Photo: JFVoll · CC BY-SA 4.0Recorded crime in Forest Heights is close to typical for Canadian towns
Per 1,000 residents a year, 14.2 violent incidents and 32.2 incidents of property crime were recorded, against 10.8 and 25.1 in the typical Canadian town of 50,000+. Weighing it all, Forest Heights earns C+ for safety (#680 of 862 in Ontario), with close to the middle of Canadian towns, on crime its police reported over 2023 to 2025. Between 2023 and 2025 the severity figure fell, 75.8 to 66.8. Of the two halves, violence comes to 89.7 and other offences to 65.4, beside norms 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 Waterloo Region (Kitchener) service area.
What’s behind Forest Heights’s grade
How sure: Less sure than most. The grade rests on a figure for the whole city, so Forest Heights’s own streets could sit well above or below it.
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.
Forest Heights, year by year
Crime Severity Index
Its index has not been as high since 2023 (75.8); the low point came in 2025, at 66.8. The comparison line, the typical Canadian town of 50,000+, runs from 64.3 in 2023 to 59.2 by 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Forest Heights | 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 Forest Heights, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 50,000+.
Waterloo Region (Kitchener)’s crime, type 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 robbery (0.5 per 1,000 against 0.4). Drug offences sits below it.
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 Forest Heights
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forest Heights | 14,369 | 71.9 | 89.7 | C+ |
| Highland West | 12,476 | 71.9 | 89.7 | C+ |
| Forest Hill | 5,760 | 71.9 | 89.7 | C+ |
| Victoria Hills | 10,760 | 71.9 | 89.7 | C+ |
| Laurentian West | 16,857 | 71.9 | 89.7 | C+ |
| Meinzinger Park-Lakeside | 5,007 | 71.9 | 89.7 | C+ |
| Laurentian Hills | 10,026 | 71.9 | 89.7 | C+ |
Same police, same number: 6 neighbours drop out of the comparison for that reason.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Cleared, not convicted. Cleared means solved by police, charged or not; it says nothing about what courts decide.
- 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. Its city publishes no open neighbourhood crime figures, so every figure for Forest Heights is the city police’s, for the whole city.
- 100 is Canada in 2006. Statistics Canada set the national index at 100 for 2006; every figure here is read against that.
Questions about safety in Forest Heights
Is Forest Heights safe?
A Crime Severity Index of 71.9 (2023–2025), set beside a median of 60.3 for Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more: that is where Forest Heights stands, with 14.2 violent and 32.2 property incidents per 1,000 residents a year.
What is the most common crime in Forest Heights?
Top of the list is theft under $5,000 (14.2 per 1,000 residents a year); assault, at 7.7, and fraud, at 7.6, follow.
Is crime going up in Forest Heights?
Down 12%: 75.8 in 2023, 66.8 in 2025.
How much of Forest Heights’s crime do police solve?
Counting serious crimes for more, 32% end in a charge or are otherwise solved (38% for the typical Canadian town of 50,000+); split up, that is 45% of violent and 25% of non-violent crime.
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).