Photo: JFVoll · CC BY-SA 4.0For recorded crime, Fessenden sits in the middle of Canadian towns
Between 2023 and 2025 the severity figure fell, 68.2 to 62.2. Even so, the overall Safety Grade is B− (#519 of 862 in Ontario), which means close to the middle of Canadian towns, judged on crime its police reported from 2023 to 2025. Year on year, 11.7 violent incidents and 31.2 incidents of property crime occur per 1,000 residents, compared with 10.8 and 25.1 in the typical Canadian town of 50,000+. Violence accounts for an index of 85.7 and other offences for 58.2, against usual levels of 75.2 and 54.2.
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 behind the crime severity and crime rate figures: the Hamilton service area.
What’s behind Fessenden’s grade
How sure: A less certain grade than most: it reads the city’s overall figure, which can hide how Fessenden itself compares.
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: #519 of 862 in Ontario and #1,018 of 2,572 Canadian towns.
The Crime Severity Index and its two halves, beside the typical figure for Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more.
Hamilton’s crime, type by type
These are Hamilton’s figures, for its police’s whole area: they aren’t published by neighbourhood.
Against the typical town its size, Hamilton runs highest on motor vehicle theft (3.1 per 1,000 against 1.7), assault (6.7 per 1,000 against 4.9) and theft under $5,000 (15 per 1,000 against 11.5).
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 10 | 0.02 | 83% |
| Sexual violations against children | 95 | 0.2 | 55% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 122.3 | 0.2 | 95% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 77.3 | 0.1 | 45% |
| Robbery | 380.7 | 0.6 | 36% |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 37 | 0.06 | 83% |
| Other violent violations | 117.7 | 0.2 | 50% |
| Breaking and entering | 1,695 | 2.7 | 22% |
| Possession of stolen property | 237.3 | 0.4 | 88% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 1,925.7 | 3.1 | 6% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 283.3 | 0.5 | 9% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 9,419.7 | 15 | 7% |
| Mischief | 2,898.7 | 4.6 | 14% |
| Weapons violations | 192 | 0.3 | 76% |
| Administration of justice violations | 2,806.3 | 4.5 | 93% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 216.7 | 0.3 | 46% |
| Drug violations | 821.7 | 1.3 | 73% |
| Impaired driving | 397 | 0.6 | 97% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 11.3 | 0.02 | 71% |
Statistics Canada’s violation groups for the whole police service or detachment: incidents a year are its own, the town’s share is only estimated in the tiles. 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 50,000 people or more.
Fessenden, year by year
Crime Severity Index
2023 opened the run as its heaviest year (68.2); 2025 was the lightest, at 62.2. Over 2023–2025, the typical Canadian town of 50,000+ moved from 64.3 to 59.2.
Every year as a table
| Year | Fessenden | Typical town of 50,000+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 62.2 | 59.2 |
| 2024 | 66.7 | 59.9 |
| 2023 | 68.2 | 64.3 |
Statistics Canada, Crime Severity Index by police service, each year as published. Typical: the median of Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more.
The Crime Severity Index of the police covering Fessenden, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 50,000+.
Crime in the places around Fessenden
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fessenden | 3,551 | 65.7 | 85.7 | B− |
| Mountview | 7,752 | 65.7 | 85.7 | B− |
| Gurnett | 4,582 | 65.7 | 85.7 | B− |
| Gilbert | 3,181 | 65.7 | 85.7 | B− |
| Gilkson | 2,963 | 65.7 | 85.7 | B− |
| Westcliffe East | 2,832 | 65.7 | 85.7 | B− |
| Falkirk East | 4,961 | 65.7 | 85.7 | B− |
Sharing its police with 6 neighbours, it shares their figure as well, so they aren’t compared.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 100 is Canada in 2006. 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.
- Cleared, not convicted. Weighted like the index, so solving one assault counts for more than solving a mischief; a charge laid, recommended or otherwise resolved all count.
- What the index measures. One robbery outweighs a run of minor thefts here, since every crime counts by the sentences courts give it. Statistics Canada adds: “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
- The whole city’s numbers. The figures for Fessenden are city-wide: neighbourhood counts aren’t published as open data here.
Questions about safety in Fessenden
Is Fessenden safe?
The short answer is an index of 65.7 for Fessenden (2023–2025), built from 11.7 violent incidents and 31.2 property crimes a year for every 1,000 residents. In the middle of Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more the figure is 60.3.
What is the most common crime in Fessenden?
Police record theft under $5,000 most, 15 per 1,000 residents a year, ahead of assault (6.7) and other Criminal Code offences (5.2).
Is crime going up in Fessenden?
Down 9%: 68.2 in 2023, 62.2 in 2025.
How much of Fessenden’s crime do police solve?
The weighted clearance rate is 34%: 50% for violent crime and 24% for non-violent. For the typical Canadian town of 50,000+ it is 38%.
Whose figures are these?
The city force’s, one set of figures for the city.
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).