Photo: JFVoll · CC BY-SA 4.0Sheldon sits near the middle of Canadian towns for recorded crime
In 2023 the index stood at 68.2; it fell to 62.2 in 2025. Split in two, the index gives 85.7 for violence and 58.2 for everything else (normally 75.2 and 54.2). Taking everything together, Sheldon scores B− (#519 of 862 in Ontario): close to the middle of Canadian towns, measured on crime its police reported between 2023 and 2025. Add to that, each year brought 11.7 violent incidents and 31.2 incidents of property crime for every 1,000 residents (10.8 and 25.1 in the typical Canadian town of 50,000+).
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 and crime rate: the Hamilton service area.
What sits behind Sheldon’s B−
How sure: Not as firm as most grades, since the figure covers the entire city rather than Sheldon alone.
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), robbery (0.6 per 1,000 against 0.4) and drug offences (1.3 per 1,000 against 0.9).
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.
Sheldon, year by year
Crime Severity Index
Its heaviest year came first: 2023, at 68.2, against a low of 62.2 in 2025. Over 2023–2025, the typical Canadian town of 50,000+ moved from 64.3 to 59.2.
Every year as a table
| Year | Sheldon | 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 Sheldon, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 50,000+.
Crime in the places around Sheldon
Its police also cover 6 neighbouring places, which carry the same index and are left out above.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Reading the number. Figures are relative to one fixed point, Canada in 2006 at 100, rather than to this year’s national number.
- Solved cases. A crime is cleared when police lay or recommend a charge, or solve it another way; the weighted rate counts serious crimes for more.
- How serious, not how safe. Police-reported incidents, each multiplied by a weight drawn from court sentences, summed and divided by the population: that is the index, and its makers attach a caution, “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
- The whole city’s numbers. No open data breaks the city’s crime down by neighbourhood, so Sheldon carries the city-wide figures.
Questions about safety in Sheldon
Is Sheldon safe?
Averaged over 2023–2025, the Crime Severity Index for Sheldon comes to 65.7. Per 1,000 residents a year, police logged 11.7 violent incidents and 31.2 property crimes. In the middle of Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more the figure is 60.3.
What is the most common crime in Sheldon?
Top of the list is theft under $5,000 (15 per 1,000 residents a year); assault, at 6.7, and other Criminal Code offences, at 5.2, follow.
Is crime going up in Sheldon?
No: the index fell 9%, from 68.2 in 2023 to 62.2 in 2025.
How much of Sheldon’s crime do police solve?
About 34% of crime is cleared, weighted by seriousness, with 50% of violent and 24% of other crime; the figure for the typical Canadian town of 50,000+ 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).