For recorded crime, East Preston sits in the middle of Canadian towns
Its Safety Grade, C+ (#17 of 88 in Nova Scotia), rests on crime its police reported from 2023 to 2025: close to the middle of Canadian towns. The index held steady between 2023 (71.9) and 2025 (68.7). Violence and property crime split as 13.8 violent incidents and 37.3 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents a year, beside 10.8 and 25.1 in the typical Canadian town of 50,000+. Split in two, the index gives 94.3 for violence and 62.8 for everything else (normally 75.2 and 54.2).
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. Measured across the Halifax Metropolitan Area service area: crime severity and crime rate.
The C+ for East Preston, and how it is built
How sure: Less sure than most, because no figure exists for East Preston on its own; the city’s, for its whole area, stands in.
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: #17 of 88 in Nova Scotia and #1,398 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 across Halifax Metropolitan Area, by type
These are Halifax Metropolitan Area’s figures, for its police’s whole area: they aren’t published by neighbourhood.
Against the typical town its size, Halifax Metropolitan Area runs highest on theft under $5,000 (24 per 1,000 against 11.5), assault (6.7 per 1,000 against 4.9) and mischief (5.1 per 1,000 against 3.8).
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 9.7 | 0.02 | 65% |
| Sexual violations against children | 124.7 | 0.2 | 34% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 232.7 | 0.5 | 94% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 44.7 | 0.09 | 51% |
| Robbery | 289.7 | 0.6 | 48% |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 59 | 0.1 | 92% |
| Other violent violations | 151.3 | 0.3 | 48% |
| Breaking and entering | 920.7 | 1.8 | 20% |
| Possession of stolen property | 123 | 0.2 | 70% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 462.3 | 0.9 | 14% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 200.3 | 0.4 | 17% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 12,134 | 24 | 12% |
| Mischief | 2,574 | 5.1 | 12% |
| Weapons violations | 299.3 | 0.6 | 44% |
| Administration of justice violations | 2,638.3 | 5.2 | 81% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 437.3 | 0.9 | 43% |
| Drug violations | 335.7 | 0.7 | 37% |
| Impaired driving | 773.7 | 1.5 | 88% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 36 | 0.07 | 24% |
Statistics Canada’s violation groups for the whole police service or detachment: incidents a year are its own, the town’s share is only estimated in the tiles. 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.
East Preston, year by year
Crime Severity Index
Its heaviest year fell in the middle, 2024, at 73.5; 2025 was the lightest, at 68.7. The comparison line, the typical Canadian town of 50,000+, runs from 64.3 in 2023 to 59.2 by 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | East Preston | Typical town of 50,000+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 68.7 | 59.2 |
| 2024 | 73.5 | 59.9 |
| 2023 | 71.9 | 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 East Preston, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 50,000+.
Crime in the places around East Preston
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| East Preston | 2,573 | 71.4 | 94.3 | C+ |
| Lawrencetown | 3,509 | 71.4 | 94.3 | C+ |
| Westphal | 4,201 | 71.4 | 94.3 | C+ |
| Lake Echo | 5,223 | 71.4 | 94.3 | C+ |
| Cole Harbour | 21,627 | 71.4 | 94.3 | C+ |
| Woodlawn | 20,925 | 71.4 | 94.3 | C+ |
| Portland Estates | 10,164 | 71.4 | 94.3 | C+ |
Where neighbours share its police, they share the figure too: 6 aren’t counted above.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Reading the number. Statistics Canada set the national index at 100 for 2006; every figure here is read against that.
- Solved cases. A crime is cleared when police lay or recommend a charge, or solve it another way; the weighted rate counts serious crimes for more.
- How serious, not how safe. Police-reported incidents, each multiplied by a weight drawn from court sentences, summed and divided by the population: that is the index, and its makers attach a caution, “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
- Not the neighbourhood’s own. No open data breaks the city’s crime down by neighbourhood, so East Preston carries the city-wide figures.
Questions about safety in East Preston
Is East Preston safe?
The short answer is an index of 71.4 for East Preston (2023–2025), built from 13.8 violent incidents and 37.3 property crimes a year for every 1,000 residents. In the middle of Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more the figure is 60.3.
What is the most common crime in East Preston?
Theft under $5,000 is the most common, at 24 per 1,000 residents a year, then other Criminal Code offences (8) and assault (6.7).
Is crime going up in East Preston?
Not much: the index went from 71.9 in 2023 to 68.7 in 2025.
How much of East Preston’s crime do police solve?
The weighted clearance rate is 31%: 49% for violent crime and 20% for non-violent. For the typical Canadian town of 50,000+ it is 38%.
Whose figures are these?
Those of the police service that covers the whole city.
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).