A recent feature in The Daily Telegraph used Snap Send Solve data to highlight a pretty rough trend across New South Wales: a jump in offensive graffiti, with a huge chunk of it popping up right where kids play.
The numbers from March 2025 to February 2026 show over 15,600 graffiti reports across the state. That’s a 9% increase from the year before, but the real worry is the type of stuff being sprayed.
Our data allowed the Telegraph to track offensive reports, which covers everything from hate speech and extremist views to sexually explicit messages. This specific category is climbing by about 12.6% every single year.
The most frustrating part? One in five of these offensive reports were near a school or a playground.
Our location data also showed that graffiti is spreading into suburbs where it didn't used to be a major issue:
- Sydney CBD, Surry Hills, Newtown, and Redfern are still the graffiti capitals, with over 2,500 reports.
- Baulkham Hills and the Hawkesbury area saw a huge spike, where offensive content soared to over 62% of all their graffiti reports.
- Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs saw an 18% drop in reports this year, likely thanks to increased eyes on the street after a tough 2024.
As our CEO, Danny Gorog, told the Telegraph, the problem is shifting into new areas and becoming more intense.
"It’s clearly getting worse in some areas... there are more reports, more offensive content and it’s spreading into areas that people didn’t use to associate with this kind of thing."
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