Photo: Andre Carrotflower · CC BY-SA 4.0Listowel records less crime per resident than 65% of Canadian towns
Police counts work out at 8.5 violent incidents and 22.3 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents annually; in the typical town its size they are 12.0 and 30.5. Add to that, on the record of crime the police covering Listowel reported from 2023 to 2025, it takes B+ for safety: #358 of 862 in Ontario. Statistics Canada puts its Crime Severity Index at 53 for 2023–2025; the typical Canadian town its size scores 66. The typical town in Ontario scores 56.2 on the same index.
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 Listowel
Down since 2023
Listowel’s index went from 61 in 2023 to 42.8 in 2025; the typical Canadian town its size moved from 69.5 to 60. Year by year ↓
Non-violent crime leads the index
Listowel scores 54 for violence and 53.1 for other crime; the typical Canadian town its size scores 89.4 and 56. By type ↓
In the middle of towns its size
Line up the 40 Canadian towns nearest in size by their index and Listowel stands 18th, the lowest first. Towns its size ↓
Police clear more here
The weighted clearance rate, the share of crime police solve, is 45% for Listowel (83% violent, 29% non-violent), beside 33% for Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people. Questions ↓
Written from Statistics Canada’s police-reported crime by police service and detachment, 2023–2025. Figures are what police recorded, not convictions.
What sits behind Listowel’s B+
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: #358 of 862 in Ontario and #639 of 2,572 Canadian towns.
The Crime Severity Index and its two halves, beside the typical figure for Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people.
In Listowel, down 30% between 2023 and 2025
Crime Severity Index
Its heaviest year came first: 2023, at 61, against a low of 42.8 in 2025. For the typical Canadian town its size, 2023 gave 69.5 and 2025 gave 60.
Every year as a table
| Year | Listowel | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 42.8 | 60 |
| 2024 | 55.4 | 67.9 |
| 2023 | 61 | 69.5 |
Statistics Canada, Crime Severity Index by police service, each year as published. Typical: the median of Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people.
The Crime Severity Index of the police covering Listowel, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
Crime in Listowel, type by type
Against the typical town its size, Listowel runs highest on break and enter (3.4 per 1,000 against 2.2) and sexual assault (1 per 1,000 against 0.8). Assault and motor vehicle theft sit below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0 | 0 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 8.3 | 0.5 | 93% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 5 | 0.3 | 86% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 0.3 | 0.02 | — |
| Robbery | 1.3 | 0.08 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 0.7 | 0.04 | — |
| Other violent violations | 5 | 0.3 | 46% |
| Breaking and entering | 60 | 3.4 | 25% |
| Possession of stolen property | 5 | 0.3 | 94% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 22 | 1.2 | 27% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 13.3 | 0.8 | 28% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 140 | 7.9 | 26% |
| Mischief | 71 | 4 | 15% |
| Weapons violations | 10.3 | 0.6 | 55% |
| Administration of justice violations | 65.3 | 3.7 | 72% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 8 | 0.5 | 54% |
| Drug violations | 15 | 0.9 | 53% |
| Impaired driving | 14.3 | 0.8 | 100% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 5 | 0.3 | 0% |
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 10,000 to 50,000 people.
About 150 violent incidents a year reached Listowel’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 400 property crimes and 140 other violations a year (2023–2025 average). The grid is 1,000 residents, a coloured dot for each incident a year at these rates.
Listowel comes 18th of the 40 towns nearest in size
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oak Bay British Columbia | 18,626 | 26.7 | 23.4 | A+ |
| 2 | Petawawa Ontario | 19,606 | 29.3 | 42.6 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 4 | Port Hope Ontario | 18,446 | 31.2 | 36.4 | A |
| 5 | Stayner Ontario | 16,571 | 31.5 | 35.3 | A |
| … | |||||
| 7 | Loyalist Ontario | 19,761 | 35.7 | 52.3 | A |
| … | |||||
| 15 | Bracebridge Ontario | 18,676 | 46.7 | 69.2 | A− |
| 16 | Port Elgin Ontario | 18,167 | 50.1 | 68.5 | B+ |
| 17 | Canmore Alberta | 17,341 | 50.1 | 41.1 | B+ |
| 18 | Listowel Ontario | 18,168 | 53 | 54 | B+ |
| 19 | Smithville Ontario | 16,586 | 56.1 | 72.6 | B |
| 20 | Oakbank Manitoba | 17,494 | 58.8 | 39.1 | B |
| 21 | L'Ancienne-Lorette Quebec | 17,876 | 63 | 89.4 | B− |
| … | |||||
| 40 | Cold Lake Alberta | 17,798 | 204.1 | 204.7 | 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 Listowel in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
Crime in the places around Listowel
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Listowel | 18,168 | 53 | 54 | B+ |
| Howick (20 km) | 4,517 | 35 | 39.3 | A |
| Palmerston (22 km) | 10,029 | 29 | 28.2 | A+ |
| Drayton (24 km) | 11,518 | 29 | 28.2 | A+ |
| Perth East (24 km) | 13,423 | 35 | 39.3 | A |
| Morris-Turnberry (28 km) | 4,028 | 35 | 39.3 | A |
Every neighbour with a figure of its own has a lower index than Listowel. Closest is Howick, 19.6 km away, at 35 to 53 here.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means. Listowel has few close neighbours with figures, so the list reaches 20–28 km out.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- The index’s scale. Figures are relative to one fixed point, Canada in 2006 at 100, rather than to this year’s national number.
- What clearance means. Cleared means solved by police, charged or not; it says nothing about what courts decide.
- An index, not a verdict. Statistics Canada builds the index from every crime police record, weighted by how seriously the courts treat it, and divides by the population. It adds a warning of its own: “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
Questions about safety in Listowel
Is Listowel safe?
Police-reported crime in Listowel scores 53 on Statistics Canada’s Crime Severity Index (2023–2025 mean), with 8.5 violent incidents and 22.3 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year. The middle of Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people is 66.
What is the most common crime in Listowel?
The three biggest groups are theft under $5,000 at 7.9, other Criminal Code offences at 5.2 and fraud at 4.8, each per 1,000 residents a year.
Is crime going up in Listowel?
Down 30%: 61 in 2023, 42.8 in 2025.
How much of Listowel’s crime do police solve?
The weighted clearance rate is 45%: 83% for violent crime and 29% for non-violent. For the typical Canadian town its size it is 33%.
Whose figures are these?
A police service or contract that serves Listowel alone, so the figures are the town’s.
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).