Photo: Jfvoll · CC BY-SA 4.0Drayton has less crime per resident than 96% of Canadian towns
The index fell from 30 in 2023 to 28.2 in 2025. Behind the grade sit 4.9 violent incidents and 13.6 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. Add to that, its Safety Grade is A+, on crime the police covering Drayton reported from 2023 to 2025: #74 of 862 in Ontario. Split in two, the index gives 28.2 for violence and 29.6 for everything else (normally 89.4 and 56).
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 Wellington County detachment area.
What stands out about safety in Drayton
Lighter than Ontario’s middle
The typical Ontario town scores 56.2; Drayton, 29. Towns its size ↓
A lower index than most towns its size
Set among the 40 Canadian towns closest to it in population, Drayton comes 2nd, counting from the lowest Crime Severity Index. Towns its size ↓
Property and other crime weigh more
Violent crime scores 28.2 on Drayton’s index against 89.4 for the typical Canadian town its size; non-violent crime, 29.6 against 56. 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’s behind Drayton’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: #74 of 862 in Ontario and #94 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 Drayton’s figures
Assault and theft under $5,000 sit below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0 | 0 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 13.3 | 0.1 | 70% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 9 | 0.09 | 100% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 2 | 0.02 | — |
| Robbery | 4.7 | 0.04 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 3 | 0.03 | — |
| Other violent violations | 7.7 | 0.07 | 69% |
| Breaking and entering | 124.3 | 1.2 | 14% |
| Possession of stolen property | 16.3 | 0.2 | 90% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 122 | 1.2 | 12% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 72.7 | 0.7 | 11% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 430 | 4.1 | 17% |
| Mischief | 240.7 | 2.3 | 18% |
| Weapons violations | 20.7 | 0.2 | 43% |
| Administration of justice violations | 124.7 | 1.2 | 73% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 38.7 | 0.4 | 43% |
| Drug violations | 30 | 0.3 | 76% |
| Impaired driving | 89.7 | 0.8 | 100% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 11 | 0.1 | 15% |
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.
Among 40 towns its size, Drayton places 2nd
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hamilton Ontario | 11,810 | 25.7 | 30.4 | A+ |
| 2 | Drayton Ontario | 11,518 | 29 | 28.2 | A+ |
| 3 | Georgian Bluffs Ontario | 12,061 | 29.2 | 35.4 | A+ |
| 4 | Millbrook Ontario | 11,507 | 31.7 | 42.8 | A |
| 5 | Adjala-Tosorontio Ontario | 11,948 | 33.2 | 50.9 | A |
| 6 | Tay Ontario | 11,968 | 34.3 | 46.4 | A |
| 7 | Thornbury Ontario | 11,162 | 36.5 | 46.3 | A |
| 8 | Morrisburg Ontario | 11,943 | 36.9 | 47.2 | A |
| 9 | Ramara Ontario | 11,551 | 37.3 | 55.6 | A |
| … | |||||
| 40 | Williams Lake British Columbia | 11,462 | 248.9 | 248.6 | 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 Drayton in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
Around 520 violent incidents a year in the 106,900-resident police area around Drayton, 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.
And about 1,440 property crimes, plus 420 other violations, a year (2023–2025 average). Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot, one incident a year at the area’s rates.
Drayton, year by year
Crime Severity Index
2023 opened the run as its heaviest year (30); 2025 was the lightest, at 28.2. Set beside it, the typical Canadian town its size went from 69.5 in 2023 to 60 in 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Drayton | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 28.2 | 60 |
| 2024 | 28.9 | 67.9 |
| 2023 | 30 | 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 Drayton, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
Crime in the places around Drayton
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drayton | 11,518 | 29 | 28.2 | A+ |
| Mount Forest (20 km) | 14,407 | 29 | 28.2 | A+ |
| Fergus (23 km) | 34,565 | 29 | 28.2 | A+ |
| Listowel (24 km) | 18,168 | 53 | 54 | B+ |
| Palmerston (24 km) | 10,029 | 29 | 28.2 | A+ |
| Elmira (25 km) | 31,382 | 71.9 | 89.7 | C+ |
Each neighbour with its own figure comes in over Drayton. Sharing its police with 3 neighbours, it shares their figure as well, so they aren’t compared.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means. The nearest places to Drayton with figures are 20–25 km away.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- The clearance rate. 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.
- Severity, weighed. 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.
- A wider policing area. The detachment counts crime across its whole territory, of which Drayton is one part.
- What 100 means. A reading of 100 is the whole country in 2006. Half of that, 50, means half the severity per resident.
Questions about safety in Drayton
Is Drayton safe?
Statistics Canada puts Drayton at 29 on its Crime Severity Index over 2023–2025; Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people sit at 66 in the middle. Violent incidents run at 4.9 and property crimes at 13.6 per 1,000 residents a year.
What is the most common crime in Drayton?
Theft under $5,000 is the most common, at 4.1 per 1,000 residents a year, then fraud (4) and assault (2.3).
Is crime going up in Drayton?
Over 2023–2025 the index dropped 6%, to 28.2 from 30.
How much of Drayton’s crime do police solve?
35%, by the weighted clearance rate, where the typical Canadian town its size manages 33%. Violent crime is cleared at 69% and non-violent crime at 22%.
Whose figures are these?
Those of the police serving Drayton together with its neighbours or the countryside around it.
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).