Photo: Vic Brincat from Keswick, Ontario, Canada · CC BY 2.0Brighton sees more crime per resident than 82% of Canadian towns
Its Safety Grade is C−, on crime the police covering Brighton reported from 2023 to 2025. Against usual levels of 86.4 and 62.8, violent and non-violent offences here reach 122.4 and 104.7. Annual rates stand at 19.6 violent incidents and 39.0 incidents of property crime for every thousand residents, next to 12.0 and 31.2 in the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
Statistics Canada, police-reported crime, 2023–2025 means. The index weighs each crime by its seriousness; rates are incidents per 1,000 residents a year. Crime severity, crime rate and incident counts published for the Western Valley Region detachment area, not by town.
What stands out about safety in Brighton
Mischief: high for a town its size
Brighton records 12.3 incidents of mischief per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.2 in the typical town among Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more. By type ↓
Easing since 2023
Brighton’s index went from 136 in 2023 to 100.1 in 2025; the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ moved from 70.6 to 62.9. Year by year ↓
Heavier than New Brunswick’s middle
Set among New Brunswick’s towns, whose median is 72.8, Brighton scores 109.1. Towns its size ↓
Below-typical clearance
For Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more the typical clearance rate is 34%; Brighton’s police clear 23%, 46% of violent crime and 13% of the rest. Questions ↓
Written from Statistics Canada’s police-reported crime by police service and detachment, 2023–2025. Figures are what police recorded, not convictions.
The C− for Brighton, and how it is built
How sure: Less sure than most. No detachment reports for Brighton itself, so the grade rests on the nearest one’s figures, 19 km away.
The grade weighs the Crime Severity Index and its violent half, averaged over 2023–2025, against every Canadian town and city neighbourhood of 1,000 people or more.
The Crime Severity Index and its two halves, beside the typical figure for Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more.
Year by year in Brighton: down 26%, 2023 to 2025
Crime Severity Index
Nothing since 2023 has matched that year’s 136; the lightest was 2024, at 91.2. In the same years the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ read 70.6 (2023), then 62.9 (2025).
Every year as a table
| Year | Brighton | Typical town of 2,500+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 100.1 | 62.9 |
| 2024 | 91.2 | 68.5 |
| 2023 | 136 | 70.6 |
Statistics Canada, Crime Severity Index by police service, each year as published. Typical: the median of Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more.
The Crime Severity Index of the police covering Brighton, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
What police record in Brighton, by type
Against the typical town its size, Brighton runs highest on mischief (12.3 per 1,000 against 4.2), break and enter (5.9 per 1,000 against 2.5) and motor vehicle theft (3.8 per 1,000 against 2.4). Theft under $5,000 sits below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0 | 0 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 8.3 | 0.4 | 64% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 11 | 0.5 | 100% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 10 | 0.4 | 40% |
| Robbery | 2.3 | 0.1 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 3.3 | 0.1 | — |
| Other violent violations | 10 | 0.4 | 27% |
| Breaking and entering | 132.7 | 5.9 | 10% |
| Possession of stolen property | 58.7 | 2.6 | 26% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 86 | 3.8 | 6% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 15 | 0.7 | 5% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 126 | 5.6 | 8% |
| Mischief | 277 | 12.3 | 6% |
| Weapons violations | 15.7 | 0.7 | 57% |
| Administration of justice violations | 100.3 | 4.4 | 65% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 41.7 | 1.9 | 19% |
| Drug violations | 17 | 0.8 | 41% |
| Impaired driving | 48.7 | 2.2 | 41% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 1.7 | 0.07 | — |
Statistics Canada’s violation groups for the whole police service or detachment, incidents a year its own. Cleared: incidents solved by a charge or otherwise, as a share of those reported.
Incidents per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025 means, against the typical figure for Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more.
The detachment nearest Brighton, 23,100 residents: around 440 violent incidents a year, 2023–2025
Violent incidents per 1,000 a year, 2023–2025
Property crimes per 1,000 a year, 2023–2025
Statistics Canada counts actual incidents; those police record as unfounded are listed apart and kept out of its crime rates and severity index. Each incident is filed under its most serious violation, which the survey sets partly by the maximum penalty.
And about 880 property crimes, plus 420 other violations, a year (2023–2025 average). Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot, one incident a year at the area’s rates.
Crime in the places around Brighton
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brighton | 1,635 | 109.1 | 122.4 | C− |
| Hartland | 1,025 | 109.1 | 122.4 | C− |
| Peel | 1,176 | 109.1 | 122.4 | C− |
| Wakefield | 2,749 | 109.1 | 122.4 | C− |
| Wilmot | 1,057 | 109.1 | 122.4 | C− |
| Florenceville-Bristol | 1,583 | 109.1 | 122.4 | C− |
5 places nearby are policed together with it and reported as one, so there is nothing to compare.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- What clearance means. Weighted like the index, so solving one assault counts for more than solving a mischief; a charge laid, recommended or otherwise resolved all count.
- An index, not a verdict. The Crime Severity Index adds up police-reported crime, each kind weighted by the sentences courts give it, so one robbery counts for more than many thefts. In Statistics Canada’s words, “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
- The index’s scale. Canada’s own index has been below its 2006 base of 100 for years, so 100 marks a fixed reference, not today’s national average.
Questions about safety in Brighton
Is Brighton safe?
With 19.6 violent incidents and 39 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, Brighton comes to 109.1 on the Crime Severity Index (2023–2025); Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more have a median of 67.2.
What is the most common crime in Brighton?
The three biggest groups are mischief at 12.3, other Criminal Code offences at 11.3 and assault at 8.5, each per 1,000 residents a year.
Is crime going up in Brighton?
No: the index fell 26%, from 136 in 2023 to 100.1 in 2025.
How much of Brighton’s crime do police solve?
The weighted clearance rate is 23%: 46% for violent crime and 13% for non-violent. For the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ it is 34%.
Whose figures are these?
A police service or detachment that covers Brighton and other places, so the figures are shared.
Source: Statistics Canada, police-reported crime by police service and detachment, 2023–2025 (Statistics Canada Open Licence); TownRatings calculation.
Sources: Statistics Canada, Crime severity index and weighted clearance rates, police services (tables 35-10-0186 to 0190, 0061, 0063, 0064), 2023–2025 · Statistics Canada, Incident-based crime statistics by detailed violations, police services (35-10-0178 to 0185) · Safety Grade: TownRatings calculation. Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).