Southland's safest suburb is Whitestone (safety score 100/100, 1.6 recorded crimes per 1,000 residents a year). The least safe is Invercargill Central (1/100, 641.6 per 1,000). 21 of 53 ranked Southland suburbs score 70 or higher.
Town centres and retail hubs rank low because theft is recorded where it happens, not where offenders live.
Southland's safest suburb is Whitestone (safety score 100/100, 1.6 recorded crimes per 1,000 residents a year). The least safe is Invercargill Central (1/100, 641.6 per 1,000). 21 of 53 ranked Southland suburbs score 70 or higher.
Whitestone, with a safety score of 100/100. The next safest are Myross Bush, Gore Main, Hedgehope.
Invercargill Central (641.6 per 1,000), Avenal (43.8 per 1,000), Turnbull Thompson Park (47.4 per 1,000). Town centres and retail hubs rank low because shoplifting and other theft is recorded where it happens.
By SafeSuburbs Safety Score, which weights each NZ Police recorded victimisation by harm (NZ Crime Harm Index) per 1,000 residents (2023 Census). Areas with fewer than 500 residents, with no crime records matched to them yet, or whose Police records stop partway through the period (usually a redrawn boundary) are listed but not ranked.
Showing 64 suburbs, safest first.
