Photo: P199 · CC0McDougall sees more crime per resident than 81% of Canadian towns
Annual rates stand at 7.3 violent incidents and 28.2 incidents of property crime for every thousand residents, next to 12.9 and 31.2 in the typical town its size. Its letter for safety is C−, worked out from crime the police covering McDougall reported over 2023 to 2025: #821 of 862 in Ontario. Split in two, the index gives 196.4 for violence and 72 for everything else (normally 85.7 and 62.8).
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. Shared with the rest of the Southern Georgian Bay (Georgian Bay) detachment area: crime severity, crime rate and incident counts.
What stands out about safety in McDougall
Crime per resident, visitors uncounted
With 31% of its homes not lived in all year, McDougall counts its crime against a smaller year-round population than the one that is there in season. How to read it ↓
Above Ontario’s typical town
Set among Ontario’s towns, whose median is 56.2, McDougall scores 106.9. Towns its size ↓
Heavier on violence
Set beside the typical Canadian town its size, McDougall’s two halves part ways: 196.4 for violence (typical 85.7) and 72 for the rest (typical 62.8). By type ↓
A higher index than most towns its size
Counting up from the lowest index, McDougall is 35th of the 40 Canadian towns closest in population. Towns its size ↓
Written from Statistics Canada’s police-reported crime by police service and detachment, 2023–2025. Figures are what police recorded, not convictions.
McDougall: C− for safety, and why
How sure: Less sure than most: the grade leans on the closest detachment, 59 km from McDougall, since none reports under the town’s name.
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: #821 of 862 in Ontario and #1,996 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.
By its index, McDougall stands 35th of 40 towns its size
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lorne Manitoba | 3,022 | 26.8 | 36.9 | A+ |
| 2 | East Garafraxa Ontario | 2,976 | 28.7 | 22 | A+ |
| 3 | Admaston/Bromley Ontario | 3,086 | 33.5 | 57.5 | A |
| … | |||||
| 12 | Algonquin Highlands Ontario | 2,915 | 44.7 | 49.5 | A− |
| … | |||||
| 17 | Markstay-Warren Ontario | 2,990 | 49.3 | 58.8 | B+ |
| … | |||||
| 32 | Shippagan New Brunswick | 3,073 | 80.3 | 100.6 | C |
| 33 | Fairview Alberta | 2,918 | 96 | 62 | C− |
| 34 | Wawa Ontario | 2,943 | 97.9 | 182.2 | C− |
| 35 | McDougall Ontario | 3,002 | 106.9 | 196.4 | C− |
| 36 | Princeton British Columbia | 3,050 | 114.4 | 174.3 | C− |
| 37 | Huntingdon Quebec | 3,001 | 120.3 | 141 | D |
| 38 | Tisdale Saskatchewan | 3,052 | 123.4 | 132.5 | D |
| … | |||||
| 40 | Lesser Slave River No. 124 Alberta | 2,980 | 170.9 | 107.9 | 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 McDougall in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
McDougall’s crime by kind
Against the typical town its size, McDougall runs highest on fraud (6 per 1,000 against 4.9). Theft under $5,000 and assault sit below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0.7 | 0.3 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 0 | 0 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 0 | 0 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 0 | 0 | — |
| Robbery | 0.7 | 0.3 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 0.3 | 0.2 | — |
| Other violent violations | 0 | 0 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 6 | 2.8 | 33% |
| Possession of stolen property | 1.7 | 0.8 | — |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 2.7 | 1.2 | — |
| Theft over $5,000 | 3.7 | 1.7 | — |
| Theft under $5,000 | 24 | 11 | 10% |
| Mischief | 10.3 | 4.7 | 13% |
| Weapons violations | 4.7 | 2.1 | — |
| Administration of justice violations | 4.3 | 2 | — |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 1 | 0.5 | — |
| Drug violations | 1 | 0.5 | — |
| Impaired driving | 15.3 | 7 | 100% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 1 | 0.5 | — |
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.
The detachment nearest McDougall, 2,200 residents: around 16 violent incidents a year, 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.
And about 61 property crimes, plus 49 other violations, a year (2023–2025 average). Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot, one incident a year at the area’s rates.
The index in McDougall, each year
Crime Severity Index
Its heaviest year fell in the middle, 2024, at 144.1; 2025 was the lightest, at 55.7. In the same years the typical Canadian town its size read 74.3 (2023), then 64.2 (2025).
Every year as a table
| Year | McDougall | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 55.7 | 64.2 |
| 2024 | 144.1 | 68.8 |
| 2023 | 120.9 | 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 McDougall, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
Crime in the places around McDougall
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| McDougall | 3,002 | 106.9 | 196.4 | C− |
| Parry Sound | 7,584 | 92.2 | 121.3 | C |
| McKellar | 1,534 | 32.8 | 34.7 | A |
| Carling | 1,609 | — | — | — |
| The Archipelago | 1,057 | 106.9 | 196.4 | C− |
Each neighbour with its own figure comes in under McDougall. Parry Sound, 12 km away, is the nearest lower one, at 92.2 to 106.9. Same police, same number: one neighbour drops out of the comparison for that reason.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Reading the number. The index is scaled so that Canada as a whole scored 100 in its base year, 2006: a town at 50 has half that severity per resident.
- 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. Police-reported incidents, each multiplied by a weight drawn from court sentences, summed and divided by the population: that is the index, and its makers attach a caution, “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
- A small police area. With roughly 2,202 residents in its police area, a few cases swing the figures. In Statistics Canada’s words, “Data for police services or detachments with populations less than 5,000 should be used with caution.”
Questions about safety in McDougall
Is McDougall safe?
The short answer is an index of 106.9 for McDougall (2023–2025), built from 7.3 violent incidents and 28.2 property crimes a year for every 1,000 residents. Set that beside 68.5, the median for Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is the most common crime in McDougall?
Top of the list is Criminal Code traffic offences (11.3 per 1,000 residents a year); theft under $5,000, at 11, and fraud, at 6, follow.
Is crime going up in McDougall?
It went down 54% between 2023 and 2025, from 120.9 to 55.7. With few people or missing years behind it, the change is a rough one.
How much of McDougall’s crime do police solve?
About 37% of crime is cleared, weighted by seriousness, with 49% of violent and 31% of other crime; the figure for the typical Canadian town its size is 34%.
Whose figures are these?
Those of the police serving McDougall together with its neighbours or the countryside around it.
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).