Photo: Verne Equinox · CC BY-SA 3.0More crimes per resident are recorded in Trenton than in 70% of Canadian towns
Police counts work out at 16.5 violent incidents and 29.8 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents annually; in the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ they are 12.0 and 31.2. From 2023 to 2025 its Crime Severity Index stayed steady, 86.6 then 82.8. Its letter for safety is C, worked out from crime the police covering Trenton reported over 2023 to 2025. None of the 4 towns next door with figures records less crime per resident.
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. Measured across the Pictou County detachment area: crime severity, crime rate and incident counts.
What stands out about safety in Trenton
Mischief: high for a town its size
Trenton records 8.7 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 ↓
About the Nova Scotia norm
Trenton’s index of 83.9 compares with 71.4 for the typical town in Nova Scotia. 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.
The grade: C for Trenton
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 Trenton, by type
Against the typical town its size, Trenton runs highest on mischief (8.7 per 1,000 against 4.2) and break and enter (4.2 per 1,000 against 2.5). Theft under $5,000 sits below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 1 | 0.05 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 7.3 | 0.3 | 51% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 14 | 0.6 | 84% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 2 | 0.09 | — |
| Robbery | 2.3 | 0.1 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 1 | 0.05 | — |
| Other violent violations | 8.3 | 0.4 | 24% |
| Breaking and entering | 93.7 | 4.2 | 13% |
| Possession of stolen property | 22.7 | 1 | 32% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 52.3 | 2.4 | 12% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 19.3 | 0.9 | 7% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 155 | 7 | 7% |
| Mischief | 194 | 8.7 | 12% |
| Weapons violations | 11 | 0.5 | 66% |
| Administration of justice violations | 97.3 | 4.4 | 54% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 25.3 | 1.1 | 28% |
| Drug violations | 17.3 | 0.8 | 40% |
| Impaired driving | 82.7 | 3.7 | 40% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 0.7 | 0.03 | — |
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 370 violent incidents a year in the 22,300-resident police area around Trenton, 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.
Property crime adds about 660 a year and other violations 370 (2023–2025 average). Of 1,000 dots, one per resident, the coloured ones are a year’s incidents at these rates.
Trenton, year by year
Crime Severity Index
Its heaviest year came first: 2023, at 86.6, against a low of 82.3 in 2024. 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 | Trenton | Typical town of 2,500+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 82.8 | 62.9 |
| 2024 | 82.3 | 68.5 |
| 2023 | 86.6 | 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 Trenton, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
Crime in the places around Trenton
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trenton | 2,499 | 83.9 | 99.7 | C |
| New Glasgow | 10,378 | 128.5 | 146.4 | D |
| Stellarton | 4,251 | 116.6 | 97.1 | C− |
| Pictou County, Subdivision C | 8,847 | 83.9 | 99.7 | C |
| Westville | 3,731 | 84.1 | 65 | C |
| Pictou | 3,307 | 126.6 | 152.7 | D |
| Pictou County, Subdivision B | 6,482 | 83.9 | 99.7 | C |
Trenton has the lowest index of the places around it. 2 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
- Town and surroundings together. The detachment counts crime across its whole territory, of which Trenton is one part.
- 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. Police clear an incident by charging someone, recommending a charge, or closing it another way. The rate weighs serious crimes more, as the index does.
- How serious, not how safe. The Crime Severity Index adds up police-reported crime, each kind weighted by the sentences courts give it, so one robbery counts for more than many thefts. In Statistics Canada’s words, “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
Questions about safety in Trenton
Is Trenton safe?
With 16.5 violent incidents and 29.8 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, Trenton comes to 83.9 on the Crime Severity Index (2023–2025); Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more have a median of 67.2.
What is the most common crime in Trenton?
Most often it is other Criminal Code offences: 8.8 per 1,000 residents a year. Next come mischief at 8.7 and assault at 7.2.
Is crime going up in Trenton?
The index stayed close to where it was, 86.6 in 2023 and 82.8 in 2025.
How much of Trenton’s crime do police solve?
Police cleared 26% of crime once each incident is weighted by seriousness: 45% of violent crime and 17% of the rest, against 34% for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
Whose figures are these?
A shared service or detachment’s, reported as one for Trenton and everywhere else it polices.
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).