Photo: Ryan Hodnett · CC BY-SA 4.0For recorded crime, Highland West sits in the middle of Canadian towns
Highland West’s overall Safety Grade is C+ (#680 of 862 in Ontario): close to the middle of Canadian towns, on crime its police reported from 2023 to 2025. In 2023 the index stood at 75.8; it fell to 66.8 in 2025. Annual rates stand at 14.2 violent incidents and 32.2 incidents of property crime for every thousand residents, next to 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. Measured across the Waterloo Region (Kitchener) service area: crime severity and crime rate.
What’s behind Highland West’s grade
How sure: Not as firm as most grades, since the figure covers the entire city rather than Highland West 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: #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.
Highland West, 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. For the typical Canadian town of 50,000+, 2023 gave 64.3 and 2025 gave 59.2.
Every year as a table
| Year | Highland West | 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 Highland West, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 50,000+.
Which crimes make up Waterloo Region (Kitchener)’s figures
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 Highland West
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Highland West | 12,476 | 71.9 | 89.7 | C+ |
| Forest Heights | 14,369 | 71.9 | 89.7 | C+ |
| Victoria Hills | 10,760 | 71.9 | 89.7 | C+ |
| Westmount | 5,048 | 71.9 | 89.7 | C+ |
| Forest Hill | 5,760 | 71.9 | 89.7 | C+ |
| Meinzinger Park-Lakeside | 5,007 | 71.9 | 89.7 | C+ |
| Cherry Hill | 6,304 | 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
- What clearance means. A cleared case is one police consider solved. Whether anyone is convicted is a separate matter the rate doesn’t follow.
- An index, not a verdict. 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.”
- City-wide figures. No open data breaks the city’s crime down by neighbourhood, so Highland West carries the city-wide figures.
- The index’s scale. Statistics Canada set the national index at 100 for 2006; every figure here is read against that.
Questions about safety in Highland West
Is Highland West safe?
Against a typical 60.3 for Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more, Highland West’s Crime Severity Index stands at 71.9 for 2023–2025. Its police record 14.2 violent incidents and 32.2 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year.
What is the most common crime in Highland West?
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 Highland West?
Over 2023–2025 the index dropped 12%, to 66.8 from 75.8.
How much of Highland West’s crime do police solve?
Weighted by seriousness, police cleared 32% of crime (45% of violent crime, 25% of the rest). The typical Canadian town of 50,000+ clears 38%.
Whose figures are these?
The city police’s, as reported for the whole 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).