Kew crime rate and Crime Score · Victoria
Kew is a suburb in the Boroondara council area of Victoria (about 178,601 residents in the council). The council has a Crime Score 37 out of 100 (low), 262nd of 362 councils nationally.
Modelled estimate, not police figures: Kew (24,499 residents at the 2021 Census) is estimated to account for about 1,030 of the offences recorded each year in the Boroondara council area (likely 510 to 1,700), roughly 4,200 per 100,000 residents, including about 96 violent offences (likely 58 to 130). Ranges are 80% intervals; confidence 44 of 100. The estimate shares the council's published total (2025-26, three-year average) between its suburbs using a model trained on South Australia's suburb-level police data and ABS measures of each suburb's population and socio-economic profile.
The score blends national percentile ranks for each published offence category with fixed severity weights; here it is driven most by break-ins (69th percentile), robbery (71st percentile), theft (70th percentile). Five years earlier the same basis gave 37.
In 2024-25: violent 495 per 100,000 (+26% vs five years earlier); property 4,166 per 100,000 (+8% vs five years earlier); break-ins 859 per 100,000 (+49% vs five years earlier); theft 2,254 per 100,000 (+3% vs five years earlier). For violent crime that is 71st of 79 Victoria councils with data, highest first.
Unemployment in the Boroondara council area is 4.3% (Victoria 5%), Census, 10 August 2021. Social housing makes up 1% of occupied homes (408 public and 194 community-housing dwellings at the 2021 Census; Victoria 2.5%). An estimated 321 people were homeless on Census night 2021, 19 per 10,000 residents (Victoria 47.1), apportioned from ABS Statistical Area Level 2 counts. 33.4% of residents were born overseas (Victoria 31.6%), most often in China, England, India. Modelled estimates for 2026-27, not measurements: unemployment about 4.9% (confidence 85 of 100); social housing about 0.9% of homes; about 18.6 homeless people per 10,000 residents; about 34% born overseas. Confidence falls with distance from the last published figure, and the map's Estimates toggle shows every year back to 1994-95.
Victoria publishes crime statistics by council area, not by suburb, so the figures shown for Kew are those of the Boroondara council area.
Figures are for 2024-25, the latest year Victoria has published; some other states have released 2025-26.
| Offences | Per 100,000 | Count | 5-yr change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent | 495 | 884 | +26% |
| Property | 4,166 | 7,441 | +8% |
| Break-ins | 859 | 1,534 | +49% |
| Theft | 2,254 | 4,026 | +3% |
How suburb estimates are made, and how accurate they are.
Boroondara council area: full statistics · Interactive map of every council.
Crime in postcode 3101: every suburb and council it covers.
Questions
Is Kew safe?
Victoria publishes crime figures by council area, not by suburb. Kew is in the Boroondara council area, which recorded 495 violent offences per 100,000 residents in 2024-25, about 53% lower than the Victoria rate (1,060) and about 59% lower than the national rate (1,220). A modelled estimate for Kew itself is roughly 4,200 offences of all kinds per 100,000 residents a year (an estimate, not police figures). These are offences recorded by police per resident: they describe the area as a whole, not the risk on any particular street, and places with a busy centre record more because offences are counted where they happen.
Police news near Kew
- Police investigate Reservoir death · Reservoir, 28 Oct 2026 · 10 km away
Nearby suburbs
Ashburton · Ashwood · Balwyn · Balwyn North · Camberwell · Canterbury · Deepdene · Hawthorn · Hawthorn East · Kew East · Mont Albert · Surrey Hills · Surrey Hills North
australiancrimerate.com.au/suburb/vic/kew/ · Australian Crime Map