Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0Per resident, Athens records less crime than seven in ten Canadian towns
Out of every 1,000 residents, 9.3 violent incidents and 14.9 incidents of property crime are reported annually, against 12.9 and 31.2 in the typical town its size. What’s more, the index that weighs each crime by its seriousness comes to 49.6 here (2023–2025 mean), and to 68.5 for the typical Canadian town its size. The grade is B+, built on crime the police covering Athens reported from 2023 to 2025: #277 of 862 in Ontario.
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. Shared with the rest of the Leeds County (Brockville) detachment area: crime severity, crime rate and incident counts.
What stands out about safety in Athens
A high clearance rate
Weighted by seriousness, 49% of crime in Athens ends in a charge or is otherwise solved: 73% of violent crime and 39% of the rest. Across Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people the figure is 34%. Questions ↓
Lower than many towns its size
Set among the 40 Canadian towns closest to it in population, Athens comes 13th, counting from the lowest Crime Severity Index. Towns its size ↓
About the Ontario norm
The typical Ontario town scores 56.2; Athens, 49.6. Towns its size ↓
Rising since 2023
Between 2023 and 2025, Athens moved from 40.7 to 52.3, while the typical Canadian town its size went from 74.3 to 64.2. Year by year ↓
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 Athens’s grade
How sure: Not as firm as most grades. Its figures come from the nearest detachment, 20 km off, which covers its own area rather than Athens.
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: #277 of 862 in Ontario and #521 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.
Which crimes make up Athens’s figures
Mischief and theft under $5,000 sit below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0 | 0 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 8.3 | 0.3 | 84% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 3.3 | 0.1 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 2 | 0.07 | — |
| Robbery | 1.7 | 0.06 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 2.3 | 0.08 | — |
| Other violent violations | 4 | 0.1 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 51.7 | 1.8 | 19% |
| Possession of stolen property | 8.7 | 0.3 | 89% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 31.3 | 1.1 | 30% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 22.3 | 0.8 | 9% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 97.7 | 3.4 | 16% |
| Mischief | 65 | 2.3 | 18% |
| Weapons violations | 10 | 0.4 | 60% |
| Administration of justice violations | 74.7 | 2.6 | 71% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 14 | 0.5 | 45% |
| Drug violations | 33.7 | 1.2 | 76% |
| Impaired driving | 48 | 1.7 | 98% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 2.7 | 0.09 | — |
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.
From 2023 to 2025, Athens’s index climbed 29%
Crime Severity Index
2024 stands out as the heaviest year at 56, with 2023 the lightest at 40.7. 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 | Athens | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 52.3 | 64.2 |
| 2024 | 56 | 68.8 |
| 2023 | 40.7 | 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 Athens, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
Athens is 13th of 40 towns its size, lowest index first
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lorne Manitoba | 3,022 | 26.8 | 36.9 | A+ |
| 2 | Admaston/Bromley Ontario | 3,086 | 33.5 | 57.5 | A |
| … | |||||
| 4 | Chalk River Ontario | 3,147 | 38.6 | 59.3 | A |
| … | |||||
| 10 | Cap-Saint-Ignace Quebec | 3,074 | 48.4 | 77.8 | B+ |
| 11 | Electoral Area E, Alberni-Clayoquot British Columbia | 3,069 | 48.6 | 69.1 | B+ |
| 12 | Saint-David-de-Falardeau Quebec | 3,128 | 48.7 | 80 | B+ |
| 13 | Athens Ontario | 3,078 | 49.6 | 50.6 | B+ |
| 14 | Saint-Liboire Quebec | 3,123 | 49.7 | 70.8 | B+ |
| 15 | Saint-Dominique Quebec | 3,062 | 49.7 | 70.8 | B+ |
| 16 | Electoral Area D, Cariboo British Columbia | 3,057 | 51.7 | 55.1 | B+ |
| … | |||||
| 33 | McDougall Ontario | 3,002 | 106.9 | 196.4 | C− |
| … | |||||
| 40 | La Loche Saskatchewan | 3,124 | 1,107 | 1,524.7 | 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 Athens in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
Around 270 violent incidents a year at the detachment nearest Athens (28,600 residents), 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 430 property crimes, plus 280 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 Athens
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Athens | 3,078 | 49.6 | 50.6 | B+ |
| Elizabethtown-Kitley | 9,886 | 49.6 | 50.6 | B+ |
| Front of Yonge | 2,773 | 49.6 | 50.6 | B+ |
| Rideau Lakes | 12,148 | 44.4 | 80 | A− |
Sharing its police with 2 neighbours, it shares their figure as well, so they aren’t compared.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- Severity, weighed. Police-reported incidents, each multiplied by a weight drawn from court sentences, summed and divided by the population: that is the index, and its makers attach a caution, “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
Questions about safety in Athens
Is Athens safe?
Against a typical 68.5 for Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, Athens’s Crime Severity Index stands at 49.6 for 2023–2025. Its police record 9.3 violent incidents and 14.9 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year.
What is the most common crime in Athens?
Most often it is fraud: 4.9 per 1,000 residents a year. Next come assault at 4.4 and other Criminal Code offences at 3.8.
Is crime going up in Athens?
It went up 29% between 2023 and 2025, from 40.7 to 52.3.
How much of Athens’s crime do police solve?
49%, by the weighted clearance rate, where the typical Canadian town its size manages 34%. Violent crime is cleared at 73% and non-violent crime at 39%.
Whose figures are these?
A police service or detachment that covers Athens 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).