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10 Safest Suburbs in Perth
Safety consistently ranks as the number one concern for people choosing where to live in Perth. Whether you're renting your first apartment, buying a family home, or downsizing in retirement — knowing your suburb has low rates of assault, break-ins, and vehicle theft matters more than almost any other factor.
How we measured safety
We analysed WA Police offence data across every metro suburb with a population above 500. Each suburb receives a crime score from 0 to 100 based on rates of:
- Violent crime — assault, robbery, sexual offences, threats
- Property crime — burglary, stealing, vehicle theft, property damage
- Drug offences — possession, dealing, manufacture
- Other offences — fraud, weapons, breach orders, graffiti
All rates are calculated per 100 residents and percentile-ranked, so larger and smaller suburbs are compared fairly.
What the scores mean
A crime score of 50 is the median — half of suburbs are safer, half have more crime. Here's how to read the scale:
- Above 80 — significantly safer than average
- Above 90 — exceptionally safe, crime rates barely register
- Below 40 — above-average crime, warrants caution
Price doesn't always equal safety
The safest suburbs in Perth aren't always the most expensive. While coastal and river suburbs dominate the top of this list, several suburbs in the $500-700/week rent bracket manage crime scores that rival million-dollar postcodes.
Below are the 10 suburbs with the highest crime scores in Perth metro. We've included median rent for each — because knowing a suburb is safe doesn't help if you can't afford to live there.
Menora
Menora is a small, established inner-north suburb tucked between Mt Lawley and Inglewood. Tree-lined and quiet, it shares the leafy character of its better-known neighbours while remaining under the radar. Residents enjoy easy access to the Fitzgerald Street and Mt Lawley cafe strips. Prices reflect its desirability, agents ask a premium, but those who seek it out tend to find the vibe well worth it.
Bickley
Bickley is a quiet semi-rural retreat in the Perth Hills, centred on the scenic Bickley Valley. It is best known for the Perth Observatory, vineyards like Hainault, and Core Cider House, making it a popular day-trip destination rather than a suburb people move to for convenience. Cyclists seek out its challenging hill roads, and the cool microclimate and orchard landscapes give it a distinctly unhurried, nature-immersed character far removed from suburban Perth.
Iluka
Iluka is a quiet, established coastal suburb in Perth's northern corridor, prized for its beach access and scenic sunsets over the Indian Ocean. A popular choice for families, it sits near Ocean Reef and Mullaloo with good school options nearby. The trade-off is distance from the city, commutes south can be slow, and a mandatory Homeowners Association that enforces strict property guidelines and collects additional rates.
Connolly
Connolly is a quiet, established family suburb tucked into Perth's northern corridor near Joondalup. Residents enjoy a strong sense of community, from well-lit Christmas streets to local primary schools and nearby shopping. It's a car-dependent area best suited to families seeking a calm, suburban lifestyle with easy access to Joondalup's amenities, the coast, and major arterial roads heading north or south.
Churchlands
Churchlands is a quiet, established suburb in Perth's inner northwest, best known for its catchment to Churchlands Senior High School, one of the city's most sought-after public schools. Large homes line leafy streets beside Herdsman Lake, offering easy access to nature trails and birdlife. The area is car-dependent with little in the way of cafes or retail, but families consistently rate it highly for its safe, unhurried atmosphere and strong school options.
Winthrop
Winthrop is a quiet, well-established suburb south of the river, best known for its canopy-covered streets and proximity to Applecross and Melville Senior High schools, a combination that commands a clear price premium. The suburb has a notably multicultural character, with a strong Asian-Australian community. Families seeking green, leafy streets close to Booragoon shopping and Murdoch Hospital find it a natural fit, though younger renters may find it subdued.
Sorrento
Sorrento is one of Perth's most coveted northern coastal suburbs, where the beach is the centrepiece of daily life. Residents wake to stunning Indian Ocean sunsets, swim between groynes, and grab coffee with a view. The suburb carries a well-heeled, established feel. It is quiet, safe and family-friendly, though thoroughly car-dependent, and the local marina precinct has seen better days.
Parkerville
Parkerville is a semi-rural Perth Hills suburb defined by its bush setting, tight-knit community, and beloved local pub. Residents treasure the natural landscape and peaceful lifestyle, but live with the constant reality of bushfire risk, as the suburb has been directly hit by major fires twice in a decade. It's firmly car-dependent, fiercely protective of its low-density character, and unmistakably hills.
Tapping
Tapping is a quiet, family-oriented suburb in Perth’s northern corridor, bordered by Wanneroo and Banksia Grove. Affordable entry-level housing attracts young families and buyers priced out of inner-ring suburbs. The area is heavily car dependent with limited public transport links to Joondalup. Green open space including Davinci Park is a local highlight, though residents note sparse dining options and a degree of bushfire risk from surrounding bushland.
What the safest suburbs have in common
Perth's safest suburbs share a few characteristics worth noting:
- High owner-occupier rates — research consistently links home ownership to lower crime
- Established communities — not new developments, but suburbs with stable populations and strong networks
- Not always affluent — the correlation between price and safety isn't as tight as you might assume
Beyond the numbers
Crime scores don't capture everything that makes a suburb feel safe. Street lighting, pedestrian activity, and the design of public spaces all play a role. We recommend visiting at different times of day before committing to a lease or purchase.
Dig deeper
For more granular data, our crime stats explorer lets you filter by specific offence types and see year-over-year trends. You can also compare any of these suburbs side by side to see how they stack up on schools, rent, and commute times alongside safety.
Data & methodology
Suburbs are ranked by crime score (0-100), our composite safety metric. The score is calculated from WA Police offence data, combining rates of violent crime, property crime, drug offences, and other offences — all normalised per 100 residents. Only Perth metro suburbs (flagged as metro in our database) with a population above 500 are included, filtering out tiny rural localities where a single incident can create misleadingly high per-capita rates.
All crime categories contribute to the total rate, which is then percentile-ranked across all suburbs.
Data sources: WA Police (crime), real estate websites (median rent), ABS Census 2021 (population, metro classification).
Nick Lilleyman
Founder & Data Lead, Burb Score
Nick built Burb Score to give Perth families a data-driven view of where to live. He works directly with the ACARA, WA Police, ABS Census, WA Rental Bonds and real estate datasets that power every ranking on this site. Rankings are generated programmatically from official data sources, not opinions, and refresh automatically. No sponsored content or paid placements.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good crime score?
A score of 50 is the median across all suburbs. Scores above 70 are safer than average, above 80 is very safe, and above 90 is exceptionally safe — these suburbs have minimal reported crime. Scores below 40 indicate areas with above-average crime rates that warrant caution.
Is Perth generally safe?
Yes. Perth is one of Australia's safest capital cities. The overall crime rate has been trending downward for the past decade, particularly for property crime. That said, there's significant variation between suburbs — the safest suburbs on this list have crime rates 5-10x lower than the highest-crime areas.
Do these rankings change over time?
Yes. Crime patterns shift as populations change, policing strategies evolve, and economic conditions fluctuate. These rankings update automatically whenever our WA Police data refreshes. We recommend checking back quarterly if you're making a long-term housing decision.
Why does the list only include suburbs with 500+ population?
Very small suburbs (under 500 people) can have misleading crime rates. A single burglary in a suburb of 100 people creates a rate of 1 per 100 — which looks alarming but is statistically meaningless. The 500-person threshold ensures enough population for the per-capita rates to be meaningful.
Does low crime mean the suburb is good to live in?
Low crime is one important factor, but suburb liveability also depends on school quality, commute times, access to services, and community character. A very safe suburb that's 90 minutes from your workplace might not improve your quality of life. Use our explore tool to combine multiple factors together.
Explore these suburbs further