Photo: WabbitWanderer from London, Canada · CC BY-SA 2.0Per resident, Fall River records about as much crime as the typical place among Canadian towns
Split in two, the index gives 94.3 for violence and 62.8 for everything else (normally 75.2 and 54.2). Its weighted clearance rate, the share of crime police solved, is 31% (the typical Canadian town of 50,000+: 38%). In sum, crime its police reported from 2023 to 2025 put Fall River at C+ (#17 of 88 in Nova Scotia): close to the middle of Canadian towns. Behind the grade sit 13.8 violent incidents and 37.3 incidents of property crime per 1,000 people a year, where the comparison is 10.8 and 25.1 in the typical Canadian town of 50,000+.
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. Crime severity and crime rate: one figure for all of the Halifax Metropolitan Area service area.
What’s behind Fall River’s grade
How sure: Less sure, since one city-wide figure stands behind it, and Fall River can differ a long way from its city’s average.
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.
Which crimes make up Halifax Metropolitan Area’s figures
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), robbery (0.6 per 1,000 against 0.4) and assault (6.7 per 1,000 against 4.9). Drug offences and motor vehicle theft sit below it.
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.
Year by year in Fall River: steady, 2023 to 2025
Crime Severity Index
The middle year, 2024, was the heaviest at 73.5; 2025 was lightest, at 68.7. Over 2023–2025, the typical Canadian town of 50,000+ moved from 64.3 to 59.2.
Every year as a table
| Year | Fall River | 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 Fall River, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 50,000+.
Crime in the places around Fall River
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall River | 9,214 | 71.4 | 94.3 | C+ |
| Beaver Bank | 9,157 | 71.4 | 94.3 | C+ |
| Lower Sackville | 20,171 | 71.4 | 94.3 | C+ |
| Middle Sackville | 14,898 | 71.4 | 94.3 | C+ |
| Dutch Settlement | 6,234 | 71.4 | 94.3 | C+ |
| Bedford | 28,848 | 71.4 | 94.3 | C+ |
| Hammonds Plains | 13,844 | 71.4 | 94.3 | C+ |
6 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
- Solved cases. Cleared means solved by police, charged or not; it says nothing about what courts decide.
- How serious, not how safe. Statistics Canada builds the index from every crime police record, weighted by how seriously the courts treat it, and divides by the population. It adds a warning of its own: “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
- City-wide figures. The figures for Fall River are city-wide: neighbourhood counts aren’t published as open data here.
- Reading the number. Statistics Canada set the national index at 100 for 2006; every figure here is read against that.
Questions about safety in Fall River
Is Fall River safe?
With 13.8 violent incidents and 37.3 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, Fall River comes to 71.4 on the Crime Severity Index (2023–2025); Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more have a median of 60.3.
What is the most common crime in Fall River?
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 Fall River?
It held about level between 2023 and 2025, 71.9 to 68.7.
How much of Fall River’s crime do police solve?
Weighted by seriousness, police cleared 31% of crime (49% of violent crime, 20% of the rest). The typical Canadian town of 50,000+ clears 38%.
Whose figures are these?
The city police’s, as reported for 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).