Photo: ALAN SCHMIERER · CC0Torbay has more crime per resident than two in three Canadian towns
None of the 3 towns next door with figures records less crime per resident. Even so, on crime the police covering Torbay reported from 2023 to 2025, it grades C for safety: #14 of 32 in Newfoundland and Labrador. Typical years here bring 17.9 violent incidents plus 34.9 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents, against 12.9 plus 31.2 in the typical town its size. Against usual levels of 85.7 and 62.8, violent and non-violent offences here reach 104.2 and 72.4.
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. Area behind the crime severity, crime rate and incident counts figures: the St. John's service area.
What stands out about safety in Torbay
Mischief: high for a town its size
Torbay records 9.4 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 ↓
Higher than many towns its size
Counting up from the lowest index, Torbay is 29th of the 40 Canadian towns closest in population. Towns its size ↓
Near the Newfoundland and Labrador middle
Set among Newfoundland and Labrador’s towns, whose median is 81, Torbay scores 81. 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.
The C for Torbay, and how it is built
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: #14 of 32 in Newfoundland and Labrador and #1,643 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.
What police record in Torbay, by type
Against the typical town its size, Torbay runs highest on mischief (9.4 per 1,000 against 4.9), robbery (0.6 per 1,000 against 0.5) and sexual assault (1.1 per 1,000 against 0.9). Motor vehicle theft sits below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 4.3 | 0.02 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 38 | 0.2 | 41% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 144.7 | 0.6 | 100% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 28.7 | 0.1 | 30% |
| Robbery | 139.7 | 0.6 | 58% |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 21.7 | 0.09 | 65% |
| Other violent violations | 37.3 | 0.2 | 21% |
| Breaking and entering | 724.7 | 3.2 | 20% |
| Possession of stolen property | 41.3 | 0.2 | 73% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 320.7 | 1.4 | 19% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 152.3 | 0.7 | 18% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 3,457.3 | 15 | 15% |
| Mischief | 2,163.3 | 9.4 | 7% |
| Weapons violations | 123 | 0.5 | 34% |
| Administration of justice violations | 2,010.7 | 8.7 | 87% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 203 | 0.9 | 23% |
| Drug violations | 112 | 0.5 | 24% |
| Impaired driving | 458.7 | 2 | 56% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 80 | 0.3 | 45% |
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.
By its index, Torbay stands 29th of 40 towns its size
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Douro-Dummer Ontario | 8,379 | 14.9 | 13.8 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 9 | Labrador City Newfoundland and Labrador | 7,965 | 30.1 | 37.6 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 26 | Beaubassin East / Beaubassin-est New Brunswick | 8,138 | 72.8 | 74.8 | C+ |
| 27 | Brownsburg-Chatham Quebec | 8,466 | 76.4 | 122.2 | C+ |
| 28 | Clare Nova Scotia | 8,020 | 79.7 | 93.8 | C |
| 29 | Torbay Newfoundland and Labrador | 8,297 | 81 | 104.2 | C |
| 30 | Vermilion River County Alberta | 8,282 | 96.6 | 62.7 | C− |
| 31 | Drumheller Alberta | 8,439 | 101.2 | 101.9 | C− |
| 32 | Trail British Columbia | 8,539 | 114.1 | 118.2 | C− |
| … | |||||
| 39 | Happy Valley-Goose Bay Newfoundland and Labrador | 8,197 | 360 | 345 | D− |
| 40 | Iqaluit Nunavut | 8,612 | 661.3 | 844 | 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 Torbay in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
234,500 residents, about 4,110 violent incidents a year: the police area Torbay 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.
Property crime adds about 8,030 a year and other violations 3,470 (2023–2025 average). Of 1,000 dots, one per resident, the coloured ones are a year’s incidents at these rates.
Torbay’s index held steady from 2023 to 2025
Crime Severity Index
Its index has not been as high since 2023 (82.5); the low point came in 2025, at 79.2. Set beside it, the typical Canadian town its size went from 74.3 in 2023 to 64.2 in 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Torbay | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 79.2 | 64.2 |
| 2024 | 81.2 | 68.8 |
| 2023 | 82.5 | 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 Torbay, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
Crime in the places around Torbay
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Torbay | 8,297 | 81 | 104.2 | C |
| Logy Bay-Middle Cove-Outer Cove | 2,601 | 81 | 104.2 | C |
| Flatrock | 1,938 | 108 | 83.3 | C− |
| Portugal Cove-St. Philip's | 9,167 | 81 | 104.2 | C |
| St. John's | 128,693 | 81 | 104.2 | C |
| Pouch Cove | 2,270 | 108 | 83.3 | C− |
| Wabana | 2,008 | 108 | 83.3 | C− |
Torbay has the lowest index of the places around it. Neighbours policed by the same service carry the same figure, so the 3 of them aren’t set against it.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Solved cases. Police clear an incident by charging someone, recommending a charge, or closing it another way. The rate weighs serious crimes more, as the index does.
- How serious, not how safe. 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.”
- A regional police service. A regional or shared police service reports one set of figures for every municipality it covers, Torbay included.
- Reading the number. A reading of 100 is the whole country in 2006. Half of that, 50, means half the severity per resident.
Questions about safety in Torbay
Is Torbay safe?
With 17.9 violent incidents and 34.9 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, Torbay comes to 81 on the Crime Severity Index (2023–2025); Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people have a median of 68.5.
What is the most common crime in Torbay?
Top of the list is theft under $5,000 (15 per 1,000 residents a year); other Criminal Code offences, at 11.5, and mischief, at 9.4, follow.
Is crime going up in Torbay?
It held about level between 2023 and 2025, 82.5 to 79.2.
How much of Torbay’s crime do police solve?
Police cleared 31% of crime once each incident is weighted by seriousness: 45% of violent crime and 23% of the rest, against 34% for the typical Canadian town its size.
Whose figures are these?
Those of the police serving Torbay 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).