Lyon scores 90 out of 100 (very high safety) on World Safety Map, ranked 94 of 6168 cities worldwide. The score combines the homicide rate, nearby conflict deaths, income equality and human development from published data (UNODC, UCDP, World Bank, UNDP).

Is Lyon safe?

France · Europe · data updated 2026-09-04

89.8Very high · rank 94 / 6,168
safer than 98% of ranked cities

Lyon is a city in France, home to about 1.2M people, and one of 6,168 cities worldwide ranked on this site from published safety data. It currently ranks 94 of 6,168, with a safety score of 89.8 out of 100, which puts it in the top band of the ranking.

US 2/4 Exercise increased caution

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 Lyon really?

The most direct evidence is measured in the city itself: Lyon recorded 0.3 homicides per 100,000 residents in 2021 - well below the global city median. 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 Lyon. Read what each one says →

The numbers

Homicide rate: 0.3 /100kcity-measured, 2021
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: 1.2Murban centre · 4,971/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 Lyon 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

Low homicide40%93

Peace25%100

Equality25%74

Development10%92

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 Lyon that gives 89.8/100. Full methodology, anchors and sources →

Lyon compared with Saint-Étienne

The nearest ranked city of comparable size. Green favours Lyon, red favours Saint-Étienne.
Measure	Lyon	Saint-Étienne	Difference
Safety score	89.8	79.4	+10.4 — better for Lyon
Homicide ratecity-measured where published, otherwise the national rate	0.3 /100k	1.3 /100k	−1.0 /100k — better for Lyon
Conflict deaths within 100 km	0	0	±0

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 Saint-Étienne →

Nearby cities

See Lyon on the interactive map → · Safest cities in Europe → · Full travel briefings →