Photo: WabbitWanderer from London, Canada · CC BY-SA 2.0Fewer crimes per resident are recorded in Middlesex Centre than in 98% of Canadian towns
Its 6 neighbours with figures all record more crime per resident. What’s more, for every 1,000 residents, 5.1 violent incidents and 10.7 incidents of property crime were logged a year; in the typical town its size, the figures are 12.0 and 30.5. On the record of crime the police covering Middlesex Centre reported from 2023 to 2025, it takes A+ for safety: #49 of 862 in Ontario. Against usual levels of 89.4 and 56, violent and non-violent offences here reach 29 and 24.6.
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. Source area for crime severity, crime rate and incident counts: the Middlesex detachment area.
What stands out about safety in Middlesex Centre
Below Ontario’s typical town
Set among Ontario’s towns, whose median is 56.2, Middlesex Centre scores 25.7. Towns its size ↓
A lower index than most towns its size
Counting up from the lowest index, Middlesex Centre is 4th of the 40 Canadian towns closest in population. Towns its size ↓
Easing since 2023
Middlesex Centre’s index went from 28.6 in 2023 to 23.5 in 2025; the typical Canadian town its size moved from 69.5 to 60. Year by year ↓
Property and other crime weigh more
Set beside the typical Canadian town its size, Middlesex Centre’s two halves part ways: 29 for violence (typical 89.4) and 24.6 for the rest (typical 56). By type ↓
Written from Statistics Canada’s police-reported crime by police service and detachment, 2023–2025. Figures are what police recorded, not convictions.
What’s behind Middlesex Centre’s grade
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: #49 of 862 in Ontario and #54 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.
Middlesex Centre’s crime by kind
Assault 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 | 7 | 0.2 | 81% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 3.7 | 0.09 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 1 | 0.02 | — |
| Robbery | 0.3 | 0.01 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 1.3 | 0.03 | — |
| Other violent violations | 3.3 | 0.08 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 40.3 | 1 | 18% |
| Possession of stolen property | 5.7 | 0.1 | 93% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 43.3 | 1 | 10% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 15.7 | 0.4 | 2% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 116 | 2.8 | 15% |
| Mischief | 82.3 | 2 | 22% |
| Weapons violations | 3.7 | 0.09 | — |
| Administration of justice violations | 53.7 | 1.3 | 69% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 10 | 0.2 | 53% |
| Drug violations | 10.7 | 0.3 | 78% |
| Impaired driving | 47.3 | 1.1 | 100% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 5.7 | 0.1 | 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.
Middlesex Centre comes 4th of the 40 towns nearest in size
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Quispamsis New Brunswick | 20,240 | 20 | 27.9 | A+ |
| 2 | Bridgenorth Ontario | 20,628 | 21.2 | 23.1 | A+ |
| 3 | Electoral Area A, Metro Vancouver British Columbia | 22,031 | 24.4 | 16.3 | A+ |
| 4 | Middlesex Centre Ontario | 21,689 | 25.7 | 29 | A+ |
| 5 | South Frontenac Ontario | 21,599 | 27.1 | 32.9 | A+ |
| 6 | Sainte-Marthe-sur-le-Lac Quebec | 21,949 | 30.8 | 56.8 | A+ |
| 7 | Loyalist Ontario | 19,761 | 35.7 | 52.3 | A |
| … | |||||
| 9 | Kemptville Ontario | 19,733 | 37.9 | 52.9 | A |
| … | |||||
| 11 | Uxbridge Ontario | 22,618 | 45.8 | 61.4 | A− |
| … | |||||
| 16 | Tillsonburg Ontario | 21,450 | 54.1 | 63.3 | B |
| 17 | Port Colborne Ontario | 21,921 | 56.1 | 72.6 | B |
| … | |||||
| 40 | Yellowknife Northwest Territories | 22,858 | 304.6 | 362 | 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 Middlesex Centre in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
From 2023 to 2025, Middlesex Centre’s index dropped 18%
Crime Severity Index
Nothing since 2023 has matched that year’s 28.6; the lightest was 2025, at 23.5. In the same years the typical Canadian town its size read 69.5 (2023), then 60 (2025).
Every year as a table
| Year | Middlesex Centre | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 23.5 | 60 |
| 2024 | 25.1 | 67.9 |
| 2023 | 28.6 | 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 Middlesex Centre, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
Around 210 violent incidents a year in the 41,800-resident police area around Middlesex Centre, 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.
Property crime adds about 450 a year and other violations 170 (2023–2025 average). Of 1,000 dots, one per resident, the coloured ones are a year’s incidents at these rates.
Crime in the places around Middlesex Centre
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Middlesex Centre | 21,689 | 25.7 | 29 | A+ |
| River Bend | 5,930 | 69.8 | 86.4 | C+ |
| Hyde Park | 14,769 | 69.8 | 86.4 | C+ |
| Oakridge | 16,247 | 69.8 | 86.4 | C+ |
| Medway | 18,922 | 69.8 | 86.4 | C+ |
| Byron | 15,277 | 69.8 | 86.4 | C+ |
| Sunningdale | 21,645 | 69.8 | 86.4 | C+ |
The places around Middlesex Centre all score higher on the index.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.”
- Shared with the countryside. Detachment figures cover the detachment’s whole area: Middlesex Centre together with the countryside and smaller places it polices.
- The index’s scale. 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.
- What clearance means. Cleared means solved by police, charged or not; it says nothing about what courts decide.
Questions about safety in Middlesex Centre
Is Middlesex Centre safe?
Police-reported crime in Middlesex Centre scores 25.7 on Statistics Canada’s Crime Severity Index (2023–2025 mean), with 5.1 violent incidents and 10.7 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 Middlesex Centre?
Fraud is the most common, at 3.3 per 1,000 residents a year, then theft under $5,000 (2.8) and assault (2.7).
Is crime going up in Middlesex Centre?
It went down 18% between 2023 and 2025, from 28.6 to 23.5.
How much of Middlesex Centre’s crime do police solve?
Weighted by seriousness, police cleared 39% of crime (71% of violent crime, 24% of the rest). The typical Canadian town its size clears 33%.
Whose figures are these?
Those of the police serving Middlesex Centre 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).