Lyttelton Safety Snapshot

Is Lyttelton safe? About average. Lyttelton has a safety score of 46/100, meaning less recorded crime harm per resident than about 46% of New Zealand suburbs, with 34.7 recorded crimes per 1,000 residents a year. It is the #158 safest of 288 ranked suburbs in Canterbury.

The annual total crime rate in Lyttelton is 34.7 crimes per thousand residents, making it the #158 safest of 288 ranked suburbs in Canterbury Region. The overall crime trend in the area has increased in recent months with criminal activity peaking in September 2025, October 2025, July 2026.

How the safety score works

Offence breakdown · past 12 months

Based on total incidents. Police data to August 2026

• Theft 60.7%
  Theft accounts for 60.7 percent of incidents.
• Burglary 25.2%
  Burglary accounts for 25.2 percent of incidents.
• Assault 9.3%
  Assault accounts for 9.3 percent of incidents.
• Sexual Offences 3.7%
  Sexual Offences accounts for 3.7 percent of incidents.
• Robbery, Blackmail, And Extortion 0.9%
  Robbery, Blackmail, And Extortion accounts for 0.9 percent of incidents.

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View full safety overview for Lyttelton ›

Lyttelton Demographics

2023 Census data

Loaded live from the API for this suburb.

Population

3,126

Households

1,359

Median income

$96,735

Median rent

$417

Age distribution

Share of total population.

Age 0-14

465 (14.9%)

Age 15-64

2,124 (67.9%)

Age 65+

552 (17.7%)

Birthplace

Share of stated birthplace records.

Born in NZ

2,250 (72.5%)

Born overseas

852 (27.5%)

Ethnicity

Normalised to ethnicity responses (can exceed population).

European

2,886 · 82.9%

Māori

369 · 10.6%

Pacific

54 · 1.6%

Asian

99 · 2.8%

MELAA

36 · 1%

Other

39 · 1.1%

Home tenure (as stored)

Normalised to stated total when present.

Owned

2,472 · 99.8%

Not owned

849 · 34.3%

Other

180 · 7.3%

Household composition

Normalised to household composition total.

One family

855 (21.2%)

Two families

3 (0.1%)

Three+ families

0 (0%)

Other composition

3,171 (78.7%)

Demographic data sourced from Stats NZ , licensed under CC BY 4.0

FAQ

• Is Lyttelton a safe suburb to live in?

  Lyttelton has a safety score of 46/100, making it the #158 safest of 288 ranked suburbs in Canterbury Region. 86% of recorded crime is property crime (theft, burglary, fraud or damage).

• What is the crime rate in Lyttelton?

  The annual crime rate in Lyttelton is 34.7 recorded crimes per 1,000 residents.

For deeper suburb insights visit CrimeStats.co.nz

Nearby Suburbs

• Port Hills (Canterbury)
• Inlet Port Lyttelton (Canterbury)
• Heathcote Valley (Canterbury)
• Diamond Harbour (Canterbury)
• Mount Pleasant (Canterbury)
• Redcliffs (Canterbury)
• Clifton Hill (Canterbury)
• Brookhaven-Ferrymead (Canterbury)
• Woolston South (Canterbury)
• Sumner (Canterbury)