Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Per resident, Norton records less crime than 88% of Canadian towns
Against usual levels of 86.4 and 62.8, violent and non-violent offences here reach 35.6 and 38.9. Its police logs show 7.8 violent incidents and 15.3 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents a year, while in the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ the numbers are 12.0 and 31.2. What’s more, from 2023 to 2025, crime the police covering Norton reported put it at A for safety.
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. Source area for crime severity, crime rate and incident counts: the Hampton detachment area.
What stands out about safety in Norton
Under the New Brunswick norm
Set among New Brunswick’s towns, whose median is 72.8, Norton scores 37.7. Towns its size ↓
Non-violent crime leads the index
Set beside the typical Canadian town of 2,500+, Norton’s two halves part ways: 35.6 for violence (typical 86.4) and 38.9 for the rest (typical 62.8). By type ↓
A low clearance rate
Police cleared 22% of Norton’s crime, weighted by seriousness (49% of violent crime, 12% 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 Norton’s grade
How sure: Not as firm as most grades. Its figures come from the nearest detachment, 6 km off, which covers its own area rather than Norton.
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.
The detachment closest to Norton, 16,000 residents, recorded about 130 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.
Add about 250 property crimes and 160 other violations a year (2023–2025 average). The grid is 1,000 residents, a coloured dot for each incident a year at these rates.
Norton’s crime by kind
Against the typical town its size, Norton runs highest on mischief (5.1 per 1,000 against 4.2).
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0 | 0 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 1.3 | 0.08 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 2 | 0.1 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 0.7 | 0.04 | — |
| Robbery | 0 | 0 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 1.3 | 0.08 | — |
| Other violent violations | 2 | 0.1 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 25 | 1.5 | 8% |
| Possession of stolen property | 6 | 0.4 | 38% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 14 | 0.9 | 5% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 2.7 | 0.2 | — |
| Theft under $5,000 | 44 | 2.7 | 15% |
| Mischief | 84.3 | 5.1 | 7% |
| Weapons violations | 4 | 0.2 | — |
| Administration of justice violations | 42.7 | 2.6 | 55% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 14.3 | 0.9 | 21% |
| Drug violations | 4 | 0.2 | — |
| Impaired driving | 35.7 | 2.2 | 48% |
| 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.
From 2023 to 2025, Norton’s index held steady
Crime Severity Index
The index started at its highest, 44.2 in 2023, and touched its lowest in 2024, at 24.9. Over 2023–2025, the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ moved from 70.6 to 62.9.
Every year as a table
| Year | Norton | Typical town of 2,500+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 44.1 | 62.9 |
| 2024 | 24.9 | 68.5 |
| 2023 | 44.2 | 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 Norton, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
Crime in the places around Norton
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Norton | 1,416 | 37.7 | 35.6 | A |
| Hampton | 4,754 | 74.5 | 74.9 | C+ |
| Upham | 1,388 | 37.7 | 35.6 | A |
| Hampton | 3,268 | 37.7 | 35.6 | A |
| Norton | 1,551 | 37.7 | 35.6 | A |
| Springfield | 1,751 | 37.7 | 35.6 | A |
Neighbours policed by the same service carry the same figure, so the 4 of them aren’t set against it.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- How serious, not how safe. Police-reported incidents, each multiplied by a weight drawn from court sentences, summed and divided by the population: that is the index, and its makers attach a caution, “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
- 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. Cleared means solved by police, charged or not; it says nothing about what courts decide.
Questions about safety in Norton
Is Norton safe?
A Crime Severity Index of 37.7 (2023–2025), set beside a median of 67.2 for Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more: that is where Norton stands, with 7.8 violent and 15.3 property incidents per 1,000 residents a year.
What is the most common crime in Norton?
Top of the list is other Criminal Code offences (5.2 per 1,000 residents a year); mischief, at 5.1, and Criminal Code traffic offences, at 4.4, follow.
Is crime going up in Norton?
It held about level between 2023 and 2025, 44.2 to 44.1.
How much of Norton’s crime do police solve?
About 22% of crime is cleared, weighted by seriousness, with 49% of violent and 12% of other crime; the figure for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ is 34%.
Whose figures are these?
Those of the police serving Norton 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).