Crime in Vienna, Austria

I live in Austria and know people who have been murdered, rap3ed and injured due to knife/gun attacks. Compared to other places it is relatively safe, yet there are people here who will beat you up. I wouldn't go out as a women alone at night, there are often groups or lone drunks that best case flirt, worst case force themselves on you. These are things that you are likely only to experience if you live here though. As a tourist you should be fine although most Austrians are extremely rude and racist.

Vienna is basically a safe city, even if there are still some cities in Europe that are safer than Vienna (Zagreb, Rejkjavik, Prague, Budapest, Munich, Warsaw, Zurich, Helsinki, Bucharest and Ljubljana). Vienna is the 11th safest city in Europe.
But you should be careful: Vienna is often described as extremely safe, Vienna is not that safe.

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The number of people robbed each year in Vienna is in the four-digit range, i.e. several per day. There are many countries where there is less robbery than in Austria (Österreich): https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=File:Raub%C3%BCberf%C3%A4lle,_2017_(polizeilich_erfasste_Straftaten_pro_100_000_Einwohner)_FP2020V2.png

One should not be misled by personal impressions (Numbeo), just because Vienna is located in "beautiful" Austria does not mean that Vienna is automatically extremely safe.

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Focal points of crime in Vienna:
-> Vienna Praterstern train station (& surroundings)
(-> Vienna Floridsdorf station (located in the north))

-> the entire Gürtel (the big street), U6 stations
-> U Gumpendorfer Strasse
-> U Josefstädter Straße
-> U Westbahnhof (& surroundings)
-> U Burggasse-Stadthalle (& surroundings, incl. Municipal library)

-> the inner 10th district (around Reumannplatz, Quellenplatz, Quellenstraße) is a bit dodgy in the evenings / nights, but statistically the 15th district is the most dangerous (followed by the noble districts 8 and 9)

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A warning to tourists: don't be alarmed, because Vienna is home to a huge number of homeless, junkies, "strange people" and, above all, many alcoholics. This can spoil the impression, because many problem hotspots are also where there are many tourists. For example, there is a homeless shelter right next to Mariahilfer Straße and Haus des Meeres (aquarium), which is why many of these people are always on this shopping mile.

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Acceptable districts in Vienna are:
1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 22, 23

Districts of concern are:
5, 10, 11, 12, 15, 16, 20, 21 (avoid if possible)

Districts from safe to not safe:
(safest->) 18 (crime rate: 54), 13, 19, 14, 23, 17, 22, 21, 7, 11, 20, 6, 16, 5, 12, 10, 3, 4, 2, 8, 1, 9, 15 (crime rate: 120) (<-not safe)

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In summary: Vienna is basically safe, use common sense and be extremely vigilant at night espacially in public transport (avoid U4 and U6 if possible because of the many alcoholics and drunks, as I mentioned above, Vienna has an alcohol problem). You shouldn't be too careless, but not too careful either. Enjoy your vacation in Vienna.

Es ist verwunderlich, wie man daran schuldig sein kann, Flüchtlingen oder Betrunkenen begegnet zu haben, und demzufolge beraubt zu werden. Die Schuld liegt in der Regel bei dem Angreifer, oder? Betrunken zu sein, oder auf Schwierigkeiten zu stoßen (Flüchtlinge) ist keine Ausrede wenn man die Gesetze, die Sicherheit anderer untergräbt.

Vienna is relatively safe. Yes, there are problems, though they're easily dealt with by police force. I found it much, MUCH safer compared to the states. To summarize the past comments, I will reiterate these issues:

@mustafa: Then you should know that Europe (mainly in the EU) isn't well known for integrating well with Muslim people so it's not uncommon for this to happen. You should instead go to Bosnia and Herzegovina, especially in Sarajevo) where it's majorly populated by Muslims.

@Anonymous: As for knife problems, those were refugees before and those problems have likely stemmed. Therefore, you should be fine.

@AR: Your story is far less believable. At worst, you can encounter drunken individuals, though that's about it. Otherwise, no one will believe your lies.

@Waj: Whoever told you that, you must be crazy to think that Vienna is dangerous. That's like saying Chicago is the safest city there is, when in reality, it isn't. Full of ghettos, carjackings and break-ins, gang-related shootings on a daily basis, Vienna has none of those. You are either paranoid or you happen to be The Boy Who Cried Wolf. And muggings do not exist unless you were confronted by a refugee before, or even encountered a drunken person. Then you're at fault for not using common sense.

I live in Vienna. The level of crime increases mainly because of ethnical conflicts. Districts with a high percentage of non-austrian citizens are regarded as more criminal. Criminal activity at daylight is very low. If you are a woman, I advise you to carry pepper spray or a taser with you, you can obtain them legally here and you can use it as self defense. Vienna is one of the safest places in the world but you should make sure that you are protected especially at night.

I grew up here and I can honestly say, as I have been to many places around the World (e.g. also many cities in the US and Mexico), it is still the safest city (when you think about that Vienna has a population of nearly 2.000.000 inhabitants) on earth.

Such thing what is posted from "Anonymous" on May 08, 2019 or Dec 03. 2017 and before is just bullshit. (Well, I guess attentive people will know this anyway)
Also what "AR" and other wrote about the area of "Praterstern" is not really true. Yes, there might be some beggars etc. (most of them from eastern europe), but they never do anything to other people. The beggars are not obstrusive at all (when you compare it with the US for example)!!

>> You can walk every day of the year in every district as a woman alone in the streets 24 hours a day (!) and nothing ever will happen. (ok, in every(!) city of the world there is a mini chance that something minor will happen)
This I would consider as unique in the world. (for cities with that "large" size)

Also I have to say, you can compare Austria with the US when it comes to politics.
People in Vienna and other big cities are more like in the US the democrats and in rural areas of Austria they are more like the republicans. So don´t worry when you hear about right wing parties are rising - they are not in Vienna! - Here we have an open atmosphere with many international students (Vienna has the most amount of students in the whole german speaking area (which includes Germany and Switzerland))

Only thing which is partly true is that people in Vienna can sometimes be "grumpy". But just be patient and talk to them.
> After getting in a vivid conversations (and philosophize) they will be more open than for example germans. (whereas germans might seem more open at the first encounter)
Hint: Ask your austrian colleagues/ classmates to go for a beer. (could be in one of the many parks or at "Museusquartier" or "Donaukanal" and in Winter in one of the many pubs)

Hope this will help.