Photo: JFVoll · CC BY-SA 3.0City Commercial Core sits near the middle of Canadian towns for recorded crime
Its Safety Grade, C+ (#680 of 862 in Ontario), rests on crime its police reported from 2023 to 2025: close to the middle of Canadian towns. Even so, in 2023 the index stood at 75.8; it fell to 66.8 in 2025. The local count comes to 14.2 violent incidents and 32.2 incidents of property crime per 1,000 people each year, with 10.8 and 25.1 in the typical Canadian town of 50,000+. Split in two, the index gives 89.7 for violence and 65.4 for everything else (normally 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-wide: crime severity and crime rate, counted over the Waterloo Region (Kitchener) service area.
What’s behind City Commercial Core’s grade
How sure: Less sure, since one city-wide figure stands behind it, and City Commercial Core can differ a long way from its city’s average.
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: #680 of 862 in Ontario and #1,466 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.
City Commercial Core, year by year
Crime Severity Index
2023 opened the run as its heaviest year (75.8); 2025 was the lightest, at 66.8. The typical Canadian town of 50,000+ went from 64.3 in 2023 to 59.2 in 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | City Commercial Core | Typical town of 50,000+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 66.8 | 59.2 |
| 2024 | 73.1 | 59.9 |
| 2023 | 75.8 | 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 City Commercial Core, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 50,000+.
Crime across Waterloo Region (Kitchener), by type
These are Waterloo Region (Kitchener)’s figures, for its police’s whole area: they aren’t published by neighbourhood.
Against the typical town its size, Waterloo Region (Kitchener) runs highest on assault (7.7 per 1,000 against 4.9), fraud (7.6 per 1,000 against 5) and break and enter (3 per 1,000 against 2.2).
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 4.7 | 0.01 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 227.7 | 0.3 | 39% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 143.3 | 0.2 | 98% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 69 | 0.10 | 52% |
| Robbery | 362.3 | 0.5 | 50% |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 120.3 | 0.2 | 69% |
| Other violent violations | 165.7 | 0.2 | 40% |
| Breaking and entering | 2,068.3 | 3 | 22% |
| Possession of stolen property | 715 | 1 | 30% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 1,197 | 1.7 | 13% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 290.7 | 0.4 | 11% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 9,915.7 | 14.2 | 18% |
| Mischief | 2,902.3 | 4.2 | 21% |
| Weapons violations | 339 | 0.5 | 53% |
| Administration of justice violations | 3,165.7 | 4.5 | 90% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 741.7 | 1.1 | 32% |
| Drug violations | 374.7 | 0.5 | 90% |
| Impaired driving | 414.7 | 0.6 | 94% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 67.7 | 0.10 | 74% |
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.
Crime in the places around City Commercial Core
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| City Commercial Core | 2,581 | 71.9 | 89.7 | C+ |
| Cedar Hill | 3,190 | 71.9 | 89.7 | C+ |
| Central Frederick | 5,895 | 71.9 | 89.7 | C+ |
| Mill Courtland Woodside Park | 3,319 | 71.9 | 89.7 | C+ |
| Auditorium | 3,918 | 71.9 | 89.7 | C+ |
| Victoria Park | 3,574 | 71.9 | 89.7 | C+ |
| Mt. Hope Huron Park | 5,174 | 71.9 | 89.7 | C+ |
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
- Not the neighbourhood’s own. Its city publishes no open neighbourhood crime figures, so every figure for City Commercial Core is the city police’s, for the whole city.
- Reading the number. 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.
- Solved cases. Weighted like the index, so solving one assault counts for more than solving a mischief; a charge laid, recommended or otherwise resolved all count.
- How serious, not how safe. The index weighs crimes rather than counting them: a serious offence moves it far more than a minor one. Statistics Canada is plain about its limits: “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
Questions about safety in City Commercial Core
Is City Commercial Core safe?
City Commercial Core scores 71.9 on Statistics Canada’s Crime Severity Index (2023–2025 mean), where the typical figure for Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more is 60.3; per 1,000 residents a year that is 14.2 violent incidents and 32.2 property crimes.
What is the most common crime in City Commercial Core?
Theft under $5,000 is the most common, at 14.2 per 1,000 residents a year, then assault (7.7) and fraud (7.6).
Is crime going up in City Commercial Core?
Over 2023–2025 the index dropped 12%, to 66.8 from 75.8.
How much of City Commercial Core’s crime do police solve?
Police solve 45% of violent crime and 25% of everything else, 32% overall once each crime is weighted by seriousness, against 38% for the typical Canadian town of 50,000+.
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).