Photo: Scott Davis · CC BY 2.5Per resident, Wakefield records more crime than 82% of Canadian towns
Graded on crime the police covering Wakefield reported from 2023 to 2025, it scores C− for safety: #50 of 59 in New Brunswick. Violence accounts for an index of 122.4 and other offences for 104.7, against usual levels of 85.7 and 62.8. Its police logs show 19.6 violent incidents and 39.0 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents a year, while in the typical town its size the numbers are 12.9 and 31.2. About 23% of crime here is cleared by police, set against 34% for the typical Canadian town its size.
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. Data for crime severity, crime rate and incident counts covers the Western Valley Region detachment area.
What stands out about safety in Wakefield
Mischief: high for a town its size
Wakefield records 12.3 incidents of mischief per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.9 in the typical town among Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people. By type ↓
Easing since 2023
In 2023 the index in Wakefield stood at 136, by 2025 at 100.1. Over the same years the typical Canadian town its size went from 74.3 to 64.2. Year by year ↓
Over the New Brunswick norm
Within New Brunswick, the median town comes to 72.8 on the index, against 109.1 in Wakefield. Towns its size ↓
A higher index than most towns its size
Line up the 40 Canadian towns nearest in size by their index and Wakefield stands 34th, the lowest first. Towns its size ↓
Written from Statistics Canada’s police-reported crime by police service and detachment, 2023–2025. Figures are what police recorded, not convictions.
Inside Wakefield’s C− for safety
How sure: Less sure than most. No detachment reports for Wakefield itself, so the grade rests on the nearest one’s figures, 24 km away.
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: #50 of 59 in New Brunswick and #2,009 of 2,572 Canadian towns.
The Crime Severity Index and its two halves, beside the typical figure for Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people.
Wakefield’s index fell 26% from 2023 to 2025
Crime Severity Index
Nothing since 2023 has matched that year’s 136; the lightest was 2024, at 91.2. For the typical Canadian town its size, 2023 gave 74.3 and 2025 gave 64.2.
Every year as a table
| Year | Wakefield | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 100.1 | 64.2 |
| 2024 | 91.2 | 68.8 |
| 2023 | 136 | 74.3 |
Statistics Canada, Crime Severity Index by police service, each year as published. Typical: the median of Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people.
The Crime Severity Index of the police covering Wakefield, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
What police record in Wakefield, by type
Against the typical town its size, Wakefield runs highest on mischief (12.3 per 1,000 against 4.9), break and enter (5.9 per 1,000 against 2.8) and motor vehicle theft (3.8 per 1,000 against 2.6). Theft under $5,000 sits below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0 | 0 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 8.3 | 0.4 | 64% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 11 | 0.5 | 100% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 10 | 0.4 | 40% |
| Robbery | 2.3 | 0.1 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 3.3 | 0.1 | — |
| Other violent violations | 10 | 0.4 | 27% |
| Breaking and entering | 132.7 | 5.9 | 10% |
| Possession of stolen property | 58.7 | 2.6 | 26% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 86 | 3.8 | 6% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 15 | 0.7 | 5% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 126 | 5.6 | 8% |
| Mischief | 277 | 12.3 | 6% |
| Weapons violations | 15.7 | 0.7 | 57% |
| Administration of justice violations | 100.3 | 4.4 | 65% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 41.7 | 1.9 | 19% |
| Drug violations | 17 | 0.8 | 41% |
| Impaired driving | 48.7 | 2.2 | 41% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 1.7 | 0.07 | — |
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 to 10,000 people.
Among 40 towns its size, Wakefield places 34th
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rivière-Beaudette Quebec | 2,806 | 39.2 | 61.7 | A |
| … | |||||
| 27 | Sussex New Brunswick | 2,742 | 86 | 92.8 | C |
| … | |||||
| 31 | Grimshaw Alberta | 2,799 | 96 | 62 | C− |
| 32 | Rosthern No. 403 Saskatchewan | 2,791 | 99.3 | 115.6 | C− |
| 33 | Waskaganish Quebec | 2,726 | 103.6 | 197.1 | C− |
| 34 | Wakefield New Brunswick | 2,749 | 109.1 | 122.4 | C− |
| 35 | Tofino British Columbia | 2,772 | 117.4 | 205.8 | C− |
| 36 | Electoral Area E, Peace River British Columbia | 2,737 | 139.5 | 210.6 | D |
| 37 | Swan Valley West Manitoba | 2,702 | 169.9 | 227.9 | D |
| … | |||||
| 40 | Kuujjuaq Quebec | 2,766 | 805.8 | 2,056.5 | 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 Wakefield in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
The detachment closest to Wakefield, 23,100 residents, recorded about 440 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 880 property crimes and 420 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 Wakefield
Of 2 places nearby with their own figures, 1 come in under Wakefield. The nearest of them, Woodstock (15.7 km away), scores 81.7 against 109.1. Same police, same number: 4 neighbours drop out of the comparison for that reason.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 100 is Canada in 2006. 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.
- Cleared, not convicted. Weighted like the index, so solving one assault counts for more than solving a mischief; a charge laid, recommended or otherwise resolved all count.
- What the index measures. One robbery outweighs a run of minor thefts here, since every crime counts by the sentences courts give it. Statistics Canada adds: “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
Questions about safety in Wakefield
Is Wakefield safe?
The short answer is an index of 109.1 for Wakefield (2023–2025), built from 19.6 violent incidents and 39 property crimes a year for every 1,000 residents. The middle of Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people is 68.5.
What is the most common crime in Wakefield?
Police record mischief most, 12.3 per 1,000 residents a year, ahead of other Criminal Code offences (11.3) and assault (8.5).
Is crime going up in Wakefield?
It went down 26% between 2023 and 2025, from 136 to 100.1.
How much of Wakefield’s crime do police solve?
Police cleared 23% of crime once each incident is weighted by seriousness: 46% of violent crime and 13% of the rest, against 34% for the typical Canadian town its size.
Whose figures are these?
Those of the police serving Wakefield 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).