Photo: A Disappearing Act · CC BY-SA 4.0Middleton has more crime per resident than three in four Canadian towns
Against usual levels of 86.4 and 62.8, violent and non-violent offences here reach 107.6 and 92.2. Graded on crime the police covering Middleton reported from 2023 to 2025, it scores C− for safety. What’s more, in a usual year, 19.8 violent incidents and 34.2 incidents of property crime are logged per 1,000 inhabitants; in the typical Canadian town of 2,500+, 12.0 and 31.2. From 2023 to 2025 its Crime Severity Index stayed steady, 98.1 then 93.9.
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. Area behind the crime severity, crime rate and incident counts figures: the Annapolis County detachment area.
What stands out about safety in Middleton
Mischief: high for a town its size
Middleton records 10.9 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 ↓
Above Nova Scotia’s typical town
Set among Nova Scotia’s towns, whose median is 71.4, Middleton scores 96. 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’s behind Middleton’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.
Middleton’s crime by kind
Against the typical town its size, Middleton runs highest on mischief (10.9 per 1,000 against 4.2), break and enter (4.7 per 1,000 against 2.5) and assault (8.1 per 1,000 against 6.7). Theft under $5,000 sits below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0.3 | 0.02 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 14 | 0.6 | 52% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 5.7 | 0.3 | 100% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 4.3 | 0.2 | — |
| Robbery | 4 | 0.2 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 2 | 0.09 | — |
| Other violent violations | 7.7 | 0.3 | 26% |
| Breaking and entering | 105.3 | 4.7 | 19% |
| Possession of stolen property | 28.3 | 1.3 | 33% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 55.3 | 2.5 | 18% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 12 | 0.5 | 17% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 175 | 7.8 | 21% |
| Mischief | 246.3 | 10.9 | 10% |
| Weapons violations | 16 | 0.7 | 58% |
| Administration of justice violations | 165 | 7.3 | 69% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 46.7 | 2.1 | 22% |
| Drug violations | 47.3 | 2.1 | 22% |
| Impaired driving | 91.7 | 4.1 | 36% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 3 | 0.1 | — |
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.
Around 450 violent incidents a year in the 22,800-resident police area around Middleton, 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 770 property crimes, plus 500 other violations, a year (2023–2025 average). Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot, one incident a year at the area’s rates.
Middleton, year by year
Crime Severity Index
The first year, 2023, was the heaviest at 98.1, and 2025 the lightest at 93.9. In the same years the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ read 70.6 (2023), then 62.9 (2025).
Every year as a table
| Year | Middleton | Typical town of 2,500+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 93.9 | 62.9 |
| 2024 | 96 | 68.5 |
| 2023 | 98.1 | 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 Middleton, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
Crime in the places around Middleton
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Middleton | 1,978 | 96 | 107.6 | C− |
| Annapolis County, Subdivision C | 5,694 | 96 | 107.6 | C− |
| Annapolis County, Subdivision B | 5,086 | 96 | 107.6 | C− |
2 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
- A wider policing area. The detachment counts crime across its whole territory, of which Middleton is one part.
- What 100 means. Statistics Canada set the national index at 100 for 2006; every figure here is read against that.
- The clearance rate. A crime is cleared when police lay or recommend a charge, or solve it another way; the weighted rate counts serious crimes for more.
- Severity, weighed. 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.”
Questions about safety in Middleton
Is Middleton safe?
Middleton scores 96 on Statistics Canada’s Crime Severity Index (2023–2025 mean), where the typical figure for Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more is 67.2; per 1,000 residents a year that is 19.8 violent incidents and 34.2 property crimes.
What is the most common crime in Middleton?
The three biggest groups are other Criminal Code offences at 13.4, mischief at 10.9 and assault at 8.1, each per 1,000 residents a year.
Is crime going up in Middleton?
Barely: 98.1 in 2023, 93.9 in 2025.
How much of Middleton’s crime do police solve?
About 32% of crime is cleared, weighted by seriousness, with 53% of violent and 21% of other crime; the figure for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ is 34%.
Whose figures are these?
A police service or detachment that covers Middleton 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).