Photo: Drozwik Drones · CC BY 3.0For recorded crime, Cobourg sits in the middle of Canadian towns
Its 3 neighbours with figures all record less crime per resident. Overall, Cobourg grades C+ for safety (#673 of 862 in Ontario): close to the middle of Canadian towns, on crime its police reported from 2023 to 2025. Behind the grade sit 16.1 violent incidents and 31.9 incidents of property crime per 1,000 people a year, where the comparison is 12.0 and 30.5 in the typical town its size. Statistics Canada puts its Crime Severity Index at 71 for 2023–2025; the typical Canadian town its size scores 66.
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 Cobourg
Drug offences: high for a town its size
Cobourg records 1.9 incidents of drug offences 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 ↓
Police clear more here
Weighted by seriousness, 54% of crime in Cobourg ends in a charge or is otherwise solved: 70% of violent crime and 44% of the rest. Across Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people the figure is 33%. Questions ↓
More severe than in 2023
In 2023 the index in Cobourg stood at 72.2, by 2025 at 84.7. Over the same years the typical Canadian town its size went from 69.5 to 60. Year by year ↓
In the middle of towns its size
Of the 40 Canadian towns nearest it in size, Cobourg places 23rd from the lowest index. 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’s behind Cobourg’s grade
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: #673 of 862 in Ontario and #1,398 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.
Which crimes make up Cobourg’s figures
Against the typical town its size, Cobourg runs highest on drug offences (1.9 per 1,000 against 0.8), theft under $5,000 (18.7 per 1,000 against 11.8) and sexual assault (1.2 per 1,000 against 0.8). Motor vehicle theft sits below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0.7 | 0.03 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 4.7 | 0.2 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 11 | 0.5 | 100% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 1.3 | 0.06 | — |
| Robbery | 7.7 | 0.3 | 74% |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 2 | 0.09 | — |
| Other violent violations | 10 | 0.5 | 70% |
| Breaking and entering | 47.7 | 2.2 | 19% |
| Possession of stolen property | 6.3 | 0.3 | 90% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 11.7 | 0.5 | 43% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 14 | 0.6 | 26% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 413.7 | 18.7 | 23% |
| Mischief | 94.3 | 4.3 | 26% |
| Weapons violations | 9.7 | 0.4 | 82% |
| Administration of justice violations | 366 | 16.5 | 98% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 17 | 0.8 | 51% |
| Drug violations | 42.3 | 1.9 | 95% |
| Impaired driving | 26.7 | 1.2 | 97% |
| 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.
From 2023 to 2025, Cobourg’s index climbed 17%
Crime Severity Index
It finished on its highest reading, 84.7 in 2025, having been lowest in 2024 at 56.2. For the typical Canadian town its size, 2023 gave 69.5 and 2025 gave 60.
Every year as a table
| Year | Cobourg | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 84.7 | 60 |
| 2024 | 56.2 | 67.9 |
| 2023 | 72.2 | 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 Cobourg, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
Cobourg comes 23rd of the 40 towns nearest in size
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bridgenorth Ontario | 20,628 | 21.2 | 23.1 | A+ |
| 2 | Springwater Ontario | 24,144 | 22.8 | 21.7 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 4 | Middlesex Centre Ontario | 21,689 | 25.7 | 29 | A+ |
| 5 | Embrun Ontario | 23,655 | 26.9 | 39.7 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 20 | Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures Quebec | 20,864 | 63 | 89.4 | B− |
| 21 | Joliette Quebec | 22,408 | 68.5 | 107.8 | B− |
| 22 | Baie-Comeau Quebec | 20,660 | 70 | 134 | C+ |
| 23 | Cobourg Ontario | 22,529 | 71 | 94.5 | C+ |
| 24 | New Hamburg Ontario | 22,890 | 71.9 | 89.7 | C+ |
| 25 | Colchester County, Subdivision B Nova Scotia | 21,578 | 72.9 | 100.8 | C+ |
| 26 | Red Deer County Alberta | 22,076 | 73.6 | 64.8 | C+ |
| … | |||||
| 40 | Yellowknife Northwest Territories | 22,858 | 304.6 | 362 | 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 Cobourg in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
Police in Cobourg recorded about 360 violent incidents a year, 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 710 property crimes and 550 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 Cobourg
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cobourg | 22,529 | 71 | 94.5 | C+ |
| Hamilton | 11,810 | 25.7 | 30.4 | A+ |
| Port Hope | 18,446 | 31.2 | 36.4 | A |
| Alnwick/Haldimand | 8,197 | 21.6 | 26.9 | A+ |
The places around Cobourg all score lower on the index. The nearest of them, Hamilton (9.5 km away), scores 25.7 against 71.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- What the index measures. 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.”
- 100 is Canada in 2006. Canada’s own index has been below its 2006 base of 100 for years, so 100 marks a fixed reference, not today’s national average.
- Cleared, not convicted. The clearance rate is the share of incidents police solve, by a charge or otherwise, weighted by seriousness like the index. It isn’t a conviction rate.
Questions about safety in Cobourg
Is Cobourg safe?
The short answer is an index of 71 for Cobourg (2023–2025), built from 16.1 violent incidents and 31.9 property crimes a year for every 1,000 residents. In the middle of Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people the figure is 66.
What is the most common crime in Cobourg?
Top of the list is other Criminal Code offences (21.3 per 1,000 residents a year); theft under $5,000, at 18.7, and assault, at 7, follow.
Is crime going up in Cobourg?
Over 2023–2025 the index climbed 17%, to 84.7 from 72.2.
How much of Cobourg’s crime do police solve?
Counting serious crimes for more, 54% end in a charge or are otherwise solved (33% for the typical Canadian town its size); split up, that is 70% of violent and 44% of non-violent crime.
Whose figures are these?
A police service or contract that serves Cobourg 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).