Photo: Gabriel Picard · CC BY-SA 4.0Per resident, Miramichi records more crime than seven in ten Canadian towns
Its Crime Severity Index averaged 82.1 over 2023–2025, against 66 for the typical Canadian town its size. Police counts work out at 15.5 violent incidents and 29.4 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents annually; in the typical town its size they are 12.0 and 30.5. It grades C for safety on crime the police covering Miramichi reported from 2023 to 2025: #35 of 59 in New Brunswick. The typical town in New Brunswick scores 72.8 on the same index.
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.
What stands out about safety in Miramichi
Drug offences: high for a town its size
Miramichi records 1.7 incidents of drug offences per 1,000 residents a year, against 0.8 in the typical town among Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people. By type ↓
Higher than many towns its size
Counting up from the lowest index, Miramichi is 32nd of the 40 Canadian towns closest in population. Towns its size ↓
Heavier than in 2023
Miramichi’s index went from 74.5 in 2023 to 88.9 in 2025; the typical Canadian town its size moved from 69.5 to 60. Year by year ↓
More crime solved
Police cleared 47% of Miramichi’s crime, weighted by seriousness (66% of violent crime, 39% of the rest), against 33% across Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people. Questions ↓
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 Miramichi’s grade
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.
Its place: #35 of 59 in New Brunswick and #1,745 of 2,572 Canadian towns.
The Crime Severity Index and its two halves, beside the typical figure for Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people.
In Miramichi, up 19% between 2023 and 2025
Crime Severity Index
2025, the last year shown, came out highest at 88.9, and 2023 lowest at 74.5. Over 2023–2025, the typical Canadian town its size moved from 69.5 to 60.
Every year as a table
| Year | Miramichi | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 88.9 | 60 |
| 2024 | 82.8 | 67.9 |
| 2023 | 74.5 | 69.5 |
Statistics Canada, Crime Severity Index by police service, each year as published. Typical: the median of Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people.
The Crime Severity Index of the police covering Miramichi, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
Miramichi’s crime by kind
Against the typical town its size, Miramichi runs highest on drug offences (1.7 per 1,000 against 0.8), break and enter (3.8 per 1,000 against 2.2) and mischief (6.3 per 1,000 against 3.7). Fraud and motor vehicle theft sit below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0.3 | 0.02 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 6.3 | 0.3 | 52% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 16.7 | 0.9 | 98% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 0.3 | 0.02 | — |
| Robbery | 3 | 0.2 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 3 | 0.2 | — |
| Other violent violations | 4.7 | 0.2 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 72 | 3.8 | 16% |
| Possession of stolen property | 13.3 | 0.7 | 77% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 34 | 1.8 | 13% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 13 | 0.7 | 15% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 227.3 | 12 | 28% |
| Mischief | 119.7 | 6.3 | 32% |
| Weapons violations | 10.3 | 0.5 | 90% |
| Administration of justice violations | 204 | 10.7 | 98% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 18.7 | 1 | 64% |
| Drug violations | 32.3 | 1.7 | 87% |
| Impaired driving | 33 | 1.7 | 100% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 0.3 | 0.02 | — |
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 10,000 to 50,000 people.
Miramichi comes 32nd of the 40 towns nearest in size
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Quispamsis New Brunswick | 20,240 | 20 | 27.9 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 29 | Kirkland Quebec | 19,696 | 80.3 | 115.7 | C |
| 30 | Beaconsfield Quebec | 19,430 | 80.3 | 115.7 | C |
| 31 | Midland Ontario | 19,305 | 81.8 | 97.3 | C |
| 32 | Miramichi New Brunswick | 19,402 | 82.1 | 89.1 | C |
| 33 | Sylvan Lake Alberta | 17,897 | 82.3 | 83.4 | C |
| 34 | Edmundston New Brunswick | 18,174 | 85 | 102.4 | C |
| 35 | Stony Plain Alberta | 19,662 | 88.4 | 74.6 | C |
| … | |||||
| 40 | Port Alberni British Columbia | 19,671 | 200.1 | 248.2 | D |
The 40 Canadian towns of 2,500+ people closest in population; city neighbourhoods, city totals and reserves are left out. Towns on one police service or detachment share its index.
The Canadian towns closest to Miramichi in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
Around 300 violent incidents a year on Miramichi’s police records (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.
Add about 560 property crimes and 340 other violations a year (2023–2025 average). The grid is 1,000 residents, a coloured dot for each incident a year at these rates.
Crime in the places around Miramichi
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Miramichi | 19,402 | 82.1 | 89.1 | C |
| Newcastle (13 km) | 1,166 | 100.3 | 142.4 | C− |
| Glenelg (20 km) | 1,635 | 44.5 | 56.2 | A− |
| Nelson (20 km) | 1,014 | 100.3 | 142.4 | C− |
| Northesk (24 km) | 2,301 | 100.3 | 142.4 | C− |
| Southesk (26 km) | 1,748 | 100.3 | 142.4 | C− |
Nearby, 1 of 5 places with their own figures have a lower index than Miramichi. Closest is Glenelg, 20.4 km away, at 44.5 to 82.1 here.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means. Distances here run 13–26 km: that is how far the nearest places with figures are from Miramichi.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- An index, not a verdict. Each incident counts by its seriousness, judged from court sentences, and the total is set per resident. As Statistics Canada puts it, “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
- The index’s scale. Statistics Canada set the national index at 100 for 2006; every figure here is read against that.
- What clearance means. A cleared case is one police consider solved. Whether anyone is convicted is a separate matter the rate doesn’t follow.
Questions about safety in Miramichi
Is Miramichi safe?
On Statistics Canada’s figures, Miramichi scores 82.1 on the Crime Severity Index for 2023–2025, with 15.5 violent and 29.4 property incidents per 1,000 residents a year. The typical figure for Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people is 66.
What is the most common crime in Miramichi?
Top of the list is other Criminal Code offences (13.5 per 1,000 residents a year); theft under $5,000, at 12, and assault, at 6.5, follow.
Is crime going up in Miramichi?
Yes: the index rose 19%, from 74.5 in 2023 to 88.9 in 2025.
How much of Miramichi’s crime do police solve?
47%, by the weighted clearance rate, where the typical Canadian town its size manages 33%. Violent crime is cleared at 66% and non-violent crime at 39%.
Whose figures are these?
Its own police: the service or contract that covers Miramichi and nowhere else.
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).