Photo: Edgar El · CC BY 3.0Crime in Mahone Bay sits close to the middle of Canadian towns
The local count comes to 15.1 violent incidents and 26.5 incidents of property crime per 1,000 people each year, with 12.0 and 31.2 in the typical Canadian town of 2,500+. Even so, its Safety Grade, B−, rests on crime its police reported from 2023 to 2025: close to the middle of Canadian towns. Against usual levels of 86.4 and 62.8, violent and non-violent offences here reach 76.8 and 58.1.
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 Lunenburg County detachment area.
What stands out about safety in Mahone Bay
Mischief: high for a town its size
Mahone Bay records 9 incidents of mischief per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.2 in the typical town among Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more. By type ↓
Near the Nova Scotia middle
Within Nova Scotia, the median town comes to 71.4 on the index, against 63.1 in Mahone Bay. Towns its size ↓
Less crime solved
For Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more the typical clearance rate is 34%; Mahone Bay’s police clear 25%, 44% of violent crime and 15% of the rest. 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 Mahone Bay’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.
The Crime Severity Index and its two halves, beside the typical figure for Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more.
What police record in Mahone Bay, by type
Against the typical town its size, Mahone Bay runs highest on mischief (9 per 1,000 against 4.2) and fraud (6 per 1,000 against 5.1). 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 people or more.
42,400 residents, about 640 violent incidents a year: the police area Mahone Bay belongs to, 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.
In Mahone Bay, steady between 2023 and 2025
Crime Severity Index
Its index has not been as high since 2023 (63.8); the low point came in 2024, at 61.6. The comparison line, the typical Canadian town of 2,500+, runs from 70.6 in 2023 to 62.9 by 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Mahone Bay | Typical town of 2,500+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 63.8 | 62.9 |
| 2024 | 61.6 | 68.5 |
| 2023 | 63.8 | 70.6 |
Statistics Canada, Crime Severity Index by police service, each year as published. Typical: the median of Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more.
The Crime Severity Index of the police covering Mahone Bay, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
Crime in the places around Mahone Bay
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mahone Bay | 1,200 | 63.1 | 76.8 | B− |
| Lunenburg | 2,523 | 63.1 | 76.8 | B− |
| Lunenburg | 26,862 | 63.1 | 76.8 | B− |
| Bridgewater | 9,989 | 77.2 | 99.5 | C+ |
| Chester | 11,740 | 63.1 | 76.8 | B− |
3 places nearby are policed together with it and reported as one, so there is nothing to compare.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- The clearance rate. 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.
- Severity, weighed. Statistics Canada, which publishes the index, attaches a caution: “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.” The number weighs each reported crime by its seriousness before dividing by residents.
- A wider policing area. Detachment figures cover the detachment’s whole area: Mahone Bay together with the countryside and smaller places it polices.
- What 100 means. 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.
Questions about safety in Mahone Bay
Is Mahone Bay safe?
Mahone Bay measures 63.1 on the Crime Severity Index for 2023–2025, next to 67.2 for Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more. Per 1,000 residents a year, its police record 15.1 violent incidents and 26.5 property crimes.
What is the most common crime in Mahone Bay?
Most often it is mischief: 9 per 1,000 residents a year. Next come other Criminal Code offences at 8 and theft under $5,000 at 7.1.
Is crime going up in Mahone Bay?
The index stayed close to where it was, 63.8 in 2023 and 63.8 in 2025.
How much of Mahone Bay’s crime do police solve?
Police solve 44% of violent crime and 15% of everything else, 25% overall once each crime is weighted by seriousness, against 34% for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
Whose figures are these?
A police service or detachment that covers Mahone Bay 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).