Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domainPer resident, Southampton records more crime than 69% of Canadian towns
That puts it at C for safety, judged on crime the police covering Southampton reported from 2023 to 2025. Add to that, a Crime Severity Index of 81.7, the 2023–2025 mean, compares with 67.2 for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+. For every 1,000 residents, 14.5 violent incidents and 34.1 incidents of property crime were logged a year; in the typical Canadian town of 2,500+, the figures are 12.0 and 31.2. Within New Brunswick, half the towns score under 72.8.
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. Measured across the Nackawic detachment area: crime severity, crime rate and incident counts.
What stands out about safety in Southampton
More severe than in 2023
Between 2023 and 2025, Southampton moved from 51.4 to 94.3, while the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ went from 70.6 to 62.9. Year by year ↓
Mischief: high for a town its size
Southampton records 8.3 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 ↓
Below-typical clearance
Weighted by seriousness, 20% of crime in Southampton ends in a charge or is otherwise solved: 48% of violent crime and 9% of the rest. Across Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more the figure is 34%. Questions ↓
Non-violent crime leads the index
Violent crime scores 78.9 on Southampton’s index against 86.4 for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+; non-violent crime, 83.5 against 62.8. By type ↓
Written from Statistics Canada’s police-reported crime by police service and detachment, 2023–2025. Figures are what police recorded, not convictions.
Southampton: C for safety, and why
How sure: A less certain grade than most, because the figures belong to the nearest detachment, 9 km from Southampton, not to the town.
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.
Year by year in Southampton: up 83%, 2023 to 2025
Crime Severity Index
It rose to 99.3 in 2024 before easing, with the low of 51.4 in 2023. Set beside it, the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ went from 70.6 in 2023 to 62.9 in 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Southampton | Typical town of 2,500+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 94.3 | 62.9 |
| 2024 | 99.3 | 68.5 |
| 2023 | 51.4 | 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 Southampton, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
Which crimes make up Southampton’s figures
Against the typical town its size, Southampton runs highest on break and enter (5.5 per 1,000 against 2.5) and mischief (8.3 per 1,000 against 4.2). 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 | 0.05 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 4.3 | 0.6 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 0 | 0 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 2 | 0.3 | — |
| Robbery | 0.3 | 0.05 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 0 | 0 | — |
| Other violent violations | 1.3 | 0.2 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 38.7 | 5.5 | 6% |
| Possession of stolen property | 9.7 | 1.4 | 24% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 19.7 | 2.8 | 5% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 15.3 | 2.3 | 0% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 54.7 | 7.7 | 8% |
| Mischief | 59.3 | 8.3 | 7% |
| Weapons violations | 2 | 0.3 | — |
| Administration of justice violations | 19.3 | 2.8 | 48% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 10.7 | 1.5 | 9% |
| Drug violations | 4 | 0.6 | — |
| Impaired driving | 12.3 | 1.7 | 27% |
| 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.
Around 100 violent incidents a year at the detachment nearest Southampton (6,710 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.
And about 240 property crimes, plus 75 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 Southampton
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southampton | 1,616 | 81.7 | 78.9 | C |
| Nackawic | 1,019 | 81.7 | 78.9 | C |
| Northampton | 1,981 | 81.7 | 78.9 | C |
2 places nearby are policed together with it and reported as one, so there is nothing to compare.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- The clearance rate. Weighted like the index, so solving one assault counts for more than solving a mischief; a charge laid, recommended or otherwise resolved all count.
- Severity, weighed. 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.”
- What 100 means. Its scale starts from Canada in 2006, set at 100, so a figure above 100 means more serious crime per resident than the country had then.
Questions about safety in Southampton
Is Southampton safe?
Southampton scores 81.7 on Statistics Canada’s Crime Severity Index (2023–2025 mean), where the typical figure for Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more is 67.2; per 1,000 residents a year that is 14.5 violent incidents and 34.1 property crimes.
What is the most common crime in Southampton?
Top of the list is mischief (8.3 per 1,000 residents a year); theft under $5,000, at 7.7, and other Criminal Code offences, at 6.9, follow.
Is crime going up in Southampton?
Yes: the index rose 83%, from 51.4 in 2023 to 94.3 in 2025.
How much of Southampton’s crime do police solve?
20%, by the weighted clearance rate, where the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ manages 34%. Violent crime is cleared at 48% and non-violent crime at 9%.
Whose figures are these?
A shared service or detachment’s, reported as one for Southampton 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).