Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Recorded crime in Carleton Place is close to typical for Canadian towns
Statistics Canada puts its Crime Severity Index at 61.2 for 2023–2025; the typical Canadian town its size scores 66. Weighing it all, Carleton Place earns B− for safety (#490 of 862 in Ontario), with close to the middle of Canadian towns, on crime its police reported over 2023 to 2025. By contrast, its 3 neighbours with figures all record less crime per resident. Police counts work out at 13.6 violent incidents and 30.2 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents annually; in the typical town its size they are 12.0 and 30.5.
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 Carleton Place
Lighter than in 2023
In 2023 the index in Carleton Place stood at 73.1, by 2025 at 54.7. Over the same years the typical Canadian town its size went from 69.5 to 60. Year by year ↓
Above-typical clearance
For Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people the typical clearance rate is 33%; Carleton Place’s police clear 51%, 81% of violent crime and 28% of the rest. Questions ↓
Higher than many towns its size
Of the 40 Canadian towns nearest it in size, Carleton Place places 25th from the lowest index. Towns its size ↓
Sexual assault: high for a town its size
Carleton Place records 1.2 incidents of sexual assault per 1,000 residents a year, against 0.8 in the typical town among Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people. By type ↓
Written from Statistics Canada’s police-reported crime by police service and detachment, 2023–2025. Figures are what police recorded, not convictions.
What sits behind Carleton Place’s B−
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: #490 of 862 in Ontario and #902 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.
Carleton Place’s index fell 25% from 2023 to 2025
Crime Severity Index
From 73.1 in 2023, its first and heaviest year, it eased to a low of 54.7 in 2025. The typical Canadian town its size went from 69.5 in 2023 to 60 in 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Carleton Place | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 54.7 | 60 |
| 2024 | 55.9 | 67.9 |
| 2023 | 73.1 | 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 Carleton Place, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
What police record in Carleton Place, by type
Against the typical town its size, Carleton Place runs highest on sexual assault (1.2 per 1,000 against 0.8), mischief (5.4 per 1,000 against 3.7) and fraud (6.7 per 1,000 against 5.1). Motor vehicle theft and break and enter sit below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0.3 | 0.02 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 5 | 0.3 | 94% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 4.3 | 0.3 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 1 | 0.07 | — |
| Robbery | 5.3 | 0.4 | 51% |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 4 | 0.3 | — |
| Other violent violations | 5.3 | 0.4 | 81% |
| Breaking and entering | 11.3 | 0.8 | 12% |
| Possession of stolen property | 2.7 | 0.2 | — |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 15.7 | 1.1 | 8% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 12.3 | 0.9 | 27% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 217.3 | 15.1 | 27% |
| Mischief | 77 | 5.4 | 16% |
| Weapons violations | 5 | 0.3 | 34% |
| Administration of justice violations | 65 | 4.5 | 70% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 7 | 0.5 | 47% |
| Drug violations | 14.7 | 1 | 73% |
| Impaired driving | 11 | 0.8 | 100% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 0.3 | 0.02 | — |
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.
Carleton Place comes 25th of the 40 towns nearest in size
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tiny Ontario | 14,195 | 27.9 | 36.4 | A+ |
| 2 | Dorchester Ontario | 15,475 | 28.2 | 19.4 | A+ |
| 3 | Rockwood Ontario | 14,870 | 29 | 28.2 | A+ |
| 4 | Mount Forest Ontario | 14,407 | 29 | 28.2 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 22 | Matane Quebec | 14,180 | 53.9 | 85.4 | B |
| 23 | Mountain View County Alberta | 14,802 | 54.8 | 78.3 | B |
| 24 | Gaspé Quebec | 15,479 | 57.9 | 106.1 | B |
| 25 | Carleton Place Ontario | 14,837 | 61.2 | 94.7 | B− |
| 26 | Lacombe Alberta | 14,733 | 61.7 | 47.6 | B− |
| 27 | Gravenhurst Ontario | 14,576 | 65.4 | 90.3 | B− |
| 28 | Colchester County, Subdivision C Nova Scotia | 14,211 | 72.9 | 100.8 | 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 Carleton Place in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
About 200 violent incidents a year reached Carleton Place’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.
Add about 430 property crimes and 130 other violations a year (2023–2025 average). The grid is 1,000 residents, a coloured dot for each incident a year at these rates.
Crime in the places around Carleton Place
The places around Carleton Place all score lower on the index. The nearest of them, Beckwith (3.5 km away), scores 20.5 against 61.2.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Cleared, not convicted. 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.
- What the index measures. Statistics Canada, which publishes the index, attaches a caution: “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.” The number weighs each reported crime by its seriousness before dividing by residents.
- 100 is Canada in 2006. 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.
Questions about safety in Carleton Place
Is Carleton Place safe?
Carleton Place’s Crime Severity Index is 61.2 (2023–2025 mean); its police record 13.6 violent incidents and 30.2 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year. For Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, the typical index is 66.
What is the most common crime in Carleton Place?
The three biggest groups are theft under $5,000 at 15.1, fraud at 6.7 and assault at 6.7, each per 1,000 residents a year.
Is crime going up in Carleton Place?
Over 2023–2025 the index dropped 25%, to 54.7 from 73.1.
How much of Carleton Place’s crime do police solve?
Police solve 81% of violent crime and 28% of everything else, 51% overall once each crime is weighted by seriousness, against 33% for the typical Canadian town its size.
Whose figures are these?
A police service or contract that serves Carleton Place alone, so the figures are the town’s.
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).