Violent offences and sexual assaults have increased in large parts of the Hunter compared with pre-pandemic levels.
The latest NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research figures show reported domestic violence incidents in the 12 months to June were up 28 per cent on 2019 levels in the Hunter outside Newcastle and Lake Macquarie.
The Hunter also recorded a 27 per cent jump in non-domestic assaults and a 30 per cent rise in sexual assaults in five years.
The Hunter's increase in non-domestic assaults, from 1100 in 2019 to 1401 this year, was the highest of all 28 statistical areas in NSW.
The number of sexual assaults in the region outside Newcastle and Lake Macquarie grew from 308 in the 2018-19 financial year to 400 in 2022-23, while domestic assaults were up from 1365 to 1750.
Domestic violence reports rose 17 per cent in Newcastle and Lake Macquarie and sexual assaults 31 per cent but non-domestic violence numbers dropped slightly from 1815 to 1753.
The Hunter figures were worse than the state average for all three crime categories, though sexual assaults across NSW rose 28.8 per cent.
Some Hunter local government areas had sexual assault rates well above the state average.
Muswellbrook recorded 376 sexual assaults per 100,000 people in 2022-23, compared with the state rate of 183.
Maitland's sex assault rate was 269, Cessnock's 270 and Newcastle's 260. Lake Macquarie's rate was significantly lower at 186.
Almost all property crime in most NSW jurisdictions remains well down compared with before the pandemic, though shoplifting and motor vehicle theft have returned to 2019 levels.
BOCSAR executive director Jackie Fitzgerald said no evidence had emerged of economic pressures driving an unusually high level of retail theft.
"There have been concerns that high inflation and rising cost of living have triggered a surge in shoplifting, but the view of retail theft presented by police data does not support this," she said.
"If emerging external factors like cost of living were driving an increase in retail theft, we would expect theft volumes to be noticeably higher than pre-pandemic levels".
