Photo: Tabercil · CC BY 3.0Per resident, Mount Forest records less crime than 96% of Canadian towns
Split in two, the index gives 28.2 for violence and 29.6 for everything else (normally 89.4 and 56). On crime the police covering Mount Forest reported from 2023 to 2025, it grades A+ for safety: #74 of 862 in Ontario. What’s more, each year brought 4.9 violent incidents and 13.6 incidents of property crime for every 1,000 residents (12.0 and 30.5 in the typical town its size). By 2025 the index had dropped to 28.2, down from 30 in 2023.
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. Crime severity, crime rate and incident counts: one figure for all of the Wellington County detachment area.
What stands out about safety in Mount Forest
Lighter than Ontario’s middle
Set among Ontario’s towns, whose median is 56.2, Mount Forest scores 29. Towns its size ↓
A lower index than most towns its size
Counting up from the lowest index, Mount Forest is 3rd of the 40 Canadian towns closest in population. Towns its size ↓
Non-violent crime leads the index
Mount Forest’s index splits into violent crime, 28.2 here and 89.4 for the typical Canadian town its size, and everything else, 29.6 against 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.
Mount Forest: 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: #74 of 862 in Ontario and #94 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.
What police record in Mount Forest, by type
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 | 13.3 | 0.1 | 70% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 9 | 0.09 | 100% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 2 | 0.02 | — |
| Robbery | 4.7 | 0.04 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 3 | 0.03 | — |
| Other violent violations | 7.7 | 0.07 | 69% |
| Breaking and entering | 124.3 | 1.2 | 14% |
| Possession of stolen property | 16.3 | 0.2 | 90% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 122 | 1.2 | 12% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 72.7 | 0.7 | 11% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 430 | 4.1 | 17% |
| Mischief | 240.7 | 2.3 | 18% |
| Weapons violations | 20.7 | 0.2 | 43% |
| Administration of justice violations | 124.7 | 1.2 | 73% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 38.7 | 0.4 | 43% |
| Drug violations | 30 | 0.3 | 76% |
| Impaired driving | 89.7 | 0.8 | 100% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 11 | 0.1 | 15% |
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.
Mount Forest is 3rd of 40 towns its size, lowest index first
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tiny Ontario | 14,195 | 27.9 | 36.4 | A+ |
| 2 | Rockwood Ontario | 14,870 | 29 | 28.2 | A+ |
| 3 | Mount Forest Ontario | 14,407 | 29 | 28.2 | A+ |
| 4 | Val-des-Monts Quebec | 14,473 | 29.4 | 51.6 | A+ |
| 5 | Central Elgin Ontario | 15,230 | 31.5 | 41.2 | A |
| 6 | Warman Saskatchewan | 14,245 | 32.3 | 41.7 | A |
| 7 | Long Sault Ontario | 14,602 | 36.9 | 47.2 | A |
| 8 | South Glengarry Ontario | 14,355 | 36.9 | 47.2 | A |
| 9 | Campbellford Ontario | 15,103 | 37 | 48.3 | A |
| … | |||||
| 14 | Beaverton Ontario | 13,710 | 45.8 | 61.4 | A− |
| … | |||||
| 40 | North Battleford Saskatchewan | 14,882 | 528.4 | 591.9 | 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 Mount Forest in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
The police area Mount Forest is part of, 106,900 residents, recorded about 520 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 1,440 property crimes, plus 420 other violations, a year (2023–2025 average). Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot, one incident a year at the area’s rates.
Mount Forest, year by year
Crime Severity Index
Its index has not been as high since 2023 (30); the low point came in 2025, at 28.2. Over 2023–2025, the typical Canadian town its size moved from 69.5 to 60.
Every year as a table
| Year | Mount Forest | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 28.2 | 60 |
| 2024 | 28.9 | 67.9 |
| 2023 | 30 | 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 Mount Forest, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
Crime in the places around Mount Forest
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount Forest | 14,407 | 29 | 28.2 | A+ |
| Drayton (20 km) | 11,518 | 29 | 28.2 | A+ |
| Palmerston (20 km) | 10,029 | 29 | 28.2 | A+ |
| Grand Valley (24 km) | 4,759 | 26.4 | 20.7 | A+ |
| Dundalk (28 km) | 11,599 | 40.6 | 49.1 | A− |
| Fergus (30 km) | 34,565 | 29 | 28.2 | A+ |
Of 2 places nearby with their own figures, 1 come in under Mount Forest. The nearest of them, Grand Valley (23.6 km away), scores 26.4 against 29. The comparison skips 3 neighbours reported under the same police.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means. No closer places have figures: these lie 20–30 km from Mount Forest.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 100 is Canada in 2006. Canada’s own index has been below its 2006 base of 100 for years, so 100 marks a fixed reference, not today’s national average.
- Cleared, not convicted. The clearance rate is the share of incidents police solve, by a charge or otherwise, weighted by seriousness like the index. It isn’t a conviction rate.
- What the index measures. 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.”
- A detachment’s area. Detachment figures cover the detachment’s whole area: Mount Forest together with the countryside and smaller places it polices.
Questions about safety in Mount Forest
Is Mount Forest safe?
Mount Forest’s Crime Severity Index is 29 (2023–2025 mean); its police record 4.9 violent incidents and 13.6 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year. In the middle of Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people the figure is 66.
What is the most common crime in Mount Forest?
Police record theft under $5,000 most, 4.1 per 1,000 residents a year, ahead of fraud (4) and assault (2.3).
Is crime going up in Mount Forest?
Down 6%: 30 in 2023, 28.2 in 2025.
How much of Mount Forest’s crime do police solve?
The weighted clearance rate is 35%: 69% for violent crime and 22% for non-violent. For the typical Canadian town its size it is 33%.
Whose figures are these?
Those of the police serving Mount Forest 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).