Sydney

Australia · Oceania

97Safety indexLower concern

U.S. State DeptLevel 1 · Normal precautions

Global Affairs CanadaLevel 1 · Normal precautions

UK FCDOLevel 1 · Normal precautions

5/5metric categories covered

Open comparison

-33.87°, 151.21°

Regional locator · ring ≈ the figure's geographic unit

The safety picture

A plain-language read of the sourced figures below

Sydney scores 97 out of 100, safer than about 82% of the cities we score.

Its homicide rate is 1.5 per 100,000, near 0.9 times the median we track, but that figure covers the wider state and rests on a definition that differs from our standard. Robbery is recorded at 26.5 per 100,000, also a state-level figure and one we derived from a count and a population, so read both as upper bounds on the city itself. The three governments we track, the US, Canada, and the UK, all hold Australia at their lowest advisory level, with no disagreement. Their advisories flag pickpocketing and scams for visitors. On perception, 90.8% of people said they feel safe walking alone at night, though that result is national rather than for Sydney alone.

Safety dimensions

Larger area = more concern

Violent crime3

Robbery & theft5

Travel advisory0

The radar shows the three sourced, comparable risk measures (homicide, robbery, the strictest travel-advisory level). Tourist petty-crime signals are a different kind of measure — how often advisories mention them — so they are shown as rows under Tourist-specific incidents, not as radar axes.

Homicide / general violence

Intentional homicides (per 100,000)

1.5/100k

ABS "Homicide and related offences" = murder + attempted murder + manslaughter (ANZSOC 01). It includes attempts, so it runs higher than the ICCS 0101 intentional-homicide definition used for peer cities — read it as the ABS homicide-and-related rate, not strictly completed homicides.

Figure is for New South Wales (state / province), wider than Sydney itself.

Primary source: Australian Bureau of Statistics — Recorded Crime – Victims (states and territories), 2024

Where this sits on the scaleGuarded

01·3·8·20·40 /100k

Among tracked citiessafer than 52% of tracked cities

1.5/100k

0/100k safest101.2/100k

Robbery (police-recorded)

Robbery (per 100,000)

26.5/100k

Figure is for New South Wales (state / province), wider than Sydney itself.

Rate computed by project-atlas: 2267 (count, 2024) ÷ 8545100 population (ABS — National state and territory population (ERP at 31 December 2024), 2024) × 100k.

Primary source: Australian Bureau of Statistics — Recorded Crime – Victims (states and territories), 2024

Where this sits on the scaleLow

040·120·250·400·600 /100k

Among tracked citiessafer than 81% of tracked cities

26.5/100k

0.4/100k safest3097.8/100k

Travel advisories

U.S. State Department

U.S. State DeptLevel 1 · Normal precautions

Primary source: U.S. Department of State — Australia Travel Advisory

Global Affairs Canada

Global Affairs CanadaLevel 1 · Normal precautions

Primary source: Global Affairs Canada — Australia Travel Advice and Advisories

UK FCDO

UK FCDOLevel 1 · Normal precautions

Primary source: UK FCDO — Australia travel advice

Smartraveller (Australia)

No advisory on record.

Perceived safety

How safe people say they feel, from official population surveys — a separate signal, not part of the Safety Index.

Feel safe walking alone at night

National survey

90.8%feel safe

90.8% of people surveyed · Australia · 2022

Population-weighted combine of the ABS men (94%) and women (85%) figures — ABS publishes no combined persons total.

Base is people who actually walked alone after dark (not the whole adult population), so not directly comparable to the UN/Eurostat figures.

Survey figure is for Australia (country), wider than Sydney itself.

Primary source: Australian Bureau of Statistics — General feelings of safety (Personal Safety Survey)

Tourist-specific incidents

How often government travel advisories mention each — a source-consensus signal, not a risk rate.

Pickpocketing & petty theft in travel advisories

3 of 3 advisories mention this

project-atlas count: 3 of 3 reviewed government advisories mention this. A source-consensus signal, not a measured risk rate.

Primary source: Global Affairs Canada — Australia travel advice (Safety and security)

Scams & fraud in travel advisories

3 of 3 advisories mention this

project-atlas count: 3 of 3 reviewed government advisories mention this. A source-consensus signal, not a measured risk rate.

Primary source: Global Affairs Canada — Australia travel advice (Safety and security)