Common Crimes: Victoria Edition

What is the most common crime in each Victorian suburb?

The crime rate in Victoria is rising. With this in mind, our criminal law specialists wanted to analyse the crime data from the last five years to discover the most common crimes across Victoria, as well as in each suburb, and to understand how crime rates are changing.

Discover how your suburb ranks with the interactive tables below.

The most common criminal offences in Victoria

Criminal Offences in Victoria

Number of Incidents by Category

Crime incident data from year ending June, 2024 (incl.)

Chart: Astor LegalSource: Crime Statistics AgencyCreated with Datawrapper

The most common criminal offence occurring in Victoria is 'theft'. Over a third (38%) of crimes in the state were categorised as theft, with 'stealing from a motor vehicle' being the most prevalent. In fact, there were over 55,000 cases of theft from a motor vehicle in the year analysed.

Following 'theft', 'breaches of orders' is the second most reported crime in Victoria. This category includes breaching family violence orders, bail conditions and intervention orders. 'Assault and related offences' closely followed as the third highest reported crime in Victoria.

The LGAs with the highest crime rates in Victoria

The LGAs with the highest crime rate in Victoria

Ranking the Local Government Areas by Rate of Criminal Incidents

	LGA	Total Incidents	Rate per 100,000 population	Rate Rank / 79
1	Melbourne	29,260	15,115	79
2	Latrobe	9,098	11,579	78
3	Yarra	11,096	11,045	77
4	Mildura	5,980	10,330	76
5	Ararat	1,096	9,354	75
6	Port Phillip	10,414	9,208	74
7	Maribyrnong	8,489	9,042	73
8	Greater Shepparton	6,138	8,843	72
9	Horsham	1,793	8,828	71
10	Greater Dandenong	14,675	8,806	70
11	Frankston	11,598	8,037	69
12	Ballarat	9,591	7,986	68
13	East Gippsland	3,906	7,908	67
14	Stonnington	8,980	7,742	66
15	Benalla	1,092	7,476	65
16	Wodonga	3,317	7,417	64
17	Central Goldfields	1,010	7,389	63
18	Campaspe	2,807	7,339	62
19	Darebin	11,528	7,233	61
20	Wellington	3,251	6,997	60
21	Brimbank	13,617	6,871	59
22	Greater Bendigo	8,483	6,765	58
23	Swan Hill	1,427	6,737	57
24	Northern Grampians	798	6,710	56
25	Gannawarra	683	6,578	55
26	Warrnambool	2,336	6,467	54
27	Wangaratta	1,943	6,455	53
28	Glenelg	1,278	6,376	52
29	Southern Grampians	1,029	6,217	51
30	Mitchell	3,322	5,938	50
31	Greater Geelong	16,990	5,896	49
32	Moira	1,768	5,692	48
33	Yarriambiack	361	5,682	47
34	Merri-bek	10,683	5,663	46
35	Baw Baw	3,462	5,655	45
36	Colac-Otway	1,229	5,487	44
37	Hume	14,817	5,479	43
38	Kingston	9,113	5,469	42
39	Bass Coast	2,350	5,420	41
40	Hobsons Bay	4,983	5,251	40
41	Moonee Valley	6,803	5,209	39
42	South Gippsland	1,563	5,048	38
43	Banyule	6,605	4,963	37
44	Mornington Peninsula	8,464	4,957	36
45	Melton	10,496	4,887	35
46	Maroondah	5,794	4,876	34
47	Monash	10,151	4,830	33
48	Moorabool	1,831	4,594	32
49	Wyndham	15,455	4,593	31
50	Knox	7,431	4,559	30
51	Casey	18,254	4,533	29
52	Whittlesea	10,994	4,375	28
53	Loddon	337	4,360	27
54	Buloke	259	4,308	26
55	Hindmarsh	238	4,283	25
56	Whitehorse	7,702	4,232	24
57	Cardinia	5,493	4,223	23
58	Mount Alexander	878	4,218	22
59	Strathbogie	481	4,145	21
60	Pyrenees	309	3,924	20
61	Corangamite	623	3,902	19
62	Bayside	4,182	3,893	18
63	Glen Eira	6,001	3,735	17
64	West Wimmera	141	3,601	16
65	Murrindindi	554	3,558	15
66	Hepburn	585	3,494	14
67	Mansfield	372	3,472	13
68	Boroondara	6,134	3,445	12
69	Yarra Ranges	5,135	3,218	11
70	Towong	191	3,038	10
71	Macedon Ranges	1,584	2,958	9
72	Manningham	3,893	2,953	8
73	Moyne	513	2,884	7
74	Surf Coast	1,018	2,571	6
75	Indigo	444	2,493	5
76	Alpine	303	2,297	4
77	Nillumbik	1,424	2,251	3
78	Golden Plains	565	2,154	2
79	Queenscliffe	44	1,308

Crime incident data from year ending June, 2024 (incl.). Rates per 100,000 population are derived using the incident count for the reference period and population estimates from the Department of Transport and Planning (DTP) Victoria in Future data.

Table: Astor LegalSource: Crime Statistics AgencyGet the dataCreated with Datawrapper

Melbourne has the highest crime rate of all LGAs in Victoria. This is no surprise, as city areas have a high population density and a large number of transient visitors, which increase opportunities for crime. In addition, cities—particularly Melbourne—have vibrant nightlife that leads to increased alcohol-related crime.

On the other end of the scale, the seaside village of Queenscliff has the lowest crime rate in Victoria. This may be because of the small town nature of the LGA, as well as the aging population of the area and low socioeconomic disparities.

The most common crimes in each LGA in Victoria

So how does your suburb compare to the rest of Victoria? Use our interactive map to find out.

Number of Criminal Incidents in Victoria

Total number of incidents per Local Government Area (LGA)

Rate of Criminal Incidents in Victoria

Rate of incidents by Local Government Area (LGA) per 100,000 population

Crime incident data from year ending June, 2024 (incl.). Incidents are recorded by location of occurrence.

Map: Astor LegalSource: Crime Statistics AgencyMap data: ABSCreated with Datawrapper

The LGAs with highest and lowest rate of each crime in Victoria

Criminal Offences in Victoria

Most common offences by total number and where its most likely to occur

Offence	Category	Worst LGA - Incidents	Worst LGA - Incidents (#)	Worst LGA - Rate	Worst LGA - Rate p/ 100,000	Total Incidents (#)
1	Abduction	Abduction and related offences	Casey	16	West Wimmera	26	146
2	Aggravated robbery	Robbery	Melbourne	226	Melbourne	117	2,384
3	Assault police, emergency services or other authorised officer	Assault and related offences	Melbourne	195	Melbourne	101	1,899
4	Aviation regulations offences	Transport regulation offences	Greater Dandenong, Greater Geelong, Mildura, Wodonga	1	Wodonga	2	4
5	Begging	Public nuisance offences	Melbourne	8	Melbourne	4	12
6	Betting and gaming offences	Other government regulatory offences	Wyndham, Melbourne, Greater Geelong, Glen Eira, Mildura, Moonee Valley	2	Mildura	4	17
7	Blackmail	Blackmail and extortion	Melbourne	17	Pyrenees	38	282
8	Breach bail conditions	Breaches of orders	Melbourne	1,688	Latrobe	913	16,864
9	Breach family violence order	Breaches of orders	Casey	1,444	Latrobe	1,305	27,042
10	Breach intervention order	Breaches of orders	Greater Geelong	176	Gannawarra	260	3,266
11	Breach of other orders	Breaches of orders	Melbourne	137	Greater Shepparton	128	1,619
12	Bribery of officials	Bribery	Wyndham, Brimbank, Swan Hill	1	Swan Hill	5	3
13	Cause a bushfire	Arson	Melton	7	Gannawarra	19	34
14	Cause damage by fire	Arson	Ballarat	123	Wodonga	119	2,145
15	Commercial regulation offences	Other government regulatory offences	Hobsons Bay	6	Hobsons Bay	6	11
16	Criminal damage	Property damage	Melbourne	1,754	Ararat	999	32,984
17	Criminal intent	Disorderly and offensive conduct	Melbourne	24	Ararat	17	317
18	Cruelty to animals	Miscellaneous offences	Casey	8	Moyne	23	123
19	Cultivate drugs	Cultivate or manufacture drugs	Brimbank	60	Gannawarra	58	655
20	Dangerous driving	Dangerous and negligent acts endangering people	Greater Bendigo	95	Mildura	105	1,214
21	Dangerous substance offences	Miscellaneous offences	Melbourne, Ballarat, Bayside	1	Bayside	1	3
22	Deceptive business practices	Deception	Hume, Latrobe, Whittlesea, Kingston, Cardinia, Horsham	1	Horsham	5	6
23	Defamation and libel	Public nuisance offences	Macedon Ranges	1	Macedon Ranges	2	1
24	Disorderly conduct	Disorderly and offensive conduct	Melbourne	61	Melbourne	32	196
25	Drink driving	Regulatory driving offences	Melbourne, West Wimmera	1	West Wimmera	26	2
26	Drug dealing	Drug dealing and trafficking	Melbourne, Melton, East Gippsland	3	Central Goldfields	7	32
27	Drug possession	Drug use and possession	Melbourne	855	Buloke	1,115	10,229
28	Drug trafficking	Drug dealing and trafficking	Melbourne	168	Greater Shepparton	98	2,334
29	Drug use	Drug use and possession	Latrobe	9	West Wimmera	26	59
30	Drunk and disorderly in public	Disorderly and offensive conduct	Melbourne	185	Melbourne	96	896
31	Environmental offences	Miscellaneous offences	Melbourne, Monash	4	Gannawarra	29	63
32	Escape custody	Justice procedures	Melbourne, Darebin, Frankston	4	Horsham	15	50
33	Explosives offences	Weapons and explosives offences	Casey, Wangaratta	12	Wangaratta	40	188
34	Extortion	Blackmail and extortion	Hume	9	Nillumbik	6	81
35	Fail to appear	Justice procedures	Mornington Peninsula	1	Mornington Peninsula	1	1
36	FALSE imprisonment	Abduction and related offences	Melbourne	19	Yarriambiack	16	258
37	Fare evasion	Theft	Greater Dandenong, Darebin	3	Darebin	2	16
38	Firearms offences	Weapons and explosives offences	Hume	134	Towong	191	2,494
39	Forgery and counterfeiting	Deception	Hume	123	Latrobe	61	1,965
40	FV Common assault	Assault and related offences	Casey	1,104	Latrobe	589	13,800
41	FV Harassment and private nuisance	Stalking, harassment and threatening behaviour	Hume	50	Central Goldfields	37	697
42	FV Serious assault	Assault and related offences	Wyndham	437	Greater Shepparton	415	7,833
43	FV Stalking	Stalking, harassment and threatening behaviour	Casey	96	Warrnambool	78	1,356
44	FV Threatening behaviour	Stalking, harassment and threatening behaviour	Casey	204	Ararat	128	2,634
45	Graffiti	Property damage	Melbourne	392	Horsham	596	3,723
46	Hacking	Public security offences	Glen Eira	3	Wellington	4	20
47	Hoaxes	Public nuisance offences	Melbourne	31	Gannawarra	29	150
48	Homicide and related offences	Homicide and related offences	Casey	12	Strathbogie	35	198
49	Immigration offences	Public security offences	Hume	1	Hume	0	1
50	Improper movement on public or private space	Public nuisance offences	Melbourne	167	Benalla	103	2,192
51	Licensing offences	Regulatory driving offences	Hobsons Bay	2	Alpine	8	12
52	Liquor and tobacco licensing offences	Other government regulatory offences	Melbourne, Stonnington	9	Hindmarsh	1	95
53	Manufacture drugs	Cultivate or manufacture drugs	Brimbank	1	Brimbank	1>	1
54	Maritime regulations offences	Transport regulation offences	Mornington Peninsula	14	West Wimmera	26	77
55	Motor vehicle theft	Theft	Melbourne	1,152	Melbourne	595	16,249
56	Neglect or ill treatment of people	Dangerous and negligent acts endangering people	Melbourne, Latrobe	3	Latrobe	4	18
57	Non-Aggravated robbery	Robbery	Melbourne	64	Melbourne	33	327
58	Non-FV Common assault	Assault and related offences	Melbourne	1,515	Melbourne	783	11,854
59	Non-FV Harassment and private nuisance	Stalking, harassment and threatening behaviour	Melbourne	38	Mansfield	37	680
60	Non-FV Serious assault	Assault and related offences	Melbourne	778	Melbourne	402	8,003
61	Non-FV Stalking	Stalking, harassment and threatening behaviour	Melbourne	60	Northern Grampians	84	858
62	Non-FV Threatening behaviour	Stalking, harassment and threatening behaviour	Melbourne	124	Swan Hill	132	2,062
63	Non-residential aggravated burglary	Burglary/Break and enter	Kingston	19	Kingston	11	242
64	Non-residential non-aggravated burglary	Burglary/Break and enter	Melbourne	1,044	Melbourne	539	13,464
65	Obtain benefit by deception	Deception	Melbourne	1,497	Melbourne	773	16,488
66	Offensive conduct	Disorderly and offensive conduct	Melbourne	257	Melbourne	133	1,406
67	Offensive language	Disorderly and offensive conduct	Melbourne	27	West Wimmera	77	235
68	Other dangerous or negligent acts endangering people	Dangerous and negligent acts endangering people	Casey	124	Corangamite	94	1,943
69	Other deception offences	Deception	Melbourne	22	Melbourne	11	141
70	Other drug offences	Other drug offences	Horsham	3	Horsham	15	12
71	Other fire related offences	Arson	Yarra Ranges	50	Central Goldfields	73	419
72	Other government regulatory offences	Other government regulatory offences	East Gippsland	4	Strathbogie	9	31
73	Other justice procedures offences	Justice procedures	Melbourne	90	Gannawarra	96	1,084
74	Other miscellaneous offences	Miscellaneous offences	Melton	3	Hindmarsh	18	22
75	Other property damage offences	Property damage	Melbourne	24	West Wimmera	26	307
76	Other public nuisance offences	Public nuisance offences	Latrobe	3	Mansfield	9	9
77	Other public security offences	Public security offences	Hume	1	Hume	0	1
78	Other regulatory driving offences	Regulatory driving offences	Melbourne, Mornington Peninsula, Maroondah	2	Northern Grampians	8	15
79	Other theft	Theft	Melbourne	4,674	Melbourne	2,415	42,323
80	Other transport regulation offences	Transport regulation offences	Monash	9	Buloke	17	71
81	Pedestrian offences	Transport regulation offences	Maribyrnong	2	Maribyrnong	2	7
82	Pervert the course of justice or commit perjury	Justice procedures	Casey, Melbourne, Melton	20	Benalla	41	350
83	Pornography and censorship offences	Other government regulatory offences	Horsham, Nillumbik	1	Horsham	5	2
84	Possess drug manufacturing equipment or precursor	Cultivate or manufacture drugs	Melbourne	91	Latrobe	62	1,271
85	Possess equipment to make false instrument	Deception	Melbourne, Maribyrnong, Bayside, Greater Bendigo	1	Maribyrnong	1	4
86	Prison regulation offences	Justice procedures	Melbourne	38	Wangaratta	23	261
87	Privacy offences	Public nuisance offences	Melbourne	10	Gannawarra	10	87
88	Professional malpractice and misrepresentation	Deception	Melbourne	7	Loddon	13	71
89	Prohibited and controlled weapons offences	Weapons and explosives offences	Melbourne	697	Melbourne	360	6,414
90	Prostitution offences	Other government regulatory offences	Melbourne, Boroondara, Greater Shepparton	1	Greater Shepparton	1	3
91	Public health and safety offences	Miscellaneous offences	Melbourne	7	Indigo	6	28
92	Public transport	Transport regulation offences	Melbourne	9	Gannawarra	10	64
93	Receiving or handling stolen goods	Theft	Melbourne	518	Melbourne	268	6,385
94	Residential aggravated burglary	Burglary/Break and enter	Casey	365	Mildura	228	5,672
95	Residential non-aggravated burglary	Burglary/Break and enter	Melbourne	871	Stonnington	597	19,228
96	Resist or hinder officer	Justice procedures	Greater Geelong	284	Latrobe	340	6,447
97	Riot and affray	Disorderly and offensive conduct	Melbourne	64	East Gippsland	45	642
98	Sexual offences	Sexual offences	Melbourne	593	Ballarat	443	10,337
99	Slavery and sexual servitude offences	Abduction and related offences	Melbourne	1	Melbourne	1	1
100	State FALSE information	Deception	Melbourne	39	Gannawarra	29	509
101	Steal from a motor vehicle	Theft	Casey	2,961	Yarra	1,952	55,163
102	Steal from a retail store	Theft	Melbourne	2,205	Melbourne	1,139	26,132
103	Terrorism offences	Public security offences	Whittlesea	2	Whittlesea	1	2
104	Theft of a bicycle	Theft	Melbourne	1,746	Melbourne	902	7,959
105	Throw or discharge object endangering people	Dangerous and negligent acts endangering people	Melbourne	68	Glenelg	75	982
106	Unknown aggravated burglary	Burglary/Break and enter	Greater Dandenong, Whitehorse, Mornington Peninsula, Monash, Knox, Hobsons Bay, Maroondah, Bayside, Greater Bendigo	1	Hobsons Bay	1	9
107	Unknown non-aggravated burglary	Burglary/Break and enter	Melbourne	6	Yarriambiack	32	57

Crime incident data from year ending June, 2024 (incl.). Incidents are recorded by location of occurrence.

Table: Astor LegalSource: Crime Statistics AgencyCreated with Datawrapper

There are certain LGAs where you are most likely to see each incident type reported. 'Stealing from a motor vehicle' is the most common crime in Victoria, but Casey experiences the highest number of incidents, while Yarra experiences the highest rate of incidents.

Out of the 107 crimes analysed, Melbourne has the highest number of incidents for 48 of those crimes, including 'criminal damage to property', 'stealing from a retail store' and 'residential non-aggravated burglary'. Melbourne also has the highest rate of 20 crimes, including 'motor vehicle theft', 'aggravated robbery' and 'disorderly conduct'.

Changes in the number of criminal offences in Victoria

Criminal Offences in Victoria: 5 Year Change

Criminal Offences with the Greatest Increase (2019 - 2024)

Crime rate data from year ending June, 2024 (incl.).Offence types with with less than 500 yearly offences have been excluded.

Table: Astor LegalSource: Crime Statistics AgencyCreated with Datawrapper

Overall, the crime rate in Victoria is rising by 6.4%. 'Cultivate or manufacture drugs' has seen the largest percentage increase in crimes over the last five years, rising by 75%. This is a significant increase compared to other crimes, with 'sexual offences' having the second-highest increase at 26%. Interestingly, despite the rate of 'cultivate or manufacture drugs' rising 'drug deal and trafficking' and 'drug use and possession' have both decreased in incidents. 'Disorderly and offensive conduct' is the crime with the largest percentage decrease, with incidents declining by 68.5%.

About the data

The data used for this study was obtained from the Crimes Statistics Agency, who present statistics recorded by Victoria Police in the Law Enforcement Assistance Program (LEAP). This study analyses recorded criminal incidents in the year ending June 2024. The incidents are recorded by the Local Government Area (LGA) of occurrence. This excludes criminal incidents at Justice institutions and immigration facilities, Unincorporated Victoria and where the geographic location is unknown.

The rate per 100,000 population illustrates the relative crime per head of residential population for each LGA over the course of a year. This is computed by dividing the number of recorded incidents by the residential population for each area. Rates per 100,000 population are derived using the incident count for the reference period and population estimates from the Department of Transport and Planning (DTP) Victoria in Future data. For more information on the data source, see explanatory notes from the CSA. Rates should be treated cautiously for regions with high visitor numbers relative to the residential population.

State rankings are based on 79 LGAs available for comparison for incidents and rates per 100,000 population.

In order to maintain confidentiality, sensitive offence counts for subdivisions 'Homicide and related offences' and 'Sexual offences' with a value of 3 or less are given a value of 2 to calculate totals.

^ DTP is the agency responsible for the development of the official state government population projections, which incorporate the latest population estimates, evidence from the latest Census plus assumptions regarding future births, deaths, migration and local development trends.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.

Common Crimes: Victoria Edition

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