Photo: Sophilosophie · CC BY-SA 4.0Recorded crime per resident is higher in Clare than in 66% of Canadian towns
Weighted by seriousness, its crime scores 79.7 on the index for 2023–2025, beside 68.5 for the typical Canadian town its size. Add to that, the grade is C, built on crime the police covering Clare reported from 2023 to 2025: #64 of 88 in Nova Scotia. Each year brought 14.6 violent incidents and 25.3 incidents of property crime for every 1,000 residents (12.9 and 31.2 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. Area behind the crime severity, crime rate and incident counts figures: the Meteghan (Clare) detachment area.
What stands out about safety in Clare
Higher than many towns its size
Line up the 40 Canadian towns nearest in size by their index and Clare stands 31st, the lowest first. Towns its size ↓
Break and enter: high for a town its size
Clare records 4.8 incidents of break and enter per 1,000 residents a year, against 2.8 in the typical town among Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people. By type ↓
Easing since 2023
Clare’s index went from 77.6 in 2023 to 64.2 in 2025; the typical Canadian town its size moved from 74.3 to 64.2. Year by year ↓
About the Nova Scotia norm
Within Nova Scotia, the median town comes to 71.4 on the index, against 79.7 in Clare. 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 Clare’s grade
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: #64 of 88 in Nova Scotia and #1,630 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.
Crime in Clare, type by type
Against the typical town its size, Clare runs highest on break and enter (4.8 per 1,000 against 2.8), motor vehicle theft (3.3 per 1,000 against 2.6) and drug offences (0.9 per 1,000 against 0.7). Fraud and theft under $5,000 sit below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0 | 0 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 3.3 | 0.4 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 1.3 | 0.2 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 4 | 0.5 | — |
| Robbery | 0.7 | 0.08 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 0.7 | 0.08 | — |
| Other violent violations | 3.7 | 0.5 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 37.7 | 4.8 | 9% |
| Possession of stolen property | 3 | 0.4 | — |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 26 | 3.3 | 14% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 6.3 | 0.8 | 16% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 43.7 | 5.5 | 27% |
| Mischief | 43.3 | 5.5 | 18% |
| Weapons violations | 3.7 | 0.5 | — |
| Administration of justice violations | 29.7 | 3.7 | 66% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 13 | 1.6 | 28% |
| Drug violations | 7 | 0.9 | 61% |
| Impaired driving | 31 | 3.9 | 51% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 2 | 0.3 | — |
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.
In Clare, down 17% between 2023 and 2025
Crime Severity Index
Its heaviest year fell in the middle, 2024, at 97.3; 2025 was the lightest, at 64.2. The typical Canadian town its size went from 74.3 in 2023 to 64.2 in 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Clare | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 64.2 | 64.2 |
| 2024 | 97.3 | 68.8 |
| 2023 | 77.6 | 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 Clare, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
Clare comes 31st of the 40 towns nearest in size
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alnwick/Haldimand Ontario | 8,197 | 21.6 | 26.9 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 22 | Argyle Nova Scotia | 8,216 | 52.1 | 68.3 | B+ |
| … | |||||
| 28 | Clinton Ontario | 8,318 | 72.5 | 106.8 | C+ |
| 29 | Beaubassin East / Beaubassin-est New Brunswick | 8,138 | 72.8 | 74.8 | C+ |
| 30 | Kenora, Unorganized Ontario | 7,877 | 73.9 | 96.2 | C+ |
| 31 | Clare Nova Scotia | 8,020 | 79.7 | 93.8 | C |
| 32 | Torbay Newfoundland and Labrador | 8,297 | 81 | 104.2 | C |
| 33 | Electoral Area A, Nanaimo British Columbia | 7,825 | 87 | 109.6 | C |
| 34 | Vermilion River County Alberta | 8,282 | 96.6 | 62.7 | C− |
| … | |||||
| 40 | Happy Valley-Goose Bay Newfoundland and Labrador | 8,197 | 360 | 345 | 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 Clare in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
Around 120 violent incidents a year in the 8,020-resident police area around Clare, 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 200 property crimes, plus 110 other violations, a year (2023–2025 average). Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot, one incident a year at the area’s rates.
Crime in the places around Clare
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clare | 8,020 | 79.7 | 93.8 | C |
| Digby (37 km) | 7,528 | 130.3 | 157.9 | D |
| Yarmouth (37 km) | 10,637 | 52.1 | 68.3 | B+ |
| Yarmouth (45 km) | 7,129 | 146.8 | 215.2 | D |
1 of the 3 neighbours with their own figures score lower than Clare. Closest is Yarmouth, 37.3 km away, at 52.1 to 79.7 here.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means. No closer places have figures: these lie 37–45 km from Clare.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- What clearance means. Cleared means solved by police, charged or not; it says nothing about what courts decide.
- An index, not a verdict. 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.”
- Shared with the countryside. The detachment counts crime across its whole territory, of which Clare is one part.
- The index’s scale. Statistics Canada set the national index at 100 for 2006; every figure here is read against that.
Questions about safety in Clare
Is Clare safe?
Statistics Canada puts Clare at 79.7 on its Crime Severity Index over 2023–2025; Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people sit at 68.5 in the middle. Violent incidents run at 14.6 and property crimes at 25.3 per 1,000 residents a year.
What is the most common crime in Clare?
The three biggest groups are other Criminal Code offences at 7.1, assault at 5.9 and theft under $5,000 at 5.5, each per 1,000 residents a year.
Is crime going up in Clare?
Over 2023–2025 the index dropped 17%, to 64.2 from 77.6.
How much of Clare’s crime do police solve?
Police cleared 34% of crime once each incident is weighted by seriousness: 54% of violent crime and 24% of the rest, against 34% for the typical Canadian town its size.
Whose figures are these?
A police service or detachment that covers Clare and other places, so the figures are shared.
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).