Photo: Onasill ~ Bill - 103 Million Views - Thank You · CC BY-SA 2.0Fergus has less crime per resident than 96% of Canadian towns
The index fell from 30 in 2023 to 28.2 in 2025. Measured on crime the police covering Fergus reported between 2023 and 2025, it earns a Safety Grade of A+: #74 of 862 in Ontario. Add to that, each year brought 4.9 violent incidents and 13.6 incidents of property crime for every 1,000 residents (12.0 and 30.5 in the typical town its size). Of the two halves, violence comes to 28.2 and other offences to 29.6, beside norms of 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. Area-wide: crime severity, crime rate and incident counts, counted over the Wellington County detachment area.
What stands out about safety in Fergus
Under the Ontario norm
Fergus’s index of 29 compares with 56.2 for the typical town in Ontario. Towns its size ↓
A lower index than most towns its size
Of the 40 Canadian towns nearest it in size, Fergus places 2nd from the lowest index. Towns its size ↓
The non-violent half stands out
Fergus’s index splits into violent crime, 28.2 here and 89.4 for the typical Canadian town its size, and everything else, 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.
The A+ for Fergus, 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: #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.
What police record in Fergus, by type
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.
By its index, Fergus stands 2nd of 40 towns its size
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | LaSalle Ontario | 36,452 | 22.9 | 17.8 | A+ |
| 2 | Fergus Ontario | 34,565 | 29 | 28.2 | A+ |
| 3 | Chambly Quebec | 31,870 | 37.1 | 58.5 | A |
| 4 | Sainte-Julie Quebec | 30,981 | 37.1 | 58.5 | A |
| 5 | Rockland Ontario | 30,375 | 38.2 | 56.7 | A |
| … | |||||
| 12 | Orangeville Ontario | 33,070 | 43.5 | 50.6 | A− |
| … | |||||
| 15 | Wasaga Beach Ontario | 28,736 | 50 | 61.1 | B+ |
| 16 | King Ontario | 29,077 | 52.8 | 67.4 | B+ |
| 17 | Fort Erie Ontario | 37,226 | 56.1 | 72.6 | B |
| … | |||||
| 40 | Whitehorse Yukon | 34,129 | 171.7 | 196.7 | 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 Fergus 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 Fergus, 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 1,440 property crimes and 420 other violations a year (2023–2025 average). The grid is 1,000 residents, a coloured dot for each incident a year at these rates.
Fergus, year by year
Crime Severity Index
The first year, 2023, was the heaviest at 30, and 2025 the lightest at 28.2. The comparison line, the typical Canadian town its size, runs from 69.5 in 2023 to 60 by 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Fergus | 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 Fergus, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
Crime in the places around Fergus
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fergus | 34,565 | 29 | 28.2 | A+ |
| Rockwood (20 km) | 14,870 | 29 | 28.2 | A+ |
| Elmira (20 km) | 31,382 | 71.9 | 89.7 | C+ |
| East Garafraxa (21 km) | 2,976 | 28.7 | 22 | A+ |
| Grand Valley (22 km) | 4,759 | 26.4 | 20.7 | A+ |
| Guelph (23 km) | 160,760 | 56.8 | 73.1 | B |
Of 4 places nearby with their own figures, 2 come in under Fergus. Just 21.4 km away, East Garafraxa comes to 28.7, against 29. Same police, same number: one neighbour drops out of the comparison for that reason.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means. No closer places have figures: these lie 20–23 km from Fergus.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Severity, weighed. 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.”
- A wider policing area. Detachment figures cover the detachment’s whole area: Fergus together with the countryside and smaller places it polices.
- What 100 means. Its scale starts from Canada in 2006, set at 100, so a figure above 100 means more serious crime per resident than the country had then.
- 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.
Questions about safety in Fergus
Is Fergus safe?
Its police recorded 4.9 violent incidents and 13.6 property crimes a year per 1,000 residents over 2023–2025, which gives Fergus a Crime Severity Index of 29. The middle of Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people is 66.
What is the most common crime in Fergus?
Top of the list is theft under $5,000 (4.1 per 1,000 residents a year); fraud, at 4, and assault, at 2.3, follow.
Is crime going up in Fergus?
Over 2023–2025 the index dropped 6%, to 28.2 from 30.
How much of Fergus’s crime do police solve?
Police solve 69% of violent crime and 22% of everything else, 35% overall once each crime is weighted by seriousness, against 33% for the typical Canadian town its size.
Whose figures are these?
Those of the police serving Fergus 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).