Photo: Edgar El · CC BY 3.0Lunenburg is about average among Canadian towns for recorded crime
Violence accounts for an index of 76.8 and other offences for 58.1, against usual levels of 85.7 and 62.8. Across all the graded crimes, Lunenburg lands on B− (#6 of 88 in Nova Scotia): close to the middle of Canadian towns, on crime its police reported from 2023 to 2025. Behind the grade sit 15.1 violent incidents and 26.5 incidents of property crime per 1,000 people a year, where the comparison is 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. Data for crime severity, crime rate and incident counts covers the Lunenburg County detachment area.
What stands out about safety in Lunenburg
Mischief: high for a town its size
Lunenburg records 9 incidents of mischief per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.9 in the typical town among Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people. By type ↓
In the middle of towns its size
Counting up from the lowest index, Lunenburg is 21st of the 40 Canadian towns closest in population. Towns its size ↓
Close to Nova Scotia’s typical town
Set among Nova Scotia’s towns, whose median is 71.4, Lunenburg scores 63.1. Towns its size ↓
A low clearance rate
Weighted by seriousness, 25% of crime in Lunenburg ends in a charge or is otherwise solved: 44% of violent crime and 15% of the rest. Across Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people the figure is 34%. Questions ↓
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 Lunenburg’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: #6 of 88 in Nova Scotia and #951 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.
Which crimes make up Lunenburg’s figures
Against the typical town its size, Lunenburg runs highest on mischief (9 per 1,000 against 4.9) and fraud (6 per 1,000 against 4.9). Assault and theft under $5,000 sit below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0.7 | 0.02 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 11.3 | 0.3 | 42% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 8 | 0.2 | 100% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 4.3 | 0.1 | — |
| Robbery | 3 | 0.07 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 3.7 | 0.09 | — |
| Other violent violations | 13 | 0.3 | 33% |
| Breaking and entering | 100.7 | 2.4 | 11% |
| Possession of stolen property | 9 | 0.2 | 44% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 43.7 | 1 | 13% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 21.3 | 0.5 | 9% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 302.3 | 7.1 | 17% |
| Mischief | 380.3 | 9 | 9% |
| Weapons violations | 12.7 | 0.3 | 50% |
| Administration of justice violations | 144.7 | 3.4 | 43% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 57.7 | 1.4 | 21% |
| Drug violations | 40.3 | 1 | 15% |
| Impaired driving | 184.3 | 4.4 | 35% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 5.3 | 0.1 | 6% |
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.
Lunenburg comes 21st of the 40 towns nearest in size
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bonfield Ontario | 2,597 | 24.3 | 39.2 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 18 | Saint-Damien Quebec | 2,569 | 57.5 | 87.6 | B |
| 19 | Mandeville Quebec | 2,511 | 58 | 90.3 | B |
| 20 | Sainte-Victoire-de-Sorel Quebec | 2,599 | 58.7 | 84.9 | B |
| 21 | Lunenburg Nova Scotia | 2,523 | 63.1 | 76.8 | B− |
| 22 | Nanton Alberta | 2,522 | 63.7 | 46 | B− |
| 23 | Division No. 7, Subdivision E Newfoundland and Labrador | 2,632 | 64.2 | 58.5 | B− |
| 24 | Esterhazy Saskatchewan | 2,513 | 66.4 | 84.4 | B− |
| … | |||||
| 27 | Berwick Nova Scotia | 2,631 | 72.3 | 91.5 | C+ |
| … | |||||
| 40 | High Prairie Alberta | 2,607 | 334.5 | 521.9 | 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 Lunenburg in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
Around 640 violent incidents a year in the 42,400-resident police area around Lunenburg, 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 1,120 property crimes, plus 630 other violations, a year (2023–2025 average). Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot, one incident a year at the area’s rates.
From 2023 to 2025, Lunenburg’s index held steady
Crime Severity Index
Its highest year was 2023, at 63.8, and its lowest 2024, at 61.6. In the same years the typical Canadian town its size read 74.3 (2023), then 64.2 (2025).
Every year as a table
| Year | Lunenburg | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 63.8 | 64.2 |
| 2024 | 61.6 | 68.8 |
| 2023 | 63.8 | 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 Lunenburg, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
Crime in the places around Lunenburg
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lunenburg | 2,523 | 63.1 | 76.8 | B− |
| Mahone Bay | 1,200 | 63.1 | 76.8 | B− |
| Lunenburg | 26,862 | 63.1 | 76.8 | B− |
| Bridgewater | 9,989 | 77.2 | 99.5 | C+ |
The table leaves out 2 neighbours whose figure is this one, reported by the same police.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Reading the number. Its scale starts from Canada in 2006, set at 100, so a figure above 100 means more serious crime per resident than the country had then.
- Solved cases. Weighted like the index, so solving one assault counts for more than solving a mischief; a charge laid, recommended or otherwise resolved all count.
- How serious, not how safe. The index weighs crimes rather than counting them: a serious offence moves it far more than a minor one. Statistics Canada is plain about its limits: “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
- Town and surroundings together. The detachment counts crime across its whole territory, of which Lunenburg is one part.
Questions about safety in Lunenburg
Is Lunenburg safe?
The short answer is an index of 63.1 for Lunenburg (2023–2025), built from 15.1 violent incidents and 26.5 property crimes a year for every 1,000 residents. In the middle of Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people the figure is 68.5.
What is the most common crime in Lunenburg?
Mischief is the most common, at 9 per 1,000 residents a year, then other Criminal Code offences (8) and theft under $5,000 (7.1).
Is crime going up in Lunenburg?
Not much: the index went from 63.8 in 2023 to 63.8 in 2025.
How much of Lunenburg’s crime do police solve?
About 25% of crime is cleared, weighted by seriousness, with 44% of violent and 15% of other crime; the figure for the typical Canadian town its size is 34%.
Whose figures are these?
A police service or detachment that covers Lunenburg 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).