Photo: Azure /Mark Seymour · CC BY-SA 3.0Recorded crime per resident is higher in Amherst than in 91% of Canadian towns
About 43% of crime here is cleared by police, set against 33% for the typical Canadian town its size. By contrast, from 2023 to 2025, crime the police covering Amherst reported put it at D for safety: #2,472 of 2,572 Canadian towns. Of the two halves, violence comes to 131.2 and other offences to 158.3, beside norms of 89.4 and 56. Its 3 neighbours with figures all record less crime per resident.
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.
What stands out about safety in Amherst
Mischief: high for a town its size
Amherst records 24.1 incidents of mischief per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.7 in the typical town among Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people. By type ↓
Down since 2023
In 2023 the index in Amherst stood at 173.8, by 2025 at 111.8. Over the same years the typical Canadian town its size went from 69.5 to 60. Year by year ↓
Above Nova Scotia’s typical town
Set among Nova Scotia’s towns, whose median is 71.4, Amherst scores 149.6. Towns its size ↓
A higher index than most towns its size
Counting up from the lowest index, Amherst is 38th of the 40 Canadian towns closest in population. 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 D for Amherst, 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: #2,472 of 2,572 Canadian towns.
The Crime Severity Index and its two halves, beside the typical figure for Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people.
In Amherst, down 36% between 2023 and 2025
Crime Severity Index
Its highest year was 2023, at 173.8, and its lowest 2025, at 111.8. Over 2023–2025, the typical Canadian town its size moved from 69.5 to 60.
Every year as a table
| Year | Amherst | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 111.8 | 60 |
| 2024 | 163.3 | 67.9 |
| 2023 | 173.8 | 69.5 |
Statistics Canada, Crime Severity Index by police service, each year as published. Typical: the median of Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people.
The Crime Severity Index of the police covering Amherst, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
What police record in Amherst, by type
Against the typical town its size, Amherst runs highest on mischief (24.1 per 1,000 against 3.7), theft under $5,000 (42 per 1,000 against 11.8) and break and enter (6.3 per 1,000 against 2.2).
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0 | 0 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 5 | 0.5 | 80% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 6 | 0.6 | 100% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 0.7 | 0.07 | — |
| Robbery | 1 | 0.1 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 2 | 0.2 | — |
| Other violent violations | 3.7 | 0.4 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 62.3 | 6.3 | 30% |
| Possession of stolen property | 14 | 1.4 | 52% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 25.7 | 2.6 | 38% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 7.7 | 0.8 | 4% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 417.3 | 42 | 27% |
| Mischief | 239.7 | 24.1 | 33% |
| Weapons violations | 12 | 1.2 | 75% |
| Administration of justice violations | 135.7 | 13.7 | 83% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 36.7 | 3.7 | 47% |
| Drug violations | 20.7 | 2.1 | 71% |
| Impaired driving | 26.3 | 2.6 | 89% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 7.3 | 0.7 | 18% |
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 10,000 to 50,000 people.
Amherst is 38th of 40 towns its size, lowest index first
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beckwith Ontario | 10,073 | 20.5 | 25.5 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 24 | Antigonish County, Subdivision A Nova Scotia | 9,682 | 66.6 | 81.7 | B− |
| … | |||||
| 29 | Bridgewater Nova Scotia | 9,989 | 77.2 | 99.5 | C+ |
| … | |||||
| 35 | Saint-Rémi Quebec | 9,557 | 116.5 | 80.3 | C− |
| 36 | New Glasgow Nova Scotia | 10,378 | 128.5 | 146.4 | D |
| 37 | Hinton Alberta | 10,124 | 137.3 | 109.5 | D |
| 38 | Amherst Nova Scotia | 10,072 | 149.6 | 131.2 | D |
| 39 | Quesnel British Columbia | 10,253 | 275.7 | 243.5 | D |
| 40 | Wheatland County Alberta | 10,150 | 298.8 | 486.4 | 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 Amherst in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
Around 350 violent incidents a year on Amherst’s police records (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 850 property crimes and 390 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 Amherst
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amherst | 10,072 | 149.6 | 131.2 | D |
| Cumberland County, Subdivision C | 6,040 | 93.1 | 86.7 | C− |
| Sackville | 6,572 | 86.9 | 110.4 | C |
| Sackville | 1,286 | 58.4 | 80 | B |
The places around Amherst all score lower on the index. The nearest of them, Cumberland County, Subdivision C (9.1 km away), scores 93.1 against 149.6.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- What the index measures. 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.”
- 100 is Canada in 2006. A reading of 100 is the whole country in 2006. Half of that, 50, means half the severity per resident.
- 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.
Questions about safety in Amherst
Is Amherst safe?
With 35.2 violent incidents and 85.4 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, Amherst comes to 149.6 on the Crime Severity Index (2023–2025); Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people have a median of 66.
What is the most common crime in Amherst?
Most often it is theft under $5,000: 42 per 1,000 residents a year. Next come other Criminal Code offences at 28.2 and mischief at 24.1.
Is crime going up in Amherst?
Over 2023–2025 the index dropped 36%, to 111.8 from 173.8.
How much of Amherst’s crime do police solve?
Police cleared 43% of crime once each incident is weighted by seriousness: 64% of violent crime and 36% of the rest, against 33% for the typical Canadian town its size.
Whose figures are these?
Its own police: the service or contract that covers Amherst and nowhere else.
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).