Photo: Boxcarphilly · CC BY 3.0Crime per resident in Grey Highlands runs lower than in 85% of Canadian towns
For solved cases, the weighted rate is 39%, where the typical Canadian town its size manages 33%. Its violent half comes to 47.7 and its non-violent half to 36.8, where the norm is 89.4 and 56. On crime the police covering Grey Highlands reported from 2023 to 2025, it grades A for safety: #188 of 862 in Ontario. Add to that, the yearly rates were 7.9 violent incidents and 15.2 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents, set against 12.0 and 30.5 in the typical town its size.
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 Grey Highlands
Under the Ontario norm
Grey Highlands’s index of 39.7 compares with 56.2 for the typical town in Ontario. Towns its size ↓
In the middle of towns its size
Of the 40 Canadian towns nearest it in size, Grey Highlands places 17th from the lowest index. Towns its size ↓
Heavier than in 2023
In 2023 the index in Grey Highlands stood at 35.4, by 2025 at 42.2. Over the same years the typical Canadian town its size went from 69.5 to 60. Year by year ↓
Written from Statistics Canada’s police-reported crime by police service and detachment, 2023–2025. Figures are what police recorded, not convictions.
Grey Highlands: A for safety, and why
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: #188 of 862 in Ontario and #294 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 Grey Highlands, by type
Against the typical town its size, Grey Highlands runs highest on sexual assault (0.9 per 1,000 against 0.8). 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 | 4 | 0.3 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 0.3 | 0.03 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 0 | 0 | — |
| Robbery | 2 | 0.2 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 0.7 | 0.06 | — |
| Other violent violations | 1 | 0.08 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 24.7 | 2.1 | 13% |
| Possession of stolen property | 3.3 | 0.3 | — |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 16 | 1.3 | 14% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 12 | 1 | 11% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 46 | 3.9 | 9% |
| Mischief | 34.7 | 2.9 | 28% |
| Weapons violations | 3.7 | 0.3 | — |
| Administration of justice violations | 21.3 | 1.8 | 72% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 6 | 0.5 | 38% |
| Drug violations | 2.7 | 0.2 | — |
| Impaired driving | 12 | 1 | 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, Grey Highlands’s index climbed 19%
Crime Severity Index
The latest year was its heaviest: 2025, at 42.2, with 2023 the lightest at 35.4. 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 | Grey Highlands | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 42.2 | 60 |
| 2024 | 41.5 | 67.9 |
| 2023 | 35.4 | 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 Grey Highlands, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
About 94 violent incidents a year reached Grey Highlands’s police, 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 180 a year and other violations 64 (2023–2025 average). Of 1,000 dots, one per resident, the coloured ones are a year’s incidents at these rates.
Among 40 towns its size, Grey Highlands places 17th
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rothesay New Brunswick | 12,626 | 20 | 27.9 | A+ |
| 2 | Hamilton Ontario | 11,810 | 25.7 | 30.4 | A+ |
| 3 | Georgian Bluffs Ontario | 12,061 | 29.2 | 35.4 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 5 | Norwich Ontario | 12,321 | 31.5 | 27.6 | A |
| … | |||||
| 7 | Adjala-Tosorontio Ontario | 11,948 | 33.2 | 50.9 | A |
| … | |||||
| 14 | Saltspring Island British Columbia | 12,429 | 39.1 | 40.3 | A |
| 15 | L'Île-Perrot Quebec | 11,921 | 39.2 | 61.7 | A |
| 16 | Notre-Dame-de-l'Île-Perrot Quebec | 11,716 | 39.2 | 61.7 | A |
| 17 | Grey Highlands Ontario | 12,148 | 39.7 | 47.7 | A |
| 18 | Martensville Saskatchewan | 11,808 | 39.9 | 46.5 | A |
| 19 | Dundalk Ontario | 11,599 | 40.6 | 49.1 | A− |
| 20 | Meaford Ontario | 12,652 | 42.7 | 45.3 | A− |
| … | |||||
| 40 | Clearwater County Alberta | 11,856 | 188.3 | 342.3 | 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 Grey Highlands in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
Crime in the places around Grey Highlands
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grey Highlands | 12,148 | 39.7 | 47.7 | A |
| Dundalk (18 km) | 11,599 | 40.6 | 49.1 | A− |
| Melancthon (25 km) | 3,581 | 68.8 | 125.9 | B− |
| Thornbury (27 km) | 11,162 | 36.5 | 46.3 | A |
| Chatsworth (29 km) | 7,770 | 32 | 38.1 | A |
Of 4 places nearby with their own figures, 2 come in under Grey Highlands. The nearest of them, Thornbury (27.4 km away), scores 36.5 against 39.7.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means. Distances here run 18–29 km: that is how far the nearest places with figures are from Grey Highlands.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- What the index measures. Statistics Canada builds the index from every crime police record, weighted by how seriously the courts treat it, and divides by the population. It adds a warning of its own: “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
- 100 is Canada in 2006. A reading of 100 is the whole country in 2006. Half of that, 50, means half the severity per resident.
- 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 Grey Highlands
Is Grey Highlands safe?
The short answer is an index of 39.7 for Grey Highlands (2023–2025), built from 7.9 violent incidents and 15.2 property crimes a year for every 1,000 residents. For Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, the typical index is 66.
What is the most common crime in Grey Highlands?
Top of the list is theft under $5,000 (3.9 per 1,000 residents a year); fraud, at 3.7, and assault, at 3.6, follow.
Is crime going up in Grey Highlands?
Over 2023–2025 the index climbed 19%, to 42.2 from 35.4.
How much of Grey Highlands’s crime do police solve?
Counting serious crimes for more, 39% end in a charge or are otherwise solved (33% for the typical Canadian town its size); split up, that is 70% of violent and 23% of non-violent crime.
Whose figures are these?
They are Grey Highlands’s own: its police cover the town and no other.
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).