Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Truro has more crime per resident than 76% of Canadian towns
Split in two, the index gives 104.2 for violence and 92.2 for everything else (normally 89.4 and 56). Graded on crime the police covering Truro reported from 2023 to 2025, it scores C− for safety: #73 of 88 in Nova Scotia. Add to that, its police logs show 20.9 violent incidents and 54.1 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents a year, while in the typical town its size the numbers are 12.0 and 30.5. All 3 towns next door with figures record 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.
What stands out about safety in Truro
Mischief: high for a town its size
Truro records 11.1 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 ↓
Above-typical clearance
For Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people the typical clearance rate is 33%; Truro’s police clear 51%, 67% of violent crime and 44% of the rest. Questions ↓
A higher index than most towns its size
Set among the 40 Canadian towns closest to it in population, Truro comes 34th, counting from the lowest Crime Severity Index. Towns its size ↓
Over the Nova Scotia norm
The typical Nova Scotia town scores 71.4; Truro, 95. 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 Truro’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: #73 of 88 in Nova Scotia and #1,836 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 Truro, by type
Against the typical town its size, Truro runs highest on mischief (11.1 per 1,000 against 3.7), theft under $5,000 (32 per 1,000 against 11.8) and assault (11.6 per 1,000 against 6.6). Break and enter and motor vehicle theft sit below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0 | 0 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 1.7 | 0.1 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 18 | 1.3 | 96% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 2 | 0.1 | — |
| Robbery | 3.7 | 0.3 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 1.7 | 0.1 | — |
| Other violent violations | 4.3 | 0.3 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 25.7 | 1.8 | 32% |
| Possession of stolen property | 14.3 | 1 | 82% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 18.7 | 1.3 | 28% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 9 | 0.6 | 33% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 455.3 | 32 | 38% |
| Mischief | 157.7 | 11.1 | 27% |
| Weapons violations | 12 | 0.8 | 83% |
| Administration of justice violations | 273.7 | 19.2 | 95% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 14.3 | 1 | 47% |
| Drug violations | 16.3 | 1.1 | 63% |
| Impaired driving | 63 | 4.5 | 81% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 1 | 0.07 | — |
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.
By its index, Truro stands 34th of 40 towns its size
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tiny Ontario | 14,195 | 27.9 | 36.4 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 28 | Colchester County, Subdivision C Nova Scotia | 14,211 | 72.9 | 100.8 | C+ |
| … | |||||
| 31 | Lachute Quebec | 15,469 | 76.4 | 122.2 | C+ |
| 32 | Whistler British Columbia | 15,090 | 83.8 | 82.3 | C |
| 33 | Grand Falls-Windsor Newfoundland and Labrador | 14,510 | 92.1 | 84.1 | C |
| 34 | Truro Nova Scotia | 14,652 | 95 | 104.2 | C− |
| 35 | Parksville British Columbia | 15,371 | 107.4 | 88.3 | C− |
| 36 | Pembroke Ontario | 15,479 | 112.1 | 153.4 | C− |
| 37 | Powell River British Columbia | 14,947 | 113.5 | 99.4 | C− |
| … | |||||
| 40 | North Battleford Saskatchewan | 14,882 | 528.4 | 591.9 | 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 Truro in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
From 2023 to 2025, Truro’s index climbed 8%
Crime Severity Index
Its index peaked most recently, in 2025 (98.5); 2023 was the low point, at 90.8. In the same years the typical Canadian town its size read 69.5 (2023), then 60 (2025).
Every year as a table
| Year | Truro | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 98.5 | 60 |
| 2024 | 95.8 | 67.9 |
| 2023 | 90.8 | 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 Truro, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
About 300 violent incidents a year reached Truro’s police, 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 460 other violations, a year (2023–2025 average). Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot, one incident a year at the area’s rates.
Crime in the places around Truro
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Truro | 14,652 | 95 | 104.2 | C− |
| Millbrook 27 | 1,122 | 72.9 | 100.8 | C+ |
| Colchester County, Subdivision C | 14,211 | 72.9 | 100.8 | C+ |
| Colchester County, Subdivision B | 21,578 | 72.9 | 100.8 | C+ |
Truro has the highest index of the places around it. Just 3.7 km away, Millbrook 27 comes to 72.9, against 95.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Severity, weighed. 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.”
- What 100 means. A reading of 100 is the whole country in 2006. Half of that, 50, means half the severity per resident.
- The clearance rate. Weighted like the index, so solving one assault counts for more than solving a mischief; a charge laid, recommended or otherwise resolved all count.
Questions about safety in Truro
Is Truro safe?
A Crime Severity Index of 95 (2023–2025), set beside a median of 66 for Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people: that is where Truro stands, with 20.9 violent and 54.1 property incidents per 1,000 residents a year.
What is the most common crime in Truro?
Most often it is theft under $5,000: 32 per 1,000 residents a year. Next come other Criminal Code offences at 24 and assault at 11.6.
Is crime going up in Truro?
Yes: the index rose 8%, from 90.8 in 2023 to 98.5 in 2025.
How much of Truro’s crime do police solve?
Police cleared 51% of crime once each incident is weighted by seriousness: 67% of violent crime and 44% of the rest, against 33% for the typical Canadian town its size.
Whose figures are these?
They are Truro’s own: its police cover the town and no other.
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).