Brisbane

Is Brisbane safe?

Yes. Brisbane is one of the safer large cities we score, and most visitors will meet the weather long before they meet crime. Queensland Police recorded 15 murders across Greater Brisbane in 2025, about 0.5 per 100,000 people among 2.8 million residents. Across the whole of Queensland, including its rougher outback and northern towns, the Australian Bureau of Statistics counted 90 homicide victims, about 1.6 per 100,000. The US State Department keeps Australia at Level 1, its lowest advisory.

The catches are car crime, nights in Fortitude Valley and the river. Brisbane has flooded badly three times in living memory, and in March 2025 the remains of Cyclone Alfred brought the heaviest day of rain the city had seen since 1974. We score Brisbane 83 out of 100, level with Melbourne and a little below Sydney (85).

Car crime and theft

Theft is the crime visitors are most likely to meet, and much of it involves cars. In the year to September 2026, police across Greater Brisbane recorded 9,206 vehicles taken without consent and 15,989 thefts from or break-ins to vehicles. Robbery ran at 1,371 offences, about 48 per 100,000 people, close to Melbourne's rate and roughly twice Sydney's. Robbery fell from 1,602 in 2024 to 1,357 in 2025.

In the city centre itself, the Brisbane City police division recorded 121 robberies in that year. The FCDOFCDO travel adviceThe UK government's travel advice for each country, which can advise against all travel or all but essential travel to specific areas.More in the glossary's crime advice for Australia is general: do not leave bags unattended, keep luggage out of sight in cars and take care at night in busy tourist areas.

Simple steps cover most of it:

• Hire cars. Leave nothing visible, and keep keys away from the front door of an apartment or holiday home.
• Beaches and pools. Do not leave bags unattended at South Bank or on day trips to the Gold and Sunshine Coasts.
• Scams. The FCDO warns of fake accommodation and service websites. Book through known platforms and never pay a stranger by bank transfer.

Fortitude Valley and the CBD after dark

Gallup's 2025 report finds 66% of Australians feel safe walking alone at night, and Brisbane's night-time trouble is concentrated in a few streets. The Brisbane City and Fortitude Valley police divisions together recorded about 2,200 assaults in the year to September 2026, roughly the same number in each. In the Valley, Brisbane's main nightlife district, most trouble is linked to the late-night venues around Brunswick Street and Ann Street.

The CBD, South Bank and the inner suburbs such as West End and Paddington are busy and fine to walk in the evening. Late at night, stay on lit main streets, avoid arguments in taxi queues and use a taxi or ride app rather than walking through parks or along empty riverside paths.

Roads, bridges and CityCats

Queensland's crash data show 87 road deaths across the five council areas of Greater Brisbane in 2024, about 3.2 per 100,000 people, and 41 in the Brisbane City council area, where 11 of the fatal crashes involved a pedestrian. That was a bad year: the council area recorded 20 deaths in 2023 and 20 in the first half of 2025. Queensland as a whole had 302 road deaths in 2024, most of them outside Greater Brisbane.

Traffic drives on the left, so look right first at crossings. Most visitors need no car: trains, buses and the CityCat ferries along the river cover the CBD, South Bank and the inner suburbs. Cyclists share some busy roads with fast traffic, so stick to the riverside bikeways where you can.

Floods, storms and heat

Brisbane's real hazard is water. The Brisbane River flooded the city in 1974, 2011 and 2022, and the council keeps a public Flood Awareness Map for every address. Check it before booking a riverside or low-lying apartment. Cyclone Alfred, the long-lived Coral Sea cyclone of early 2025, crossed the coast as a weaker system at Bribie Island, just north of the city, on 8 March 2025. It caused widespread power cuts, coastal erosion and flooding across south-east Queensland, and the official Brisbane gauge recorded 275.2 mm of rain in a single day, its highest daily total since January 1974, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

Storm season runs from about October to March. Storms here bring hail, damaging wind and flash flooding of creeks and underpasses within an hour, so never drive or walk into floodwater. Summers are hot and humid, and UV is extreme for much of the year.

In normal conditions the air is clean: Australia's population-weighted PM2.5PM2.5Tiny airborne particles 2.5 micrometres across or smaller. They reach deep into the lungs and are the air pollutant most linked to early death.More in the glossary was 4.5 µg/m³ in 2024, within the WHO guideline. Tap water is safe and emergency care is excellent. Dial 000 for police, fire or ambulance. For risks outside the city, such as crocodiles and box jellyfish further north, see our Australia page.

How we scored it

Health and environment (92) and violent crime (88) are Brisbane's strongest factors. Natural hazards (74) is the weakest, because of river floods, storms and cyclone risk, followed by night safety (74), where late-night assaults in Fortitude Valley and a robbery rate near Melbourne's put it level with that city on the same Gallup share. Theft (80) reflects high car crime rather than pickpocketing.