NSW's top five crimes revealed: ABS report

Assault and fare evasion have topped the list of NSW's most common crimes.

The latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows the two offence types occurred more frequently than any other crimes committed across the state in the 2014/15 financial year.

There has also been a four per cent increase overall in the number of people committing crimes in the state, which has the highest number of offenders - 124,797 - of any state or territory.

But the figure reflects NSW's population with the state ranking just fifth in the nation in terms of offender rates per 100,000 people.

The ABS report released on Wednesday shows NSW's five most common crimes were assault (24,058), fare evasion (22,969), public order offences (17,816), illicit drug offences (16,806) and theft of items other than motor vehicles (7963).

The data also shows a slight rise in sexual assault, homicide and abduction/harassment offences since 2013/14.

NSW had the highest proportion of youth offenders (30,929) with theft constituting almost half the number of offences they committed.