Photo: Madereugeneandrew · CC BY-SA 4.0Per resident, Kingston records about as much crime as the typical place among Canadian towns
Statistics Canada puts its Crime Severity Index at 72.3 for 2023–2025; the typical Canadian town its size scores 66. The overall Safety Grade is C+ (#52 of 88 in Nova Scotia), which means close to the middle of Canadian towns, judged on crime its police reported from 2023 to 2025. In a usual year, 17.1 violent incidents and 31.4 incidents of property crime are logged per 1,000 inhabitants; in the typical town its size, 12.0 and 30.5.
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, crime rate and incident counts: the Kings County detachment area.
What stands out about safety in Kingston
Mischief: high for a town its size
Kingston records 10.5 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 ↓
Rising since 2023
In 2023 the index in Kingston stood at 65.6, by 2025 at 79.7. Over the same years the typical Canadian town its size went from 69.5 to 60. Year by year ↓
Higher than many towns its size
Line up the 40 Canadian towns nearest in size by their index and Kingston stands 27th, the lowest first. Towns its size ↓
About the Nova Scotia norm
Within Nova Scotia, the median town comes to 71.4 on the index, against 72.3 in Kingston. 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 sits behind Kingston’s C+
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: #52 of 88 in Nova Scotia and #1,514 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.
What police record in Kingston, by type
Against the typical town its size, Kingston runs highest on mischief (10.5 per 1,000 against 3.7), drug offences (1.5 per 1,000 against 0.8) and sexual assault (1.1 per 1,000 against 0.8). Motor vehicle theft sits below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 1 | 0.02 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 21.7 | 0.4 | 43% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 16.7 | 0.3 | 98% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 3.7 | 0.06 | — |
| Robbery | 4.3 | 0.07 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 3.7 | 0.06 | — |
| Other violent violations | 22 | 0.4 | 29% |
| Breaking and entering | 164 | 2.7 | 12% |
| Possession of stolen property | 23.3 | 0.4 | 50% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 81 | 1.3 | 16% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 25 | 0.4 | 15% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 675.3 | 11.1 | 21% |
| Mischief | 635 | 10.5 | 15% |
| Weapons violations | 20.3 | 0.3 | 43% |
| Administration of justice violations | 264.3 | 4.4 | 65% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 64 | 1.1 | 31% |
| Drug violations | 92.7 | 1.5 | 22% |
| Impaired driving | 231.7 | 3.8 | 36% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 3.3 | 0.06 | — |
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.
In Kingston, up 21% between 2023 and 2025
Crime Severity Index
It closed on its heaviest year, 2025, at 79.7; the lightest was 2023, at 65.6. The typical Canadian town its size went from 69.5 in 2023 to 60 in 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Kingston | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 79.7 | 60 |
| 2024 | 71.6 | 67.9 |
| 2023 | 65.6 | 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 Kingston, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
Kingston is 27th of 40 towns its size, lowest index first
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Springwater Ontario | 24,144 | 22.8 | 21.7 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 22 | Enfield Nova Scotia | 26,960 | 55.1 | 63.4 | B |
| 23 | Lunenburg Nova Scotia | 26,862 | 63.1 | 76.8 | B− |
| 24 | Joliette Quebec | 22,408 | 68.5 | 107.8 | B− |
| 25 | Cobourg Ontario | 22,529 | 71 | 94.5 | C+ |
| 26 | New Hamburg Ontario | 22,890 | 71.9 | 89.7 | C+ |
| 27 | Kingston Nova Scotia | 24,574 | 72.3 | 91.5 | C+ |
| 28 | Red Deer County Alberta | 22,076 | 73.6 | 64.8 | C+ |
| 29 | Mont-Royal Quebec | 22,821 | 80.3 | 115.7 | C |
| 30 | Paradise Newfoundland and Labrador | 26,155 | 81 | 104.2 | C |
| … | |||||
| 40 | Yellowknife Northwest Territories | 22,858 | 304.6 | 362 | 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 Kingston in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
About 1,040 violent incidents a year across the police area of 61,300 residents that includes Kingston, 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 1,900 property crimes and 980 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 Kingston
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kingston | 24,574 | 72.3 | 91.5 | C+ |
| Berwick | 2,631 | 72.3 | 91.5 | C+ |
| Annapolis County, Subdivision C | 5,694 | 96 | 107.6 | C− |
The comparison skips one neighbour reported under the same police.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- A detachment’s area. Detachment figures cover the detachment’s whole area: Kingston together with the countryside and smaller places it polices.
- 100 is Canada in 2006. Canada’s own index has been below its 2006 base of 100 for years, so 100 marks a fixed reference, not today’s national average.
- Cleared, not convicted. The clearance rate is the share of incidents police solve, by a charge or otherwise, weighted by seriousness like the index. It isn’t a conviction rate.
- What the index measures. Each incident counts by its seriousness, judged from court sentences, and the total is set per resident. As Statistics Canada puts it, “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
Questions about safety in Kingston
Is Kingston safe?
Statistics Canada puts Kingston at 72.3 on its Crime Severity Index over 2023–2025; Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people sit at 66 in the middle. Violent incidents run at 17.1 and property crimes at 31.4 per 1,000 residents a year.
What is the most common crime in Kingston?
Theft under $5,000 is the most common, at 11.1 per 1,000 residents a year, then mischief (10.5) and other Criminal Code offences (9.6).
Is crime going up in Kingston?
Over 2023–2025 the index climbed 21%, to 79.7 from 65.6.
How much of Kingston’s crime do police solve?
About 29% of crime is cleared, weighted by seriousness, with 46% of violent and 20% of other crime; the figure for the typical Canadian town its size is 33%.
Whose figures are these?
A police service or detachment that covers Kingston 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).