025, it takes D− for safety: #117 of 120 in Pas-de-Calais. Per resident, the graded crimes were down 8% from 2023 to 2025. With 59 cases in 2025, drug dealing reaches 1.8 per 1,000 residents locally, well above the typical 0.3. Recorded violent crimes ran at 23.2 per 1,000 residents a year, and burglary, vehicle theft and damage at 27.9.
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 Lens
Theft from vehicles fell sharply
Police and gendarmerie recorded 229 cases of theft from vehicles in Lens in 2023 and 123 in 2025. The grade averages the three years. Year by year ↓
Counted where it happens
21,550 jobs are based in Lens, for 10,600 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 ↓
Written from the SSMSI and INSEE data on this page. Figures are offenses police and gendarmerie recorded, not convictions.
The grade: D− for Lens
A firm grade. Built on 5,045 offenses recorded in the graded categories over three years; with a town of 32,920, 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: drug dealing (1.8 per 1,000 against 0.3), drug use (17.5 per 1,000 against 4) and robbery without a weapon (1 per 1,000 against 0.3). Not published for 2025: armed robbery.
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 10,000 to 50,000.
Towns its size: Lens comes 237th of 244
| # | Town | People | Violence | Homes, vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beaupréau-en-Mauges Maine-et-Loire | 23,989 | 5.4 | 8 | A |
| … | |||||
| 207 | Liévin Pas-de-Calais | 30,063 | 18.1 | 19.6 | D |
| … | |||||
| 212 | Arras Pas-de-Calais | 42,875 | 18.8 | 20.8 | D |
| … | |||||
| 220 | Hénin-Beaumont Pas-de-Calais | 25,688 | 16.5 | 25.5 | D− |
| … | |||||
| 229 | Boulogne-sur-Mer Pas-de-Calais | 40,539 | 19 | 28.3 | D− |
| … | |||||
| 234 | Valenciennes Nord | 43,468 | 21.1 | 28.3 | D− |
| 235 | Agde Hérault | 29,939 | 15.4 | 34 | D− |
| 236 | Annemasse Haute-Savoie | 37,628 | 15.1 | 34.8 | D− |
| 237 | Lens Pas-de-Calais | 32,920 | 23.2 | 27.9 | D− |
| 238 | Angoulême Charente | 41,908 | 17.8 | 38.4 | D− |
| 239 | Marseille 7e Bouches-du-Rhône | 35,173 | 8.7 | 51.1 | D− |
| 240 | Marseille 6e Bouches-du-Rhône | 38,476 | 12.3 | 49.8 | D− |
| … | |||||
| 244 | Marseille 2e Bouches-du-Rhône | 24,378 | 20.1 | 103.2 | D− |
Per 1,000 residents a year. Context only: the grade compares Lens with every compared French town, not just towns its size.
Lowest rate in the graded categories first, 2023–2025 average, with the closest to Lens and up to four from Pas-de-Calais.
Crime in Lens 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 28 burglaries, vehicle thefts, thefts from vehicles and acts of criminal damage, and 16 thefts without violence and frauds: a year, 2023–2025 average.
Lens, 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 | 335 | 281 | 339 |
| Other physical violence | Violence | 332 | 306 | 295 |
| Sexual violence | Violence | 128 | 111 | 148 |
| Armed robbery | Violence | 13 | 6 | n.p. |
| Burglary | Burglary, vehicle theft, damage | 144 | 154 | 143 |
| Vehicle theft | Burglary, vehicle theft, damage | 68 | 85 | 54 |
| Theft from vehicles | Burglary, vehicle theft, damage | 229 | 183 | 123 |
| Criminal damage | Burglary, vehicle theft, damage | 519 | 529 | 520 |
| Theft without violence | Not in the grade | 324 | 345 | 354 |
| Robbery without a weapon | Not in the grade | 59 | 40 | 34 |
| Theft of vehicle parts | Not in the grade | 53 | 89 | 56 |
| Fraud | Not in the grade | 203 | 179 | 220 |
| Drug use | Not in the grade | 403 | 672 | 575 |
| Drug dealing | Not in the grade | 13 | 26 | 59 |
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).
Lens and the towns around it
| Town | People | Violence | Homes, vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lens | 32,920 | 23.2 | 27.9 | D− |
| Éleu-dit-Leauwette | 2,805 | 6.6 | 11.1 | B+ |
| Loison-sous-Lens | 5,169 | 13.4 | 27.7 | D− |
| Loos-en-Gohelle | 6,799 | 10.2 | 21.9 | C− |
| Avion | 17,435 | 11.9 | 19.7 | C− |
| Sallaumines | 9,414 | 15.4 | 23.5 | D |
| Liévin | 30,063 | 18.1 | 19.6 | D |
Lens’ 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 Lens
Is Lens safe?
It has more crime per resident than 99% of compared French towns: an average of 23.2 recorded violent incidents and 27.9 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, #117 of 120 in Pas-de-Calais. With 21,550 jobs for 10,600 working residents, Lens 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 Lens?
The recorded rate in the graded categories fell 8% from 2023 to 2025: 53.7 per 1,000 residents in 2023, 49.3 in 2025. The grade uses the three-year average, so one unusual year moves it less.
What is the most common recorded offense in Lens?
Drug use: 575 in 2025, shown for information, not in the grade. Then criminal damage (520), theft without violence (354) and family violence (339).
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.