Photo: Nova Scotia Archives · Public domainYarmouth has more crime per resident than nine in ten Canadian towns
Of the two halves, violence comes to 215.2 and other offences to 120.6, beside norms of 85.7 and 62.8. Graded on crime the police covering Yarmouth reported from 2023 to 2025, it scores D for safety: #2,458 of 2,572 Canadian towns. Annual rates stand at 39.0 violent incidents and 63.4 incidents of property crime for every thousand residents, next to 12.9 and 31.2 in the typical town its size. On top of that, each of the two towns on its borders 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.
What stands out about safety in Yarmouth
Mischief: high for a town its size
Yarmouth records 29.8 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 ↓
Higher than most of Nova Scotia
Set among Nova Scotia’s towns, whose median is 71.4, Yarmouth scores 146.8. Towns its size ↓
A higher index than most towns its size
Counting up from the lowest index, Yarmouth is 33rd of the 40 Canadian towns closest in population. Towns its size ↓
Above-typical clearance
Police cleared 45% of Yarmouth’s crime, weighted by seriousness (62% of violent crime, 32% of the rest), against 34% across Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people. Questions ↓
Written from Statistics Canada’s police-reported crime by police service and detachment, 2023–2025. Figures are what police recorded, not convictions.
Inside Yarmouth’s D for safety
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: #2,458 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.
Yarmouth’s crime by kind
Against the typical town its size, Yarmouth runs highest on mischief (29.8 per 1,000 against 4.9), drug offences (4.1 per 1,000 against 0.7) and assault (18.2 per 1,000 against 6.7). Motor vehicle theft sits below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0.7 | 0.09 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 3.3 | 0.5 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 7.7 | 1.1 | 95% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 2.3 | 0.3 | — |
| Robbery | 2.7 | 0.4 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 1 | 0.1 | — |
| Other violent violations | 5.3 | 0.8 | 25% |
| Breaking and entering | 27 | 3.8 | 30% |
| Possession of stolen property | 2.7 | 0.4 | — |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 14 | 2 | 26% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 4.7 | 0.7 | — |
| Theft under $5,000 | 142.7 | 20.1 | 42% |
| Mischief | 211.3 | 29.8 | 28% |
| Weapons violations | 4.3 | 0.6 | — |
| Administration of justice violations | 78 | 11 | 64% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 19.3 | 2.7 | 43% |
| Drug violations | 29 | 4.1 | 21% |
| Impaired driving | 79 | 11.2 | 28% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 2.3 | 0.3 | — |
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.
By its index, Yarmouth stands 33rd of 40 towns its size
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Trent Lakes Ontario | 7,357 | 20.6 | 24.8 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 28 | Springhill Nova Scotia | 7,015 | 93.1 | 86.7 | C− |
| … | |||||
| 30 | Gimli Manitoba | 6,914 | 126.6 | 134.2 | D |
| 31 | Stephenville Newfoundland and Labrador | 6,840 | 128.1 | 115.3 | D |
| 32 | Chibougamau Quebec | 7,273 | 128.7 | 264.7 | D |
| 33 | Yarmouth Nova Scotia | 7,129 | 146.8 | 215.2 | D |
| 34 | Athabasca County Alberta | 7,280 | 165 | 138.6 | D |
| 35 | Slave Lake Alberta | 7,334 | 186.1 | 153.9 | D |
| 36 | Hope British Columbia | 7,183 | 208.1 | 173 | D |
| … | |||||
| 40 | Algoma, Unorganized, North Part Ontario | 7,008 | 302.3 | 509 | 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 Yarmouth in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
Around 280 violent incidents a year on Yarmouth’s police records (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 450 a year and other violations 310 (2023–2025 average). Of 1,000 dots, one per resident, the coloured ones are a year’s incidents at these rates.
Yarmouth’s index held steady from 2023 to 2025
Crime Severity Index
Its heaviest year fell in the middle, 2024, at 168.7; 2025 was the lightest, at 135.1. Set beside it, the typical Canadian town its size went from 74.3 in 2023 to 64.2 in 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Yarmouth | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 135.1 | 64.2 |
| 2024 | 168.7 | 68.8 |
| 2023 | 136.5 | 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 Yarmouth, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
Crime in the places around Yarmouth
Yarmouth has the highest index of the places around it. Just 8 km away, Yarmouth comes to 52.1, against 146.8.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Severity, weighed. One robbery outweighs a run of minor thefts here, since every crime counts by the sentences courts give it. Statistics Canada adds: “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
- What 100 means. Statistics Canada set the national index at 100 for 2006; every figure here is read against that.
- The clearance rate. Cleared means solved by police, charged or not; it says nothing about what courts decide.
Questions about safety in Yarmouth
Is Yarmouth safe?
Its police recorded 39 violent incidents and 63.4 property crimes a year per 1,000 residents over 2023–2025, which gives Yarmouth a Crime Severity Index of 146.8. 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 Yarmouth?
Most often it is mischief: 29.8 per 1,000 residents a year. Next come other Criminal Code offences at 26.2 and theft under $5,000 at 20.1.
Is crime going up in Yarmouth?
Barely: 136.5 in 2023, 135.1 in 2025.
How much of Yarmouth’s crime do police solve?
The weighted clearance rate is 45%: 62% for violent crime and 32% for non-violent. For the typical Canadian town its size it is 34%.
Whose figures are these?
Its own police: the service or contract that covers Yarmouth and nowhere else.
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).