Recorded crime per resident is higher in Victoria than in 81% of Canadian towns
Split in two, the index gives 83.3 for violence and 118.8 for everything else (normally 86.4 and 62.8). From 2023 to 2025, crime the police covering Victoria reported put it at C− for safety. What’s more, the yearly rates were 20.3 violent incidents and 53.1 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents, set against 12.0 and 31.2 in the typical Canadian town of 2,500+. Between 2023 and 2025 the severity figure rose, 101.3 to 108.1.
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 Harbour Grace detachment area.
What stands out about safety in Victoria
Mischief: high for a town its size
Victoria records 31 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 ↓
The non-violent half stands out
Violent crime scores 83.3 on Victoria’s index against 86.4 for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+; non-violent crime, 118.8 against 62.8. By type ↓
Police clear less here
Weighted by seriousness, 15% of crime in Victoria ends in a charge or is otherwise solved: 34% of violent crime and 11% of the rest. Across Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more the figure is 34%. Questions ↓
Higher than most of Newfoundland and Labrador
The typical Newfoundland and Labrador town scores 81; Victoria, 108. 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.
What’s behind Victoria’s grade
How sure: Not as firm as most grades. Its figures come from the nearest detachment, 10 km off, which covers its own area rather than Victoria.
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.
Which crimes make up Victoria’s figures
Against the typical town its size, Victoria runs highest on mischief (31 per 1,000 against 4.2), drug offences (2.9 per 1,000 against 0.7) and break and enter (5.4 per 1,000 against 2.5). Fraud and theft under $5,000 sit below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0.3 | 0.02 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 4.7 | 0.3 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 9.3 | 0.5 | 89% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 0.7 | 0.04 | — |
| Robbery | 2.3 | 0.1 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 0.7 | 0.04 | — |
| Other violent violations | 3.7 | 0.2 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 95 | 5.4 | 11% |
| Possession of stolen property | 10.3 | 0.6 | 26% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 42.7 | 2.4 | 10% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 5.7 | 0.3 | 12% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 157 | 9 | 15% |
| Mischief | 541 | 31 | 3% |
| Weapons violations | 11.7 | 0.7 | 28% |
| Administration of justice violations | 121 | 6.9 | 39% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 34.3 | 2 | 21% |
| Drug violations | 50 | 2.9 | 7% |
| Impaired driving | 96 | 5.5 | 16% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 2.3 | 0.1 | — |
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 360 violent incidents a year at the detachment nearest Victoria (17,500 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 930 property crimes, plus 520 other violations, a year (2023–2025 average). Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot, one incident a year at the area’s rates.
Victoria, year by year
Crime Severity Index
The middle year, 2024, was the heaviest at 114.7; 2023 was lightest, at 101.3. In the same years the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ read 70.6 (2023), then 62.9 (2025).
Every year as a table
| Year | Victoria | Typical town of 2,500+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 108.1 | 62.9 |
| 2024 | 114.7 | 68.5 |
| 2023 | 101.3 | 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 Victoria, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
Crime in the places around Victoria
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Victoria | 1,837 | 108 | 83.3 | C− |
| Carbonear | 5,041 | 108 | 83.3 | C− |
| Harbour Grace | 2,872 | 108 | 83.3 | C− |
| Upper Island Cove | 1,553 | 108 | 83.3 | C− |
| Spaniard's Bay | 2,664 | 74.1 | 64.3 | C+ |
3 neighbours report through the same police, so their figure is this one and they aren’t compared.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- An index, not a verdict. Each incident counts by its seriousness, judged from court sentences, and the total is set per resident. As Statistics Canada puts it, “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
- The index’s scale. A reading of 100 is the whole country in 2006. Half of that, 50, means half the severity per resident.
- What clearance means. 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.
Questions about safety in Victoria
Is Victoria safe?
Statistics Canada puts Victoria at 108 on its Crime Severity Index over 2023–2025; Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more sit at 67.2 in the middle. Violent incidents run at 20.3 and property crimes at 53.1 per 1,000 residents a year.
What is the most common crime in Victoria?
Top of the list is mischief (31 per 1,000 residents a year); other Criminal Code offences, at 17, and assault, at 9.7, follow.
Is crime going up in Victoria?
Up 7%: 101.3 in 2023, 108.1 in 2025.
How much of Victoria’s crime do police solve?
Weighted by seriousness, police cleared 15% of crime (34% of violent crime, 11% of the rest). The typical Canadian town of 2,500+ clears 34%.
Whose figures are these?
A shared service or detachment’s, reported as one for Victoria 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).