Photo: Bbadgett · CC BY-SA 3.0Fewer crimes per resident are recorded in Muskoka Lakes than in 81% of Canadian towns
Police clear 41% of crime, weighted by seriousness; the figure for the typical Canadian town its size is 34%. Scored on crime the police covering Muskoka Lakes reported across 2023 to 2025, the town lands on A− for safety: #207 of 862 in Ontario. Weighted by seriousness, its crime scores 43.4 on the index for 2023–2025, beside 68.5 for the typical Canadian town its size. Per 1,000 residents a year, 6.9 violent incidents and 14.8 incidents of property crime were recorded, 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. Area behind the crime severity, crime rate and incident counts figures: the Bracebridge (Muskoka Lakes and Georgian Bay) detachment area.
What stands out about safety in Muskoka Lakes
Visitors count, residents divide
With 63% of its homes not lived in all year, Muskoka Lakes counts its crime against a smaller year-round population than the one that is there in season. How to read it ↓
Lower than many towns its size
Line up the 40 Canadian towns nearest in size by their index and Muskoka Lakes stands 13th, the lowest first. Towns its size ↓
Lower than most of Ontario
Within Ontario, the median town comes to 56.2 on the index, against 43.4 in Muskoka Lakes. Towns its size ↓
Rising since 2023
Muskoka Lakes’s index went from 33.4 in 2023 to 57.6 in 2025; the typical Canadian town its size moved from 74.3 to 64.2. Year by year ↓
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 Muskoka Lakes’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: #207 of 862 in Ontario and #349 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.
From 2023 to 2025, Muskoka Lakes’s index climbed 73%
Crime Severity Index
It finished on its highest reading, 57.6 in 2025, having been lowest in 2023 at 33.4. The typical Canadian town its size went from 74.3 in 2023 to 64.2 in 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Muskoka Lakes | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 57.6 | 64.2 |
| 2024 | 39.1 | 68.8 |
| 2023 | 33.4 | 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 Muskoka Lakes, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
What police record in Muskoka Lakes, 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 | 0.3 | 0.03 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 0.7 | 0.07 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 1.3 | 0.1 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 0 | 0 | — |
| Robbery | 0.7 | 0.07 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 0.3 | 0.03 | — |
| Other violent violations | 1 | 0.10 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 14.3 | 1.4 | 33% |
| Possession of stolen property | 1.7 | 0.2 | — |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 5.7 | 0.6 | 18% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 9 | 0.9 | 22% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 42.7 | 4.2 | 14% |
| Mischief | 32.7 | 3.2 | 16% |
| Weapons violations | 9.3 | 0.9 | 46% |
| Administration of justice violations | 20.7 | 2 | 76% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 5.7 | 0.6 | 47% |
| Drug violations | 6.7 | 0.7 | 60% |
| Impaired driving | 35.3 | 3.5 | 100% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 3 | 0.3 | — |
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.
Around 70 violent incidents a year in the 10,200-resident police area around Muskoka Lakes, 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 150 a year and other violations 100 (2023–2025 average). Of 1,000 dots, one per resident, the coloured ones are a year’s incidents at these rates.
By its index, Muskoka Lakes stands 13th of 40 towns its size
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Douro-Dummer Ontario | 8,379 | 14.9 | 13.8 | A+ |
| 2 | Alnwick/Haldimand Ontario | 8,197 | 21.6 | 26.9 | A+ |
| 3 | Tavistock Ontario | 8,710 | 23.1 | 27.2 | A+ |
| 4 | Plattsville Ontario | 8,251 | 25.1 | 27.5 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 10 | Bayfield Ontario | 8,327 | 35 | 39.3 | A |
| 11 | Rigaud Quebec | 8,187 | 39.2 | 61.7 | A |
| 12 | Saint-Philippe Quebec | 8,674 | 41.6 | 59.8 | A− |
| 13 | Muskoka Lakes Ontario | 8,463 | 43.4 | 53.1 | A− |
| 14 | Electoral Area G, Nanaimo British Columbia | 8,412 | 44.5 | 43.2 | A− |
| 15 | St. Adolphe Manitoba | 8,770 | 47.5 | 54.8 | B+ |
| 16 | Aylmer Ontario | 8,371 | 49 | 63.6 | B+ |
| … | |||||
| 40 | Iqaluit Nunavut | 8,612 | 661.3 | 844 | 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 Muskoka Lakes in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
Crime in the places around Muskoka Lakes
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Muskoka Lakes | 8,463 | 43.4 | 53.1 | A− |
| Bracebridge (21 km) | 18,676 | 46.7 | 69.2 | A− |
| Georgian Bay (22 km) | 3,798 | 43.4 | 53.1 | A− |
| Gravenhurst (25 km) | 14,576 | 65.4 | 90.3 | B− |
The places around Muskoka Lakes all score higher on the index. Where a neighbour shares its police, it shares the figure too, and isn’t counted above.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means. The nearest places to Muskoka Lakes with figures are 21–25 km away.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- An index, not a verdict. The Crime Severity Index adds up police-reported crime, each kind weighted by the sentences courts give it, so one robbery counts for more than many thefts. In Statistics Canada’s words, “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
- Shared with the countryside. An RCMP or OPP detachment reports one set of figures for everywhere it polices, so Muskoka Lakes’s are shared with its surroundings.
- The index’s scale. Its scale starts from Canada in 2006, set at 100, so a figure above 100 means more serious crime per resident than the country had then.
- What clearance means. Police clear an incident by charging someone, recommending a charge, or closing it another way. The rate weighs serious crimes more, as the index does.
Questions about safety in Muskoka Lakes
Is Muskoka Lakes safe?
On Statistics Canada’s figures, Muskoka Lakes scores 43.4 on the Crime Severity Index for 2023–2025, with 6.9 violent and 14.8 property incidents per 1,000 residents a year. Set that beside 68.5, the median for Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is the most common crime in Muskoka Lakes?
Top of the list is Criminal Code traffic offences (5.1 per 1,000 residents a year); fraud, at 4.3, and theft under $5,000, at 4.2, follow.
Is crime going up in Muskoka Lakes?
It has: 33.4 in 2023 became 57.6 by 2025, a rise of 73%.
How much of Muskoka Lakes’s crime do police solve?
Police cleared 41% of crime once each incident is weighted by seriousness: 62% of violent crime and 34% of the rest, against 34% for the typical Canadian town its size.
Whose figures are these?
A police service or detachment that covers Muskoka Lakes and other places, so the figures are shared.
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).