More crimes per resident are recorded in Saint Stephen than in 90% of Canadian towns
The Safety Grade comes out at D, drawn from crime the police covering Saint Stephen reported through 2023 to 2025. Even so, between 2023 and 2025 the severity figure fell, 148.5 to 138.3. Of the two halves, violence comes to 115 and other offences to 156.3, beside norms of 86.4 and 62.8. In a usual year, 25.5 violent incidents and 60.2 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. The crime severity, crime rate and incident counts numbers here cover the St Stephen detachment area.
What stands out about safety in Saint Stephen
Mischief: high for a town its size
Saint Stephen records 21 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 ↓
Over the New Brunswick norm
Within New Brunswick, the median town comes to 72.8 on the index, against 143.6 in Saint Stephen. Towns its size ↓
Non-violent crime leads the index
Set beside the typical Canadian town of 2,500+, Saint Stephen’s two halves part ways: 115 for violence (typical 86.4) and 156.3 for the rest (typical 62.8). By type ↓
Below-typical clearance
Police cleared 23% of Saint Stephen’s crime, weighted by seriousness (47% of violent crime, 16% 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 sits behind Saint Stephen’s D
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.
Saint Stephen’s crime by kind
Against the typical town its size, Saint Stephen runs highest on mischief (21 per 1,000 against 4.2), break and enter (11.7 per 1,000 against 2.5) and assault (12.7 per 1,000 against 6.7).
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0 | 0 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 4 | 0.4 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 7.3 | 0.7 | 100% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 3.7 | 0.3 | — |
| Robbery | 2 | 0.2 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 0.7 | 0.06 | — |
| Other violent violations | 5 | 0.5 | 34% |
| Breaking and entering | 127.7 | 11.7 | 12% |
| Possession of stolen property | 15 | 1.4 | 22% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 37.7 | 3.5 | 15% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 9.7 | 0.9 | 0% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 143.7 | 13.2 | 25% |
| Mischief | 227.7 | 21 | 6% |
| Weapons violations | 12.7 | 1.2 | 45% |
| Administration of justice violations | 68.3 | 6.3 | 61% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 32.7 | 3 | 18% |
| Drug violations | 24.3 | 2.3 | 25% |
| Impaired driving | 51 | 4.8 | 47% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 1.7 | 0.2 | — |
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.
10,500 residents, about 280 violent incidents a year: the police area Saint Stephen belongs to, 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 650 property crimes, plus 380 other violations, a year (2023–2025 average). Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot, one incident a year at the area’s rates.
Saint Stephen, year by year
Crime Severity Index
The index started at its highest, 148.5 in 2023, and touched its lowest in 2025, at 138.3. For the typical Canadian town of 2,500+, 2023 gave 70.6 and 2025 gave 62.9.
Every year as a table
| Year | Saint Stephen | Typical town of 2,500+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 138.3 | 62.9 |
| 2024 | 144 | 68.5 |
| 2023 | 148.5 | 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 Saint Stephen, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
Crime in the places around Saint Stephen
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saint Stephen | 1,772 | 143.6 | 115 | D |
| St. Stephen | 4,876 | 143.6 | 115 | D |
| Saint David | 1,559 | 143.6 | 115 | D |
| Saint James | 1,085 | 143.6 | 115 | D |
Where neighbours share its police, they share the figure too: 3 aren’t counted above.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Town and surroundings together. An RCMP or OPP detachment reports one set of figures for everywhere it polices, so Saint Stephen’s are shared with its surroundings.
- 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. Statistics Canada, which publishes the index, attaches a caution: “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.” The number weighs each reported crime by its seriousness before dividing by residents.
Questions about safety in Saint Stephen
Is Saint Stephen safe?
A Crime Severity Index of 143.6 (2023–2025), set beside a median of 67.2 for Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more: that is where Saint Stephen stands, with 25.5 violent and 60.2 property incidents per 1,000 residents a year.
What is the most common crime in Saint Stephen?
Top of the list is other Criminal Code offences (23.8 per 1,000 residents a year); mischief, at 21, and theft under $5,000, at 13.2, follow.
Is crime going up in Saint Stephen?
The reverse: 148.5 in 2023 came down to 138.3 by 2025, 7% lower.
How much of Saint Stephen’s crime do police solve?
Counting serious crimes for more, 23% end in a charge or are otherwise solved (34% for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+); split up, that is 47% of violent and 16% of non-violent crime.
Whose figures are these?
Those of the police serving Saint Stephen 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).