Photo: Thomas Drake · Public domainAmong the 181 compared French towns closest in size, Les Sables-d'Olonne records less crime per resident than 83%
Violent crime is lower than in 56% of compared French towns; burglary, vehicle theft and damage, lower than in only 28%. The rate the grade counts climbed 13% from 2023 to 2025. Year on year, 6.4 violent crimes and 17.6 incidents of burglary, vehicle theft and damage occur per 1,000 residents.
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 Les Sables-d'Olonne
Vehicle theft fell sharply
Police and gendarmerie recorded 73 cases of vehicle theft in Les Sables-d'Olonne in 2023 and 44 in 2025. Small counts swing from year to year; the grade averages the three years. Year by year ↓
Less violence than burglary, vehicle theft and damage
Les Sables-d'Olonne recorded an average of 6.4 violent incidents per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, fewer than in 56% of compared French towns, and 17.6 burglaries, vehicle thefts, thefts from vehicles and acts of criminal damage, fewer than in 28%. Safety Grade ↓
Among towns its size
Among the 181 French towns of 34,700 to 67,000 people with a Safety Grade, Les Sables-d'Olonne is 32nd 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 Les Sables-d'Olonne, and how it is built
A firm grade. Built on 3,570 offenses recorded in the graded categories over three years; with a town of 49,603, a few cases more or fewer would move it between C+ and C+.
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, 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
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.
Of 181 towns its size, Les Sables-d'Olonne is 32nd from the least graded crime
| # | Town | People | Violence | Homes, vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Saint-Joseph Réunion | 39,207 | 9.4 | 4.7 | A |
| … | |||||
| 29 | Alfortville Val-de-Marne | 45,531 | 10 | 13.5 | C+ |
| 30 | Chelles Seine-et-Marne | 54,620 | 7.8 | 15.8 | C+ |
| 31 | Suresnes Hauts-de-Seine | 48,956 | 7.4 | 16.2 | C+ |
| 32 | Les Sables-d'Olonne Vendée | 49,603 | 6.4 | 17.6 | C+ |
| 33 | Le Perreux-sur-Marne Val-de-Marne | 35,260 | 5.9 | 18.1 | C+ |
| 34 | Clichy Hauts-de-Seine | 64,410 | 8.4 | 16 | C+ |
| 35 | Schiltigheim Bas-Rhin | 34,708 | 8.8 | 15.9 | C+ |
| … | |||||
| 94 | La Roche-sur-Yon Vendée | 54,849 | 10.7 | 20.6 | C− |
| … | |||||
| 181 | Marseille 1er Bouches-du-Rhône | 37,599 | 27.4 | 70.7 | D− |
Per 1,000 residents a year. Context only: the grade compares Les Sables-d'Olonne with every compared French town, not just towns its size.
Lowest rate in the graded categories first, 2023–2025 average, with the closest to Les Sables-d'Olonne and up to four from Vendée.
Les Sables-d'Olonne, 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 | 117 | 145 | 98 |
| Other physical violence | Violence | 120 | 117 | 120 |
| Sexual violence | Violence | 66 | 73 | 99 |
| Armed robbery | Violence | n.p. | n.p. | n.p. |
| Burglary | Burglary, vehicle theft, damage | 147 | 193 | 158 |
| Vehicle theft | Burglary, vehicle theft, damage | 73 | 66 | 44 |
| Theft from vehicles | Burglary, vehicle theft, damage | 78 | 121 | 95 |
| Criminal damage | Burglary, vehicle theft, damage | 445 | 625 | 570 |
| Theft without violence | Not in the grade | 455 | 458 | 413 |
| Robbery without a weapon | Not in the grade | 13 | 9 | 19 |
| Theft of vehicle parts | Not in the grade | 35 | 27 | 34 |
| Fraud | Not in the grade | 272 | 352 | 381 |
| Drug use | Not in the grade | 291 | 251 | 222 |
| Drug dealing | Not in the grade | 21 | 18 | 20 |
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 Les Sables-d'Olonne 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 18 burglaries, vehicle thefts, thefts from vehicles and acts of criminal damage, and 16 thefts without violence and frauds: a year, 2023–2025 average.
Les Sables-d'Olonne and the towns around it
| Town | People | Violence | Homes, vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Les Sables-d'Olonne | 49,603 | 6.4 | 17.6 | C+ |
| L'Île-d'Olonne | 2,802 | —1 | —1 | —1 |
| Sainte-Foy | 2,717 | —1 | —1 | —1 |
| Talmont-Saint-Hilaire | 8,492 | 6 | 13.1 | B |
| Brem-sur-Mer | 2,993 | —1 | —1 | —1 |
| Les Achards | 5,518 | 2.6 | 6.3 | A+ |
| Bretignolles-sur-Mer | 5,344 | 7 | 15.3 | B− |
1 Not graded: over 25% of the index would rest on département averages, where SSMSI doesn’t publish small counts.
Les Sables-d'Olonne’s recorded rate in the graded categories is higher than each of its 3 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 Les Sables-d'Olonne
Is Les Sables-d'Olonne safe?
It has more crime per resident than 62% of compared French towns: an average of 6.4 recorded violent incidents and 17.6 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, #37 of 46 in Vendée. Among the 181 French towns of 34,700 to 67,000 people, it is 32nd from the lowest rate. With 19,950 jobs for 15,900 working residents, Les Sables-d'Olonne 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 Les Sables-d'Olonne?
The recorded rate in the graded categories rose 13% from 2023 to 2025: 21.1 per 1,000 residents in 2023, 23.9 in 2025. The grade uses the three-year average, so one unusual year moves it less.
What is the most common recorded offense in Les Sables-d'Olonne?
Criminal damage: 570 in 2025. Then theft without violence (413), fraud (381) and drug use (222).
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.