Photo: Ian Rob · CC BY-SA 2.0Set against the 40 Irish towns closest in size, Kells records less crime than 74%
4 of the 5 towns next door with figures record less crime per resident. Across all the graded crimes, Kells lands on B− (#8 of 11 in Co. Meath): close to the middle of Irish towns, on incidents the Gardaí recorded in its station areas from 2023 to 2025. Add to that, recorded violent incidents ran at 4.8 per 1,000 residents a year and burglary and damage at 5.0, against 5.7 and 6.1 in the typical town its size.
Incidents per 1,000 residents (Census 2022) a year, 2023–2025 average, in the Garda station areas residents live in. Homicide and sexual offences aren’t published by station, so no figure here includes them.
What stands out about safety in Kells
Less crime than many places its size
Among the 40 Irish towns closest in size, Kells ranks 11th, counting from the least graded crime: lower than Ferrybank, Marino and Rathgar, higher than Oranmore, Sallins and Sutton. Towns its size ↓
Close to the Irish rate
The station areas Kells’s residents live in record 9.9 incidents of violence, burglary and damage per 1,000 residents a year (2023–2025), against 11.9 across Ireland: within a fifth of the national rate. Safety Grade ↓
Written from CSO’s recorded crime by Garda station (CJA11) and Census 2022. Figures are incidents the Gardaí recorded, not convictions.
The grade: B− for Kells
How sure: The rate comes from Garda station areas, shared out by where residents live, not from crime inside the town’s own boundary.
The grade counts assaults and harassment, kidnapping, robbery, weapons offences, burglary and damage per resident, averaged over three years, and places the town among every Irish town and city neighbourhood of 1,000 people or more (the five city totals aren’t in it).
Its place: #8 of 11 in Co. Meath and #114 of 320 Irish towns.
Violent crime, burglary and damage the Gardaí recorded per resident, 2023–2025, against Irish towns of 1,000 people or more.
What was recorded, by type
Against the typical town its size, Kells runs highest on burglary (2.2 per 1,000 against 1.8). Theft and public order offences sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|
| Theft | not graded | 7.4 | 11.6 |
| Dangerous or negligent acts | not graded | 5.8 | 5.3 |
| Assaults and harassment | Violent | 4.3 | 4.8 |
| Road and traffic offences | not graded | 3.3 | 9.3 |
| Damage to property | Burglary & damage | 2.9 | 4.4 |
| Burglary | Burglary & damage | 2.2 | 1.8 |
| Public order offences | not graded | 2 | 5 |
| Drug offences | not graded | 0.8 | 3.1 |
| Offences against justice | not graded | 0.6 | 1.5 |
| Robbery, extortion and hijacking | Violent | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Weapons and explosives | Violent | 0.3 | 0.5 |
| Other offences | not graded | 0.3 | 0.3 |
| Kidnapping | Violent | 0 | 0 |
The groups are CSO’s. Dangerous or negligent acts, drug offences, road and traffic offences and offences against justice count Garda checks more than victims; they, theft, public order and other offences are shown but not graded. Homicide and sexual offences aren’t published by station; fraud is left out.
Per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025 average. The tick on each bar is the typical (median) town among Irish towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people.
Kells is 11th of 40 towns its size, counting from the least graded crime
| # | Town | People | Violent | Burglary & damage | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Passage West-Monkstown Cork | 6,051 | 2.1 | 1.6 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 3 | Dunshaughlin Meath | 6,644 | 3.1 | 3.2 | A− |
| … | |||||
| 5 | Dunboyne Meath | 7,155 | 3 | 4.1 | B+ |
| … | |||||
| 8 | Oranmore Galway | 5,819 | 4 | 3.9 | B+ |
| 9 | Sallins Kildare | 6,269 | 4.1 | 4.8 | B |
| 10 | Sutton Dublin | 5,789 | 3.8 | 5.4 | B |
| 11 | Kells Meath | 6,608 | 4.8 | 5 | B− |
| 12 | Ferrybank Kilkenny | 5,766 | 5.2 | 5.1 | B− |
| 13 | Marino Dublin | 6,272 | 3.7 | 6.8 | B− |
| 14 | Rathgar Dublin | 5,768 | 4 | 6.7 | B− |
| … | |||||
| 40 | Temple Bar Dublin | 7,276 | 44.7 | 33.9 | D− |
The 40 Irish towns and city neighbourhoods of 2,500+ people closest in population; the city totals are left out. Graded crime: violent crime, burglary and damage.
Graded crime per 1,000 residents a year, 2023 to 2025, counting from the least: towns ranked near Kells, and others in Co. Meath.
About 5 recorded violent incidents for each 1,000 residents, every year
Violence per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025
Burglary & damage per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025
A crime isn’t a victim: one person can report several, and crimes in a town centre often involve visitors rather than residents.
And about 5 burglaries or acts of criminal damage, plus 7 thefts, a year (2023–2025 average). Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded incident.
What was recorded in Kells, year by year
Violent · per 1,000 residents
Burglary & damage · per 1,000 residents
Its highest year was 2024, at 11.7 per 1,000 residents, and its lowest 2016, at 6.8. Across Ireland the same rate went from 12 in 2016 to 11.6 in 2025. At about 65 graded incidents a year, a few cases move these figures a long way.
Every year as a table
| Year | Violent | Burglary & damage | Graded | Ireland | All recorded crime |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 4.5 | 3.5 | 7.9 | 11.6 | 25.4 |
| 2024 | 6 | 5.7 | 11.7 | 12.1 | 33.3 |
| 2023 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 11.9 | 31.5 |
| 2022 | 4.3 | 5.9 | 10.2 | 11.6 | 30.8 |
| 2021 | 3.2 | 4.7 | 7.9 | 10.2 | 35.4 |
| 2020 | 3.8 | 4.7 | 8.5 | 10.6 | 36.4 |
| 2019 | 4.5 | 5.8 | 10.3 | 12.8 | 36.4 |
| 2018 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 12.4 | 27.3 |
| 2017 | 2.2 | 6.8 | 9.1 | 12.8 | 31.5 |
| 2016 | 2.5 | 4.3 | 6.8 | 12 | 30.1 |
CSO CJA11, recorded crime incidents by Garda station, 2016–2025, shared to the town by where its residents live. Every year is divided by the residents counted in 2022, so the line moves with recorded crime, not with population. CSO publishes recorded crime “under reservation”, its flag on the quality of Garda recording.
Violence, burglary and damage the Gardaí recorded each year in the station areas where Kells’s residents live, per 1,000 residents, against Ireland as a whole.
Crime in the places around Kells
Kells records more graded crime per resident than 4 of its 5 neighbours; only Navan records more. Mullagh, 10.5 km away, records 3.1 recorded violent incidents per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Kells’s 4.8.
Per 1,000 residents a year, the same three-year average. Tap a town for its safety page.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Station areas, not the town’s boundary. Crime is published by Garda station. Each station’s incidents are divided by the people living in its area (Census 2022), and Kells takes the rates of the areas its residents live in, weighted by how many live in each.
- Checks are shown, not graded. Road traffic, dangerous driving, drug and justice offences mostly record Garda activity: one rural station can book thousands of camera detections. The grade leaves them out, with theft and public order, and counts violence, burglary and damage.
- Each year, and one average. CSO publishes crime by station once a year. The chart follows every year since 2016; the grade averages 2023, 2024 and 2025, because a small station area’s count swings from year to year. There are no months.
- No streets. No street- or ward-level crime is published in Ireland: the finest grain is the Garda station area.
Questions about safety in Kells
Is Kells safe?
The Gardaí recorded about 4.8 violent incidents and 5 burglaries or acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year in the station areas Kells’s residents live in, averaged over 2023–2025. That earns a B− for safety: close to the middle of Irish towns.
What is the most common crime in Kells?
Theft: about 49 a year (2023–2025 average). Next came dangerous or negligent acts (39) and assaults and harassment (28).
Is crime going up in Kells?
The recorded rate in the graded categories rose 17% from 2016 to 2025: 6.8 per 1,000 residents in 2016, 7.9 in 2025. In a town this size a few dozen cases move the figure, so the grade uses the three-year average.
How does Kells compare with Ireland as a whole?
The station areas Kells’s residents live in record 9.9 incidents of violence, burglary and damage per 1,000 residents a year (2023–2025). Across Ireland the figure is 11.9.
Is Kells safer than the towns around it?
4 of the 5 neighbouring towns with figures record less violence, burglary and damage per resident than Kells (9.9 per 1,000 a year). The lowest is Athboy, at 1.2.
How sure is Kells’s Safety Grade?
The rate comes from Garda station areas, shared out by where residents live, not from crime inside the town’s own boundary.
Source: CSO, Recorded crime incidents by Garda station (CJA11), 2023–2025, and Census 2022 (CC BY 4.0); TownRatings calculation.
Sources: CSO, Recorded crime incidents by Garda station (CJA11), 2023–2025 · CSO, Census 2022 Small Areas and the 2011 Garda sub-districts · Safety Grade: TownRatings calculation. Under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).
Contains Central Statistics Office (CSO) data, Census 2022, and Tailte Éireann boundaries (CSO Urban Areas, Small Areas, local electoral areas, constituencies), under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).