Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domainPer resident, Nelson records more crime than 79% of Canadian towns
On Statistics Canada’s Crime Severity Index, the 2023–2025 average is 100.3, where the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ sits at 67.2. Graded on crime the police covering Nelson reported from 2023 to 2025, it scores C− for safety. What’s more, in a usual year, 25.1 violent incidents and 34.8 incidents of property crime are logged per 1,000 inhabitants; in the typical Canadian town of 2,500+, 12.0 and 31.2.
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: one figure for all of the Sunny Corner detachment area.
What stands out about safety in Nelson
Mischief: high for a town its size
Nelson records 16.3 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
From 125.9 in 2023 to 73.9 in 2025: that is Nelson’s index, against 70.6 and 62.9 for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+. Year by year ↓
Above New Brunswick’s typical town
Within New Brunswick, the median town comes to 72.8 on the index, against 100.3 in Nelson. Towns its size ↓
Less crime solved
Police cleared 21% of Nelson’s crime, weighted by seriousness (33% of violent crime, 14% of the rest), against 34% across Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more. 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 Nelson’s grade
How sure: Less sure than most: the grade leans on the closest detachment, 17 km from Nelson, since none reports under the town’s name.
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.
From 2023 to 2025, Nelson’s index dropped 41%
Crime Severity Index
Nothing since 2023 has matched that year’s 125.9; the lightest was 2025, at 73.9. For the typical Canadian town of 2,500+, 2023 gave 70.6 and 2025 gave 62.9.
Every year as a table
| Year | Nelson | Typical town of 2,500+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 73.9 | 62.9 |
| 2024 | 101.2 | 68.5 |
| 2023 | 125.9 | 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 Nelson, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
Nelson’s crime by kind
Against the typical town its size, Nelson runs highest on mischief (16.3 per 1,000 against 4.2) and assault (11.7 per 1,000 against 6.7).
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0.3 | 0.07 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 2 | 0.3 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 4.7 | 0.8 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 2 | 0.3 | — |
| Robbery | 0.3 | 0.05 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 0.7 | 0.1 | — |
| Other violent violations | 1 | 0.2 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 22.7 | 3.6 | 10% |
| Possession of stolen property | 6.7 | 1.1 | 30% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 23.3 | 3.7 | 3% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 3 | 0.5 | — |
| Theft under $5,000 | 23 | 3.7 | 3% |
| Mischief | 101 | 16.3 | 4% |
| Weapons violations | 7 | 1.1 | 47% |
| Administration of justice violations | 22.3 | 3.7 | 63% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 10.7 | 1.8 | 7% |
| Drug violations | 11.3 | 1.8 | 24% |
| Impaired driving | 23.7 | 3.9 | 37% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 0 | 0 | — |
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 160 violent incidents a year in the area of the detachment nearest Nelson (6,840 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.
Add about 220 property crimes and 100 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 Nelson
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nelson | 1,014 | 100.3 | 142.4 | C− |
| Southesk | 1,748 | 100.3 | 142.4 | C− |
| Northesk | 2,301 | 100.3 | 142.4 | C− |
| Blackville | 2,104 | 139.9 | 194.6 | D |
| Rogersville | 1,131 | 44.5 | 56.2 | A− |
Nearby, 1 of 2 places with their own figures have a lower index than Nelson. Rogersville, 18.3 km away, is the nearest lower one, at 44.5 to 100.3. The table leaves out 2 neighbours whose figure is this one, reported by the same police.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Reading the number. The index is scaled so that Canada as a whole scored 100 in its base year, 2006: a town at 50 has half that severity per resident.
- Solved cases. A crime is cleared when police lay or recommend a charge, or solve it another way; the weighted rate counts serious crimes for more.
- 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.”
Questions about safety in Nelson
Is Nelson safe?
Averaged over 2023–2025, the Crime Severity Index for Nelson comes to 100.3. Per 1,000 residents a year, police logged 25.1 violent incidents and 34.8 property crimes. The middle of Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more is 67.2.
What is the most common crime in Nelson?
Top of the list is mischief (16.3 per 1,000 residents a year); assault, at 11.7, and other Criminal Code offences, at 8.5, follow.
Is crime going up in Nelson?
No: the index fell 41%, from 125.9 in 2023 to 73.9 in 2025.
How much of Nelson’s crime do police solve?
Weighted by seriousness, police cleared 21% of crime (33% of violent crime, 14% of the rest). The typical Canadian town of 2,500+ clears 34%.
Whose figures are these?
A shared service or detachment’s, reported as one for Nelson and everywhere else it polices.
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).