Photo: P199 · Public domainCrime per resident in Lanark Highlands runs lower than in 93% of Canadian towns
Steady over the three years, the index read 32.7 in 2023 and 33.8 in 2025. Split in two, the index gives 38.8 for violence and 31.2 for everything else (normally 85.7 and 62.8). Its Safety Grade is A, on crime the police covering Lanark Highlands reported from 2023 to 2025: #120 of 862 in Ontario. The yearly rates were 7.8 violent incidents and 13.9 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents, set against 12.9 and 31.2 in the typical town its size.
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.
What stands out about safety in Lanark Highlands
Under the Ontario norm
The typical Ontario town scores 56.2; Lanark Highlands, 33.1. Towns its size ↓
A lower index than most towns its size
Set among the 40 Canadian towns closest to it in population, Lanark Highlands comes 5th, counting from the lowest Crime Severity Index. Towns its size ↓
A high clearance rate
The weighted clearance rate, the share of crime police solve, is 42% for Lanark Highlands (89% violent, 18% non-violent), beside 34% for Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people. Questions ↓
Written from Statistics Canada’s police-reported crime by police service and detachment, 2023–2025. Figures are what police recorded, not convictions.
Lanark Highlands: A for safety, and why
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: #120 of 862 in Ontario and #156 of 2,572 Canadian towns.
The Crime Severity Index and its two halves, beside the typical figure for Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people.
Crime in Lanark Highlands, type by type
Motor vehicle theft and theft under $5,000 sit below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0 | 0 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 0.7 | 0.1 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 0.3 | 0.05 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 0.3 | 0.05 | — |
| Robbery | 0.3 | 0.05 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 0.7 | 0.1 | — |
| Other violent violations | 1 | 0.2 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 8.7 | 1.4 | 8% |
| Possession of stolen property | 1 | 0.2 | — |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 7 | 1.1 | 29% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 4.3 | 0.7 | — |
| Theft under $5,000 | 18.3 | 2.9 | 11% |
| Mischief | 20.3 | 3.2 | 16% |
| Weapons violations | 1 | 0.2 | — |
| Administration of justice violations | 14.7 | 2.3 | 70% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 1.7 | 0.3 | — |
| Drug violations | 0.7 | 0.1 | — |
| Impaired driving | 5 | 0.8 | 100% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 0.7 | 0.1 | — |
Statistics Canada’s violation groups for the whole police service or detachment, incidents a year its own. 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 2,500 to 10,000 people.
Lanark Highlands is 5th of 40 towns its size, lowest index first
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beresford New Brunswick | 6,543 | 25 | 35.4 | A+ |
| 2 | Glencoe Ontario | 6,468 | 25.7 | 29 | A+ |
| 3 | Pontiac Quebec | 6,490 | 29.4 | 51.6 | A+ |
| 4 | Pointe-Calumet Quebec | 6,427 | 30.8 | 56.8 | A+ |
| 5 | Lanark Highlands Ontario | 6,370 | 33.1 | 38.8 | A |
| 6 | Mildmay Ontario | 6,247 | 33.7 | 38.7 | A |
| 7 | McMasterville Quebec | 6,114 | 37.1 | 58.5 | A |
| 8 | Tay Valley Ontario | 6,171 | 37.7 | 46.6 | A |
| … | |||||
| 14 | Tweed Ontario | 6,504 | 46.8 | 68 | B+ |
| … | |||||
| 18 | Oliver Paipoonge Ontario | 6,524 | 62.7 | 107.8 | B− |
| … | |||||
| 37 | Sioux Lookout Ontario | 6,122 | 267.2 | 543.5 | D |
| 38 | Petrolia Ontario | 6,422 | 333.9 | 378.3 | D− |
| … | |||||
| 40 | St. Paul Alberta | 6,218 | 364.7 | 364.4 | D− |
The 40 Canadian towns of 2,500+ people closest in population; city neighbourhoods, city totals and reserves are left out. Towns on one police service or detachment share its index.
The Canadian towns closest to Lanark Highlands in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
About 49 violent incidents a year reached Lanark Highlands’s police, 2023–2025
Violent incidents per 1,000 a year, 2023–2025
Property crimes per 1,000 a year, 2023–2025
Statistics Canada counts actual incidents; those police record as unfounded are listed apart and kept out of its crime rates and severity index. Each incident is filed under its most serious violation, which the survey sets partly by the maximum penalty.
Add about 88 property crimes and 33 other violations a year (2023–2025 average). The grid is 1,000 residents, a coloured dot for each incident a year at these rates.
Lanark Highlands, year by year
Crime Severity Index
Its index peaked most recently, in 2025 (33.8); 2023 was the low point, at 32.7. Set beside it, the typical Canadian town its size went from 74.3 in 2023 to 64.2 in 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Lanark Highlands | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 33.8 | 64.2 |
| 2024 | 32.9 | 68.8 |
| 2023 | 32.7 | 74.3 |
Statistics Canada, Crime Severity Index by police service, each year as published. Typical: the median of Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people.
The Crime Severity Index of the police covering Lanark Highlands, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
Crime in the places around Lanark Highlands
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lanark Highlands | 6,370 | 33.1 | 38.8 | A |
| Tay Valley (22 km) | 6,171 | 37.7 | 46.6 | A |
| Perth (24 km) | 6,972 | 72.7 | 120.3 | C+ |
| Drummond/North Elmsley (24 km) | 8,817 | 28.8 | 34.8 | A+ |
| Carleton Place (28 km) | 14,837 | 61.2 | 94.7 | B− |
| Beckwith (29 km) | 10,073 | 20.5 | 25.5 | A+ |
2 of the 5 neighbours with their own figures score lower than Lanark Highlands. Drummond/North Elmsley, 23.8 km away, is the nearest lower one, at 28.8 to 33.1.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means. Lanark Highlands has few close neighbours with figures, so the list reaches 22–29 km out.
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 cleared case is one police consider solved. Whether anyone is convicted is a separate matter the rate doesn’t follow.
- How serious, not how safe. Statistics Canada, which publishes the index, attaches a caution: “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.” The number weighs each reported crime by its seriousness before dividing by residents.
Questions about safety in Lanark Highlands
Is Lanark Highlands safe?
Lanark Highlands scores 33.1 on Statistics Canada’s Crime Severity Index (2023–2025 mean), where the typical figure for Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people is 68.5; per 1,000 residents a year that is 7.8 violent incidents and 13.9 property crimes.
What is the most common crime in Lanark Highlands?
Police record fraud most, 4.5 per 1,000 residents a year, ahead of assault (3.9) and other Criminal Code offences (3.4).
Is crime going up in Lanark Highlands?
Barely: 32.7 in 2023, 33.8 in 2025.
How much of Lanark Highlands’s crime do police solve?
Police cleared 42% of crime once each incident is weighted by seriousness: 89% of violent crime and 18% of the rest, against 34% for the typical Canadian town its size.
Whose figures are these?
Its own police: the service or contract that covers Lanark Highlands and nowhere else.
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).