Is Lens safe?
France · Europe · data updated 2026-09-04
Lens is a city in France, home to about 164k people, and one of 6,168 cities worldwide ranked on this site from published safety data. It currently ranks 1,970 of 6,168, with a safety score of 79.4 out of 100, placing it clearly above the global midpoint.
Emergency Ambulance 15 · Fire 18 · Police 17
No official source names specific areas to avoid here: travel advisories for France are country-level, and no published dataset covers neighborhood-level crime - so this briefing does not invent it.
How safe is Lens really?
No published homicide figure exists for Lens itself, so the national rate stands in: France recorded 1.3 homicides per 100,000 people in 2024 - well below the global city median. The city itself may be safer or more dangerous than its country's average. France is also one of the more equal societies in the dataset (Gini 31.8), and low inequality is the strongest structural predictor of low city violence in this data.
What the travel advisories say
The US State Department currently rates France at level 2 of 4 - "Exercise increased caution" (updated 2025-05-27). The UK Foreign Office publishes travel advice for France without any avoid-travel warning in force. Both advisories are country-level: no official source publishes verified neighborhood-level crime guidance for individual cities, which is why this page reports named areas only where an official source names them.
What to watch out for in France
Terrorism in France · Industrial action · Demonstrations · Protecting your belongings · Assaults · Drink spiking and sexual assault · Personal ID · Face-covering ban · Illegal drugs · Swimming safety · Watersports · Trekking and mountaineering · Winter sports · Road travel · +10 more
Topic headings from the official UK FCDO travel advice for France — country-level, not specific to Lens. Read what each one says →
The numbers
- Homicide rate
- 1.3 /100knational rate, 2024
- Conflict deaths
- 0within 100 km, 2022-2024 (UCDP)
- Income inequality
- Gini 31.8country, 2023
- Human development
- HDI 0.920country, 2023
- Income
- $65,110/yrGNI per capita PPP · context only, not scored
- Population
- 164kurban centre · 2,308/km²
Country context for travelers
- Road deaths
- 5.1 /100kWHO, 2019 · often the biggest real travel risk
- Political stability
- 62/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · higher = more stable
- Rule of law
- 74/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · police and courts reliability
- Corruption perceptions
- 66/100Transparency International, 2025 · higher = cleaner
- Natural-hazard risk
- 2.7/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Women, Peace & Security
- 0.86Georgetown WPS Index, 2025 · 0-1, higher = better
- Air quality
- 8.2 µg/m³PM2.5 annual mean, 2023 · WHO guideline is 5
- Safely managed drinking water
- 100%of the population, 2024 · WHO/UNICEF JMP
- Healthcare capacity
- 3.3 doctors /1k5.7 hospital beds per 1,000
Natural hazards in France
- Flood
- 7.4/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Earthquake
- 2.8/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Tsunami
- 2.5/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
Hazard types scoring under 1 out of 10 are not listed. These describe France as a whole, not Lens specifically.
Same-sex sexual activity is legal in France (as of 2025).
All country-level figures shared by every city in France; none of them affect the safety score.
How the score works
One fixed, calibrated mix for every city: 40% homicide · 25% peace · 25% equality · 10% HDI. Homicide and conflict deaths are measured outcomes; income inequality carries the structural share because it predicts real city violence far better than national income (which is shown above but scored at zero). Each factor maps to 0-100 against fixed anchors, missing data drops out and is never estimated, and cities with data behind less than half the weighting get “no data” instead of a score. For Lens that gives 79.4/100. Full methodology, anchors and sources →
Lens compared with Lille
| Measure | Lens | Lille | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Safety score | 79.4 | 76.4 | +3.0 — better for Lens |
| Homicide ratecity-measured where published, otherwise the national rate | 1.3 /100k | 1.3 /100k | ±0.0 /100k |
| Conflict deaths within 100 km | 0 | 2 | −2 — better for Lens |
Differences are plain arithmetic between the two stored figures — nothing is modelled. Both cities are in France, so they share every country-level figure and only the city-level ones are listed. Full report for Lille →
Nearby cities
- Lille 76.4
- Amiens 79.4
- Ghent, Belgium 80.9
- Charleroi, Belgium 80.9
- Brussels, Belgium 78.2
- Antwerp, Belgium 80.9
- Margate, United Kingdom 81.8
- Reims 79.4
See Lens on the interactive map → · Safest cities in Europe → · Full travel briefings →