Photo: J. S. Bond · CC BY-SA 3.0Clinton sits near the middle of Canadian towns for recorded crime
Its letter overall is C+ (#727 of 862 in Ontario): close to the middle of Canadian towns, from crime its police reported through 2023 to 2025. Add to that, in a usual year, 13.6 violent incidents and 24.0 incidents of property crime are logged per 1,000 inhabitants; in the typical town its size, 12.9 and 31.2. Weighted by seriousness, its crime scores 72.5 on the index for 2023–2025, beside 68.5 for the typical Canadian town its size.
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 Clinton
Easing since 2023
Between 2023 and 2025, Clinton moved from 78.2 to 56, while the typical Canadian town its size went from 74.3 to 64.2. Year by year ↓
Police clear more here
The weighted clearance rate, the share of crime police solve, is 48% for Clinton (74% violent, 30% non-violent), beside 34% for Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people. Questions ↓
Higher than many towns its size
Line up the 40 Canadian towns nearest in size by their index and Clinton stands 25th, the lowest first. Towns its size ↓
Over the Ontario norm
Within Ontario, the median town comes to 56.2 on the index, against 72.5 in Clinton. 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 sits behind Clinton’s C+
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: #727 of 862 in Ontario and #1,514 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.
Clinton’s index fell 28% from 2023 to 2025
Crime Severity Index
Its index peaked in 2024 at 83.3, between two lighter years; the lowest, 2025, came in at 56. The typical Canadian town its size went from 74.3 in 2023 to 64.2 in 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Clinton | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 56 | 64.2 |
| 2024 | 83.3 | 68.8 |
| 2023 | 78.2 | 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 Clinton, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
Crime in Clinton, type by type
Against the typical town its size, Clinton runs highest on sexual assault (1.3 per 1,000 against 0.9), fraud (6.6 per 1,000 against 4.9) and drug offences (0.9 per 1,000 against 0.7). Motor vehicle theft and theft under $5,000 sit below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0.7 | 0.08 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 1.7 | 0.2 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 3 | 0.4 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 0 | 0 | — |
| Robbery | 1 | 0.1 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 1.7 | 0.2 | — |
| Other violent violations | 2 | 0.2 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 25.3 | 3.1 | 19% |
| Possession of stolen property | 4 | 0.5 | — |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 12 | 1.4 | 23% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 5.3 | 0.6 | 13% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 60 | 7.2 | 24% |
| Mischief | 37 | 4.5 | 32% |
| Weapons violations | 3.3 | 0.4 | — |
| Administration of justice violations | 58.7 | 7.1 | 78% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 4.7 | 0.6 | — |
| Drug violations | 7.3 | 0.9 | 82% |
| Impaired driving | 11.3 | 1.4 | 100% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 3 | 0.4 | — |
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.
Clinton is 25th of 40 towns its size, lowest index first
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Douro-Dummer Ontario | 8,379 | 14.9 | 13.8 | A+ |
| 2 | Alnwick/Haldimand Ontario | 8,197 | 21.6 | 26.9 | A+ |
| 3 | Plattsville Ontario | 8,251 | 25.1 | 27.5 | A+ |
| 4 | Otonabee-South Monaghan Ontario | 8,084 | 26 | 27.2 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 22 | La Malbaie Quebec | 8,293 | 57.2 | 83.8 | B |
| 23 | Lincoln New Brunswick | 8,093 | 63.2 | 81.9 | B− |
| 24 | Goderich Ontario | 8,412 | 68.4 | 100.1 | B− |
| 25 | Clinton Ontario | 8,318 | 72.5 | 106.8 | C+ |
| 26 | Beaubassin East / Beaubassin-est New Brunswick | 8,138 | 72.8 | 74.8 | C+ |
| 27 | Brownsburg-Chatham Quebec | 8,466 | 76.4 | 122.2 | C+ |
| 28 | Clare Nova Scotia | 8,020 | 79.7 | 93.8 | C |
| … | |||||
| 40 | Iqaluit Nunavut | 8,612 | 661.3 | 844 | 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 Clinton in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
Clinton’s police: about 110 violent incidents a year over 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 200 property crimes and 100 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 Clinton
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clinton | 8,318 | 72.5 | 106.8 | C+ |
| Goderich (15 km) | 8,412 | 68.4 | 100.1 | B− |
| Bayfield (20 km) | 8,327 | 35 | 39.3 | A |
| Seaforth (22 km) | 10,402 | 49.1 | 67.1 | B+ |
| Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh (24 km) | 7,052 | 35 | 39.3 | A |
Clinton has the highest index of the places around it. Just 15.1 km away, Goderich comes to 68.4, against 72.5.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means. No closer places have figures: these lie 15–24 km from Clinton.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- What 100 means. The index is scaled so that Canada as a whole scored 100 in its base year, 2006: a town at 50 has half that severity per resident.
- The clearance rate. A crime is cleared when police lay or recommend a charge, or solve it another way; the weighted rate counts serious crimes for more.
- Severity, weighed. The index weighs crimes rather than counting them: a serious offence moves it far more than a minor one. Statistics Canada is plain about its limits: “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
Questions about safety in Clinton
Is Clinton safe?
Statistics Canada puts Clinton at 72.5 on its Crime Severity Index over 2023–2025; Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people sit at 68.5 in the middle. Violent incidents run at 13.6 and property crimes at 24 per 1,000 residents a year.
What is the most common crime in Clinton?
Most often it is other Criminal Code offences: 8.7 per 1,000 residents a year. Next come theft under $5,000 at 7.2 and assault at 6.6.
Is crime going up in Clinton?
Down 28%: 78.2 in 2023, 56 in 2025.
How much of Clinton’s crime do police solve?
The weighted clearance rate is 48%: 74% for violent crime and 30% for non-violent. For the typical Canadian town its size it is 34%.
Whose figures are these?
A police service or contract that serves Clinton 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).