Photo: Don-vip · CC BY-SA 3.0Niagara Falls is about average among Canadian towns for recorded crime
Its violent half comes to 72.6 and its non-violent half to 49.9, where the norm is 75.2 and 54.2. Steady over the three years, the index read 55.4 in 2023 and 53.8 in 2025. Niagara Falls grades B for safety overall (#377 of 862 in Ontario): close to the middle of Canadian towns, on crime its police reported from 2023 to 2025. Add to that, typical years here bring 9.4 violent incidents plus 25.1 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents, against 10.8 plus 25.1 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 Niagara Region (St. Catharines) service area.
What stands out about safety in Niagara Falls
A busy place, counted per resident
Rates in Niagara Falls are per resident, while much of the crime involves the many visitors it draws; the figures overstate what residents themselves face. How to read it ↓
Lower than many towns its size
Line up the 40 Canadian towns nearest in size by their index and Niagara Falls stands 15th, the lowest first. Towns its size ↓
Close to Ontario’s typical town
Within Ontario, the median town comes to 56.2 on the index, against 56.1 in Niagara Falls. 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.
The B for Niagara Falls, and how it is built
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: #377 of 862 in Ontario and #736 of 2,572 Canadian towns.
The Crime Severity Index and its two halves, beside the typical figure for Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more.
Which crimes make up Niagara Falls’s figures
Assault and drug offences sit below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 11.7 | 0.02 | 79% |
| Sexual violations against children | 139.7 | 0.3 | 47% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 115.3 | 0.2 | 99% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 23.7 | 0.04 | 55% |
| Robbery | 184.3 | 0.3 | 47% |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 31 | 0.06 | 90% |
| Other violent violations | 100 | 0.2 | 56% |
| Breaking and entering | 1,186.7 | 2.2 | 19% |
| Possession of stolen property | 118.3 | 0.2 | 89% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 959.7 | 1.8 | 10% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 240.3 | 0.4 | 11% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 6,173.3 | 11.5 | 17% |
| Mischief | 1,897 | 3.5 | 18% |
| Weapons violations | 100 | 0.2 | 74% |
| Administration of justice violations | 3,185 | 5.9 | 95% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 278.3 | 0.5 | 51% |
| Drug violations | 280.3 | 0.5 | 89% |
| Impaired driving | 558.3 | 1 | 97% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 129.3 | 0.2 | 8% |
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 50,000 people or more.
Among 40 towns its size, Niagara Falls places 15th
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Repentigny Quebec | 91,290 | 28.1 | 48.2 | A+ |
| 2 | Lindsay Ontario | 85,351 | 31.7 | 42.8 | A |
| … | |||||
| 4 | Bolton Ontario | 90,201 | 39.2 | 51 | A |
| … | |||||
| 9 | Ajax Ontario | 141,111 | 45.8 | 61.4 | A− |
| 10 | Pickering Ontario | 118,378 | 45.8 | 61.4 | A− |
| … | |||||
| 12 | Newmarket Ontario | 95,763 | 52.8 | 67.4 | B+ |
| 13 | Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu Quebec | 100,806 | 53.1 | 81 | B+ |
| 14 | Brossard Quebec | 97,597 | 53.7 | 69.5 | B |
| 15 | Niagara Falls Ontario | 113,983 | 56.1 | 72.6 | B |
| 16 | Delta British Columbia | 124,670 | 59.7 | 69.8 | B− |
| 17 | Strathcona County Alberta | 107,345 | 68.4 | 61.3 | B− |
| 18 | Peterborough Ontario | 97,834 | 71.7 | 89.4 | C+ |
| … | |||||
| 40 | Prince George British Columbia | 85,944 | 209.1 | 239.6 | 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 Niagara Falls in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
Niagara Falls, year by year
Crime Severity Index
2024 stands out as the heaviest year at 58.9, with 2025 the lightest at 53.8. The typical Canadian town its size went from 64.3 in 2023 to 59.2 in 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Niagara Falls | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 53.8 | 59.2 |
| 2024 | 58.9 | 59.9 |
| 2023 | 55.4 | 64.3 |
Statistics Canada, Crime Severity Index by police service, each year as published. Typical: the median of Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more.
The Crime Severity Index of the police covering Niagara Falls, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
About 5,080 violent incidents a year across the police area of 551,100 residents that includes Niagara Falls, 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 13,500 property crimes and 4,880 other violations a year (2023–2025 average). The grid is 1,000 residents, a coloured dot for each incident a year at these rates.
Crime in the places around Niagara Falls
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Niagara Falls | 113,983 | 56.1 | 72.6 | B |
| Thorold | 33,844 | 56.1 | 72.6 | B |
| St. Catharines | 153,865 | 56.1 | 72.6 | B |
| Niagara-on-the-Lake | 20,080 | 56.1 | 72.6 | B |
| Welland | 66,480 | 56.1 | 72.6 | B |
| Pelham | 19,980 | 56.1 | 72.6 | B |
The comparison skips 5 neighbours reported under the same police.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Shared policing. The service that polices Niagara Falls reports once for its whole area, so the figures aren’t the town’s alone.
- 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. Weighted like the index, so solving one assault counts for more than solving a mischief; a charge laid, recommended or otherwise resolved all count.
- What the index measures. Statistics Canada, which publishes the index, attaches a caution: “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.” The number weighs each reported crime by its seriousness before dividing by residents.
Questions about safety in Niagara Falls
Is Niagara Falls safe?
Niagara Falls scores 56.1 on Statistics Canada’s Crime Severity Index (2023–2025 mean), where the typical figure for Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more is 60.3; per 1,000 residents a year that is 9.4 violent incidents and 25.1 property crimes.
What is the most common crime in Niagara Falls?
Police record theft under $5,000 most, 11.5 per 1,000 residents a year, ahead of other Criminal Code offences (6.8) and fraud (5.4).
Is crime going up in Niagara Falls?
Not much: the index went from 55.4 in 2023 to 53.8 in 2025.
How much of Niagara Falls’s crime do police solve?
Police cleared 37% of crime once each incident is weighted by seriousness: 49% of violent crime and 30% of the rest, against 38% for the typical Canadian town its size.
Whose figures are these?
A police service or detachment that covers Niagara Falls 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).