Photo: Deconstructhis · Public domainRecorded crime per resident is lower in Exeter than in 60% of Canadian towns
A Safety Grade of B follows from crime the police covering Exeter reported over the years 2023 to 2025: #371 of 862 in Ontario. Year on year, 11.6 violent incidents and 20.5 incidents of property crime occur per 1,000 residents, compared with 12.0 and 30.5 in the typical town its size. Each of the two towns on its borders with figures records less crime per resident. Statistics Canada puts its Crime Severity Index at 55.2 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 Exeter
Lighter than in 2023
Exeter’s index went from 62.8 in 2023 to 50.3 in 2025; the typical Canadian town its size moved from 69.5 to 60. Year by year ↓
Police clear more here
For Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people the typical clearance rate is 33%; Exeter’s police clear 49%, 77% of violent crime and 32% of the rest. Questions ↓
In the middle of towns its size
Set among the 40 Canadian towns closest to it in population, Exeter comes 17th, counting from the lowest Crime Severity Index. Towns its size ↓
Much like Ontario’s towns
The typical Ontario town scores 56.2; Exeter, 55.2. 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.
The B for Exeter, and how it is built
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: #371 of 862 in Ontario and #726 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.
What police record in Exeter, by type
Against the typical town its size, Exeter runs highest on sexual assault (1.2 per 1,000 against 0.8), drug offences (1.1 per 1,000 against 0.8) and fraud (5.9 per 1,000 against 5.1). Theft under $5,000 and motor vehicle theft sit below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0 | 0 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 6 | 0.6 | 78% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 3 | 0.3 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 0 | 0 | — |
| Robbery | 1.3 | 0.1 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 1.7 | 0.2 | — |
| Other violent violations | 4.3 | 0.4 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 22 | 2.1 | 29% |
| Possession of stolen property | 2.3 | 0.2 | — |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 9.7 | 0.9 | 13% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 9.3 | 0.9 | 18% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 76.3 | 7.2 | 23% |
| Mischief | 35 | 3.3 | 23% |
| Weapons violations | 4.3 | 0.4 | — |
| Administration of justice violations | 38.7 | 3.6 | 82% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 2.7 | 0.3 | — |
| Drug violations | 11.3 | 1.1 | 80% |
| Impaired driving | 15.7 | 1.5 | 100% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 1 | 0.09 | — |
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, Exeter’s index dropped 20%
Crime Severity Index
From 62.8 in 2023, its first and heaviest year, it eased to a low of 50.3 in 2025. 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 | Exeter | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 50.3 | 60 |
| 2024 | 52.5 | 67.9 |
| 2023 | 62.8 | 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 Exeter, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
Exeter is 17th of 40 towns its size, lowest index first
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stoneham-et-Tewkesbury Quebec | 10,147 | 28.2 | 46.7 | A+ |
| 2 | Shelburne Ontario | 10,767 | 35.2 | 52.8 | A |
| 3 | Thornbury Ontario | 11,162 | 36.5 | 46.3 | A |
| 4 | Alexandria Ontario | 10,772 | 36.9 | 47.2 | A |
| … | |||||
| 9 | Wendover Ontario | 10,896 | 46.8 | 72.6 | A− |
| … | |||||
| 14 | Leeds and the Thousand Islands Ontario | 10,185 | 49.6 | 50.6 | B+ |
| 15 | Yarmouth Nova Scotia | 10,637 | 52.1 | 68.3 | B+ |
| 16 | Corman Park No. 344 Saskatchewan | 10,463 | 54.2 | 56.3 | B |
| 17 | Exeter Ontario | 10,781 | 55.2 | 73.8 | B |
| 18 | Penetanguishene Ontario | 11,141 | 56.4 | 92 | B |
| 19 | East St. Paul Manitoba | 10,321 | 58.8 | 39.1 | B |
| 20 | Banff Alberta | 11,402 | 63 | 74.8 | B− |
| … | |||||
| 40 | Wheatland County Alberta | 10,150 | 298.8 | 486.4 | 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 Exeter in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
Around 120 violent incidents a year on Exeter’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.
Property crime adds about 220 a year and other violations 93 (2023–2025 average). Of 1,000 dots, one per resident, the coloured ones are a year’s incidents at these rates.
Crime in the places around Exeter
Every neighbour with a figure of its own has a lower index than Exeter. Closest is Bayfield, 15.6 km away, at 35 to 55.2 here.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- The index’s scale. 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.
- What clearance means. Police clear an incident by charging someone, recommending a charge, or closing it another way. The rate weighs serious crimes more, as the index does.
- An index, not a verdict. 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.”
Questions about safety in Exeter
Is Exeter safe?
Its police recorded 11.6 violent incidents and 20.5 property crimes a year per 1,000 residents over 2023–2025, which gives Exeter a Crime Severity Index of 55.2. In the middle of Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people the figure is 66.
What is the most common crime in Exeter?
Top of the list is theft under $5,000 (7.2 per 1,000 residents a year); fraud, at 5.9, and assault, at 5.3, follow.
Is crime going up in Exeter?
It went down 20% between 2023 and 2025, from 62.8 to 50.3.
How much of Exeter’s crime do police solve?
The weighted clearance rate is 49%: 77% for violent crime and 32% for non-violent. For the typical Canadian town its size it is 33%.
Whose figures are these?
Its own police: the service or contract that covers Exeter 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).