Photo: Abebenjoe · CC BY-SA 3.0Cape Breton records less crime per resident than 79% of Canadian towns
Against usual levels of 75.2 and 54.2, violent and non-violent offences here reach 56.2 and 39.6. Counting crime the police covering Cape Breton reported from 2023 to 2025, it grades A− for safety: #1 of 88 in Nova Scotia. Year on year, 8.3 violent incidents and 22.6 incidents of property crime occur per 1,000 residents, compared with 10.8 and 25.1 in the typical 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.
What stands out about safety in Cape Breton
Lighter than Nova Scotia’s middle
Cape Breton’s index of 44 compares with 71.4 for the typical town in Nova Scotia. Towns its size ↓
A lower index than most towns its size
Of the 40 Canadian towns nearest it in size, Cape Breton places 7th from the lowest index. Towns its size ↓
Mischief: high for a town its size
Cape Breton records 5.8 incidents of mischief per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.8 in the typical town among Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more. By type ↓
Written from Statistics Canada’s police-reported crime by police service and detachment, 2023–2025. Figures are what police recorded, not convictions.
Cape Breton: A− for safety, and why
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: #1 of 88 in Nova Scotia and #379 of 2,572 Canadian towns.
The Crime Severity Index and its two halves, beside the typical figure for Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more.
Crime in Cape Breton, type by type
Against the typical town its size, Cape Breton runs highest on mischief (5.8 per 1,000 against 3.8). Motor vehicle theft and break and enter sit below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 2 | 0.02 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 15 | 0.1 | 53% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 45.7 | 0.4 | 100% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 3.7 | 0.03 | — |
| Robbery | 23.3 | 0.2 | 46% |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 11.3 | 0.1 | 100% |
| Other violent violations | 8.7 | 0.08 | 54% |
| Breaking and entering | 106 | 1 | 22% |
| Possession of stolen property | 15 | 0.1 | 87% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 94.7 | 0.9 | 11% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 22 | 0.2 | 17% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 1,212.7 | 11.3 | 15% |
| Mischief | 623.7 | 5.8 | 13% |
| Weapons violations | 41.3 | 0.4 | 81% |
| Administration of justice violations | 616.7 | 5.8 | 94% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 48 | 0.4 | 51% |
| Drug violations | 50.7 | 0.5 | 92% |
| Impaired driving | 104.7 | 1 | 94% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 3.3 | 0.03 | — |
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 50,000 people or more.
Cape Breton comes 7th of the 40 towns nearest in size
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Repentigny Quebec | 91,290 | 28.1 | 48.2 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 4 | Bolton Ontario | 90,201 | 39.2 | 51 | A |
| 5 | Saanich British Columbia | 126,011 | 40.5 | 49.7 | A− |
| 6 | Terrebonne Quebec | 126,872 | 41.6 | 72.5 | A− |
| 7 | Cape Breton Nova Scotia | 106,752 | 44 | 56.2 | A− |
| 8 | Airdrie Alberta | 92,544 | 44.3 | 48.7 | A− |
| 9 | Pickering Ontario | 118,378 | 45.8 | 61.4 | A− |
| 10 | Bowmanville Ontario | 114,180 | 45.8 | 61.4 | A− |
| … | |||||
| 40 | Prince George British Columbia | 85,944 | 209.1 | 239.6 | 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 Cape Breton in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
About 880 violent incidents a year reached Cape Breton’s police, 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 2,420 a year and other violations 980 (2023–2025 average). Of 1,000 dots, one per resident, the coloured ones are a year’s incidents at these rates.
Year by year in Cape Breton: steady, 2023 to 2025
Crime Severity Index
Nothing since 2023 has matched that year’s 44.8; the lightest was 2024, at 43.1. The comparison line, the typical Canadian town its size, runs from 64.3 in 2023 to 59.2 by 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Cape Breton | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 44.2 | 59.2 |
| 2024 | 43.1 | 59.9 |
| 2023 | 44.8 | 64.3 |
Statistics Canada, Crime Severity Index by police service, each year as published. Typical: the median of Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more.
The Crime Severity Index of the police covering Cape Breton, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
Crime in the places around Cape Breton
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cape Breton | 106,752 | 44 | 56.2 | A− |
| Victoria County, Subdivision B (45 km) | 4,258 | 82.8 | 120.7 | C |
| Victoria County, Subdivision A (62 km) | 2,746 | 82.8 | 120.7 | C |
| Richmond County, Subdivision B (74 km) | 1,853 | 65.2 | 90.1 | B− |
| Inverness County, Subdivision A (79 km) | 5,389 | 68.4 | 80 | B− |
Every neighbour with a figure of its own has a higher index than Cape Breton.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means. Distances here run 45–79 km: that is how far the nearest places with figures are from Cape Breton.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 100 is Canada in 2006. The index is scaled so that Canada as a whole scored 100 in its base year, 2006: a town at 50 has half that severity per resident.
- Cleared, not convicted. Cleared means solved by police, charged or not; it says nothing about what courts decide.
- 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 Cape Breton
Is Cape Breton safe?
Cape Breton measures 44 on the Crime Severity Index for 2023–2025, next to 60.3 for Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more. Per 1,000 residents a year, its police record 8.3 violent incidents and 22.6 property crimes.
What is the most common crime in Cape Breton?
The three biggest groups are theft under $5,000 at 11.3, other Criminal Code offences at 7 and mischief at 5.8, each per 1,000 residents a year.
Is crime going up in Cape Breton?
Barely: 44.8 in 2023, 44.2 in 2025.
How much of Cape Breton’s crime do police solve?
Counting serious crimes for more, 42% end in a charge or are otherwise solved (38% for the typical Canadian town its size); split up, that is 61% of violent and 31% of non-violent crime.
Whose figures are these?
Its own police: the service or contract that covers Cape Breton 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).