Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domainPer resident, Elgin records more crime than 72% of Canadian towns
In 2023 the index stood at 94.8; it fell to 89.1 in 2025. It grades C for safety on crime the police covering Elgin reported from 2023 to 2025. The local count comes to 16.7 violent incidents and 36.2 incidents of property crime per 1,000 people each year, with 12.0 and 31.2 in the typical Canadian town of 2,500+. Of the two halves, violence comes to 92.8 and other offences to 84, beside norms of 86.4 and 62.8.
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. Measured across the Sussex detachment area: crime severity, crime rate and incident counts.
What stands out about safety in Elgin
Mischief: high for a town its size
Elgin records 10.1 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 ↓
Near the New Brunswick middle
Within New Brunswick, the median town comes to 72.8 on the index, against 86 in Elgin. Towns its size ↓
Written from Statistics Canada’s police-reported crime by police service and detachment, 2023–2025. Figures are what police recorded, not convictions.
What’s behind Elgin’s grade
How sure: Less sure than most. No detachment reports for Elgin itself, so the grade rests on the nearest one’s figures, 37 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.
What police record in Elgin, by type
Against the typical town its size, Elgin runs highest on mischief (10.1 per 1,000 against 4.2), break and enter (5.2 per 1,000 against 2.5) and fraud (6.1 per 1,000 against 5.1). 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 | 11.7 | 0.6 | 60% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 3 | 0.2 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 5.3 | 0.3 | 75% |
| Robbery | 3 | 0.2 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 1 | 0.05 | — |
| Other violent violations | 6.7 | 0.3 | 40% |
| Breaking and entering | 102 | 5.2 | 17% |
| Possession of stolen property | 18.3 | 0.9 | 48% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 43.3 | 2.2 | 15% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 8.7 | 0.4 | 11% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 212.3 | 10.8 | 28% |
| Mischief | 198 | 10.1 | 7% |
| Weapons violations | 9.7 | 0.5 | 52% |
| Administration of justice violations | 73.7 | 3.7 | 62% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 27 | 1.4 | 17% |
| Drug violations | 17.7 | 0.9 | 36% |
| Impaired driving | 58.7 | 3 | 55% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 0.7 | 0.03 | — |
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.
About 330 violent incidents a year in the area of the detachment nearest Elgin (20,000 residents), 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 710 property crimes, plus 320 other violations, a year (2023–2025 average). Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot, one incident a year at the area’s rates.
Elgin, year by year
Crime Severity Index
Its heaviest year came first: 2023, at 94.8, against a low of 74.1 in 2024. For the typical Canadian town of 2,500+, 2023 gave 70.6 and 2025 gave 62.9.
Every year as a table
| Year | Elgin | Typical town of 2,500+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 89.1 | 62.9 |
| 2024 | 74.1 | 68.5 |
| 2023 | 94.8 | 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 Elgin, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
Crime in the places around Elgin
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elgin | 1,255 | 86 | 92.8 | C |
| Petitcodiac (14 km) | 1,610 | 86 | 92.8 | C |
| Cardwell (21 km) | 1,538 | 86 | 92.8 | C |
| Salisbury (21 km) | 3,806 | 86 | 92.8 | C |
| Salisbury (23 km) | 2,585 | 72.8 | 74.8 | C+ |
| Coverdale (29 km) | 5,167 | 72.8 | 74.8 | C+ |
Each neighbour with its own figure comes in under Elgin. Salisbury, 22.6 km away, is the nearest lower one, at 72.8 to 86. Where neighbours share its police, they share the figure too: 3 aren’t counted above.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means. Distances here run 14–29 km: that is how far the nearest places with figures are from Elgin.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- How serious, not how safe. 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.”
- Reading the number. 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.
- Solved cases. Weighted like the index, so solving one assault counts for more than solving a mischief; a charge laid, recommended or otherwise resolved all count.
Questions about safety in Elgin
Is Elgin safe?
Elgin scores 86 on Statistics Canada’s Crime Severity Index (2023–2025 mean), where the typical figure for Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more is 67.2; per 1,000 residents a year that is 16.7 violent incidents and 36.2 property crimes.
What is the most common crime in Elgin?
Top of the list is theft under $5,000 (10.8 per 1,000 residents a year); mischief, at 10.1, and other Criminal Code offences, at 10, follow.
Is crime going up in Elgin?
It went down 6% between 2023 and 2025, from 94.8 to 89.1.
How much of Elgin’s crime do police solve?
Police solve 49% of violent crime and 18% of everything else, 28% overall once each crime is weighted by seriousness, against 34% for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
Whose figures are these?
Those of the police serving Elgin together with its neighbours or the countryside around it.
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).