Photo: Tudor Costache · CC BY-SA 3.0Per resident, Central Elgin records less crime than 94% of Canadian towns
That puts it at A for safety, judged on crime the police covering Central Elgin reported from 2023 to 2025: #100 of 862 in Ontario. Recorded violent incidents ran at 6.9 per 1,000 residents a year and property crime at 11.6, against 12.0 and 30.5 in the typical town its size. Its violent half comes to 41.2 and its non-violent half to 27.9, where the norm is 89.4 and 56. Both towns on its borders with figures record more 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. Crime severity, crime rate and incident counts: one figure for all of the Elgin County detachment area.
What stands out about safety in Central Elgin
Below Ontario’s typical town
Within Ontario, the median town comes to 56.2 on the index, against 31.5 in Central Elgin. Towns its size ↓
A lower index than most towns its size
Line up the 40 Canadian towns nearest in size by their index and Central Elgin stands 6th, the lowest first. Towns its size ↓
Police clear more here
Police cleared 43% of Central Elgin’s crime, weighted by seriousness (80% of violent crime, 20% of the rest), against 33% across Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people. Questions ↓
Written from Statistics Canada’s police-reported crime by police service and detachment, 2023–2025. Figures are what police recorded, not convictions.
Central Elgin: A for safety, and why
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: #100 of 862 in Ontario and #134 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.
Central Elgin’s crime by kind
Break and enter and theft under $5,000 sit below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0.7 | 0.01 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 9.7 | 0.2 | 90% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 4.7 | 0.10 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 2 | 0.04 | — |
| Robbery | 3 | 0.06 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 3.3 | 0.07 | — |
| Other violent violations | 3 | 0.06 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 48.3 | 1 | 13% |
| Possession of stolen property | 7.7 | 0.2 | 87% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 74.3 | 1.5 | 8% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 20.3 | 0.4 | 3% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 138.3 | 2.9 | 11% |
| Mischief | 99 | 2.1 | 16% |
| Weapons violations | 9 | 0.2 | 37% |
| Administration of justice violations | 74.3 | 1.5 | 73% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 13 | 0.3 | 33% |
| Drug violations | 20 | 0.4 | 47% |
| Impaired driving | 59.3 | 1.2 | 98% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 7 | 0.1 | 0% |
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.
Central Elgin comes 6th of the 40 towns nearest in size
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dorchester Ontario | 15,475 | 28.2 | 19.4 | A+ |
| 2 | Almonte Ontario | 16,073 | 28.8 | 36.6 | A+ |
| 3 | Rockwood Ontario | 14,870 | 29 | 28.2 | A+ |
| 4 | Mount Forest Ontario | 14,407 | 29 | 28.2 | A+ |
| 5 | Val-des-Monts Quebec | 14,473 | 29.4 | 51.6 | A+ |
| 6 | Central Elgin Ontario | 15,230 | 31.5 | 41.2 | A |
| 7 | Corunna Ontario | 15,872 | 32.2 | 38.8 | A |
| 8 | Mercier Quebec | 16,036 | 35.9 | 60.1 | A |
| 9 | Long Sault Ontario | 14,602 | 36.9 | 47.2 | A |
| 10 | South Glengarry Ontario | 14,355 | 36.9 | 47.2 | A |
| 11 | Campbellford Ontario | 15,103 | 37 | 48.3 | A |
| … | |||||
| 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 Central Elgin in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
About 330 violent incidents a year across the police area of 48,900 residents that includes Central Elgin, 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 560 property crimes and 220 other violations a year (2023–2025 average). The grid is 1,000 residents, a coloured dot for each incident a year at these rates.
Year by year in Central Elgin: steady, 2023 to 2025
Crime Severity Index
2024 was the peak (35.4) and 2025 the trough (29.4). The comparison line, the typical Canadian town its size, runs from 69.5 in 2023 to 60 by 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Central Elgin | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 29.4 | 60 |
| 2024 | 35.4 | 67.9 |
| 2023 | 29.8 | 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 Central Elgin, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
Crime in the places around Central Elgin
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Central Elgin | 15,230 | 31.5 | 41.2 | A |
| St. Thomas | 49,388 | 65.2 | 72.6 | B− |
| Aylmer | 8,371 | 49 | 63.6 | B+ |
| Southwold | 5,473 | 31.5 | 41.2 | A |
| Malahide | 9,995 | 31.5 | 41.2 | A |
Each neighbour with its own figure comes in over Central Elgin. The table leaves out 2 neighbours whose figure is this one, reported by the same police.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- The clearance rate. A cleared case is one police consider solved. Whether anyone is convicted is a separate matter the rate doesn’t follow.
- 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.”
- A wider policing area. The detachment counts crime across its whole territory, of which Central Elgin is one part.
- What 100 means. Statistics Canada set the national index at 100 for 2006; every figure here is read against that.
Questions about safety in Central Elgin
Is Central Elgin safe?
A Crime Severity Index of 31.5 (2023–2025), set beside a median of 66 for Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people: that is where Central Elgin stands, with 6.9 violent and 11.6 property incidents per 1,000 residents a year.
What is the most common crime in Central Elgin?
Most often it is assault: 3.8 per 1,000 residents a year. Next come fraud at 3.5 and theft under $5,000 at 2.9.
Is crime going up in Central Elgin?
It held about level between 2023 and 2025, 29.8 to 29.4.
How much of Central Elgin’s crime do police solve?
Counting serious crimes for more, 43% end in a charge or are otherwise solved (33% for the typical Canadian town its size); split up, that is 80% of violent and 20% of non-violent crime.
Whose figures are these?
A shared service or detachment’s, reported as one for Central Elgin 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).