Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domainHillsborough is about average among Canadian towns for recorded crime
Recorded violent incidents ran at 10.8 per 1,000 residents a year and property crime at 19.2, against 12.0 and 31.2 in the typical Canadian town of 2,500+. Statistics Canada puts its Crime Severity Index at 58.4 for 2023–2025; the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ scores 67.2. Add to that, its Safety Grade, B, rests on crime its police reported from 2023 to 2025: close to the middle of Canadian towns. None of the 3 towns next door with figures records less crime per resident.
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: the Sackville detachment area.
What stands out about safety in Hillsborough
Lighter than in 2023
In 2023 the index in Hillsborough stood at 84.1, by 2025 at 64.2. Over the same years the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ went from 70.6 to 62.9. Year by year ↓
Near the New Brunswick middle
Hillsborough’s index of 58.4 compares with 72.8 for the typical town in New Brunswick. 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 Hillsborough’s grade
How sure: Less sure, as Hillsborough has no detachment of its own in Statistics Canada’s tables and is graded on the closest one’s figures, 26 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.
Hillsborough’s crime by kind
Assault and theft under $5,000 sit below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0.3 | 0.03 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 1.3 | 0.1 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 3.3 | 0.3 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 1.3 | 0.1 | — |
| Robbery | 1.7 | 0.1 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 0.3 | 0.03 | — |
| Other violent violations | 1 | 0.09 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 22.7 | 2 | 6% |
| Possession of stolen property | 17 | 1.5 | 28% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 26.3 | 2.4 | 4% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 2.7 | 0.2 | — |
| Theft under $5,000 | 51 | 4.6 | 18% |
| Mischief | 53 | 4.7 | 4% |
| Weapons violations | 3.7 | 0.3 | — |
| Administration of justice violations | 19 | 1.7 | 59% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 10 | 0.9 | 7% |
| Drug violations | 10 | 0.9 | 23% |
| Impaired driving | 22.3 | 2 | 48% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 1.3 | 0.1 | — |
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.
From 2023 to 2025, Hillsborough’s index dropped 24%
Crime Severity Index
From 84.1 in 2023, its first and heaviest year, it eased to a low of 26.9 in 2024. The comparison line, the typical Canadian town of 2,500+, runs from 70.6 in 2023 to 62.9 by 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Hillsborough | Typical town of 2,500+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 64.2 | 62.9 |
| 2024 | 26.9 | 68.5 |
| 2023 | 84.1 | 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 Hillsborough, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
The detachment nearest Hillsborough, 11,300 residents: around 120 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 210 property crimes, plus 110 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 Hillsborough
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hillsborough | 1,569 | 58.4 | 80 | B |
| Hillsborough | 1,414 | 58.4 | 80 | B |
| Memramcook | 5,616 | 58.4 | 80 | B |
| Coverdale | 5,167 | 72.8 | 74.8 | C+ |
| Dorchester | 1,130 | 58.4 | 80 | B |
| Riverview | 22,614 | 113.1 | 113.3 | C− |
| Dieppe | 35,986 | 113.1 | 113.3 | C− |
Every neighbour with a figure of its own has a higher index than Hillsborough. Same police, same number: 3 neighbours drop out of the comparison for that reason.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Cleared, not convicted. A cleared case is one police consider solved. Whether anyone is convicted is a separate matter the rate doesn’t follow.
- What the index measures. Statistics Canada builds the index from every crime police record, weighted by how seriously the courts treat it, and divides by the population. It adds a warning of its own: “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
- 100 is Canada in 2006. Figures are relative to one fixed point, Canada in 2006 at 100, rather than to this year’s national number.
Questions about safety in Hillsborough
Is Hillsborough safe?
A Crime Severity Index of 58.4 (2023–2025), set beside a median of 67.2 for Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more: that is where Hillsborough stands, with 10.8 violent and 19.2 property incidents per 1,000 residents a year.
What is the most common crime in Hillsborough?
The three biggest groups are mischief at 4.7, theft under $5,000 at 4.6 and other Criminal Code offences at 4.5, each per 1,000 residents a year.
Is crime going up in Hillsborough?
Down 24%: 84.1 in 2023, 64.2 in 2025.
How much of Hillsborough’s crime do police solve?
Weighted by seriousness, police cleared 28% of crime (51% of violent crime, 15% of the rest). The typical Canadian town of 2,500+ clears 34%.
Whose figures are these?
Those of the police serving Hillsborough 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).