Forget preconceived ideas about delinquency in large cities. When it comes to burglaries, it is not the big cities that hold the records, but much more surprising towns.
We often imagine large metropolises as bastions of delinquency, but when it comes to burglaries, this is far from being the case. Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Lille, Toulouse, Nice, Nantes, or even Bordeaux… Contrary to what one might think, none of these cities is among the most burglarized in France, in proportion to their number of inhabitants. For example, the capital recorded only 7,078 break-ins over the course of a year, according to the latest figures from the Interior Ministry. This equates to a rate of 3.36 burglaries per 1,000 inhabitants, well below the municipality which tops the ranking. The same goes for the Marseille city: there are 4.91 burglaries per 1,000 inhabitants, which does not even place it in the Top 10.
By deliberately only taking municipalities with more than 20,000 inhabitants, we realize that it is not the size of the city that attracts thieves the most. Burglars seem to favor vacation destinations, or the outskirts of large cities, which they perhaps prefer for their calm or their topography: there are more houses far from neighbors than in dense metropolises, which limits the risk of being caught in the act. As for seaside resorts popular with tourists, vigilance is undoubtedly more relaxed in summer, which encourages intrusions and makes it easier to spot criminals.
Thus, it is the famous town of Agde, in Hérault, which concentrates the most property crimes. With 244 incidents recorded for just under 30,000 permanent residents – although the population there increases almost tenfold during the summer period – this is equivalent to a rate of 8.15 burglaries per 1,000 inhabitants, or two and a half times more than Paris! In second position, we find Eysines, a town of around 25,000 inhabitants in a suburb near Bordeaux, with a rate of 6.93‰. It is Annemasse, a town bordering Geneva in Haute-Savoie, which closes the podium with 6.8 break-ins per 1,000 inhabitants. Mont-Saint-Aignan, in the suburbs of Rouen, comes just behind with a rate of 6.55‰; followed by Saint-Raphaël, a seaside resort in the Var very popular in summer, which closes the Top 5 with 6.33‰.
Niort, capital of the Deux-Sèvres department where nearly 60,000 people live, has a total of 372 burglaries over the year, a rate of 6.22‰. It is closely followed by Saint-Cloud, the only Parisian suburb in the ranking, with a rate of 6.2‰. With similar rates of 5.96 and 5.9 ‰, we then find Kourou in Guyana, and Sainte-Foy-lès-Lyon on the outskirts of Lyon. Finally, it is Martigues, a town of just under 50,000 inhabitants west of Marseille, which comes in tenth position with 282 burglaries last year, which therefore amounts to 5.84 cases per 1,000 inhabitants.
This panorama of the most burglarized cities in France clearly shows that crime is not limited to large French cities. Moreover, if we look at all the municipalities in the country, regardless of their population, it is actually Hauteville-sur-Mer which comes out on top. Populated by only 700 inhabitants, this small town located in the Manche department recorded 14 burglaries in 2025, which is therefore equivalent to a record rate of 19.8‰, four times more than Marseille and almost six times more than Paris.
