Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0Dorchester has less crime per resident than 97% of Canadian towns
Its violent half comes to 19.4 and its non-violent half to 32, where the norm is 89.4 and 56. Each year brought 3.8 violent incidents and 13.7 incidents of property crime for every 1,000 residents (12.0 and 30.5 in the typical town its size). What’s more, that puts it at A+ for safety, judged on crime the police covering Dorchester reported from 2023 to 2025: #64 of 862 in Ontario. None of the 6 towns next door with figures records less 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.
What stands out about safety in Dorchester
Property and other crime weigh more
Violent crime scores 19.4 on Dorchester’s index against 89.4 for the typical Canadian town its size; non-violent crime, 32 against 56. By type ↓
Lower than most of Ontario
Set among Ontario’s towns, whose median is 56.2, Dorchester scores 28.2. Towns its size ↓
A lower index than most towns its size
Counting up from the lowest index, Dorchester is 1st of the 40 Canadian towns closest in population. 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.
Inside Dorchester’s A+ for safety
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: #64 of 862 in Ontario and #72 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 Dorchester’s figures
Theft under $5,000 and assault sit below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0 | 0 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 1.3 | 0.09 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 0.7 | 0.04 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 0 | 0 | — |
| Robbery | 0.3 | 0.02 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 0.7 | 0.04 | — |
| Other violent violations | 0.7 | 0.04 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 22.3 | 1.4 | 9% |
| Possession of stolen property | 3.3 | 0.2 | — |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 28.7 | 1.9 | 5% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 9.7 | 0.6 | 13% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 64.7 | 4.2 | 13% |
| Mischief | 32 | 2.1 | 15% |
| Weapons violations | 3.7 | 0.2 | — |
| Administration of justice violations | 13.3 | 0.9 | 62% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 3.3 | 0.2 | — |
| Drug violations | 6.3 | 0.4 | 68% |
| Impaired driving | 21 | 1.4 | 100% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 5.7 | 0.4 | 5% |
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.
Dorchester comes 1st 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 | Central Elgin Ontario | 15,230 | 31.5 | 41.2 | A |
| 5 | Corunna Ontario | 15,872 | 32.2 | 38.8 | A |
| … | |||||
| 7 | Long Sault Ontario | 14,602 | 36.9 | 47.2 | A |
| 8 | Campbellford Ontario | 15,103 | 37 | 48.3 | A |
| … | |||||
| 11 | Severn Ontario | 15,716 | 41.7 | 48.8 | 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 Dorchester in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
Around 59 violent incidents a year on Dorchester’s police records (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 210 property crimes and 67 other violations a year (2023–2025 average). The grid is 1,000 residents, a coloured dot for each incident a year at these rates.
Dorchester’s index fell 8% from 2023 to 2025
Crime Severity Index
2023 opened the run as its heaviest year (29.6); 2025 was the lightest, at 27.3. Over 2023–2025, the typical Canadian town its size moved from 69.5 to 60.
Every year as a table
| Year | Dorchester | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 27.3 | 60 |
| 2024 | 27.9 | 67.9 |
| 2023 | 29.6 | 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 Dorchester, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
Crime in the places around Dorchester
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dorchester | 15,475 | 28.2 | 19.4 | A+ |
| Argyle | 28,109 | 69.8 | 86.4 | C+ |
| Jackson | 8,124 | 69.8 | 86.4 | C+ |
| Hamilton Road | 15,283 | 69.8 | 86.4 | C+ |
| Huron Heights | 20,890 | 69.8 | 86.4 | C+ |
| East London | 10,972 | 69.8 | 86.4 | C+ |
| Glen Cairn | 16,119 | 69.8 | 86.4 | C+ |
Dorchester has the lowest index of the places around it.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Solved cases. 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.
- How serious, not how safe. 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.”
- Reading the number. 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.
Questions about safety in Dorchester
Is Dorchester safe?
Averaged over 2023–2025, the Crime Severity Index for Dorchester comes to 28.2. Per 1,000 residents a year, police logged 3.8 violent incidents and 13.7 property crimes. In the middle of Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people the figure is 66.
What is the most common crime in Dorchester?
Top of the list is theft under $5,000 (4.2 per 1,000 residents a year); fraud, at 3.2, and Criminal Code traffic offences, at 2.3, follow.
Is crime going up in Dorchester?
The reverse: 29.6 in 2023 came down to 27.3 by 2025, 8% lower.
How much of Dorchester’s crime do police solve?
Counting serious crimes for more, 30% end in a charge or are otherwise solved (33% for the typical Canadian town its size); split up, that is 63% of violent and 22% of non-violent crime.
Whose figures are these?
Its own police: the service or contract that covers Dorchester and nowhere else.
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).