Photo: Balcer · CC BY 2.5Per resident, Palmerston records less crime than 96% of Canadian towns
On the record of crime the police covering Palmerston reported from 2023 to 2025, it takes A+ for safety: #74 of 862 in Ontario. Of the two halves, violence comes to 28.2 and other offences to 29.6, beside norms of 89.4 and 56. Year on year, 4.9 violent incidents and 13.6 incidents of property crime occur per 1,000 residents, compared with 12.0 and 30.5 in the typical town its size. What’s more, 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. Measured across the Wellington County detachment area: crime severity, crime rate and incident counts.
What stands out about safety in Palmerston
Lighter than Ontario’s middle
Set among Ontario’s towns, whose median is 56.2, Palmerston scores 29. Towns its size ↓
A lower index than most towns its size
Counting up from the lowest index, Palmerston is 5th of the 40 Canadian towns closest in population. Towns its size ↓
Heavier on property and other crime
Violent crime scores 28.2 on Palmerston’s index against 89.4 for the typical Canadian town its size; non-violent crime, 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.
The grade: A+ for Palmerston
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.
Which crimes make up Palmerston’s figures
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.
Palmerston comes 5th of the 40 towns nearest in size
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beckwith Ontario | 10,073 | 20.5 | 25.5 | A+ |
| 2 | Stanley Manitoba | 9,929 | 27.2 | 39.3 | A+ |
| 3 | Stoneham-et-Tewkesbury Quebec | 10,147 | 28.2 | 46.7 | A+ |
| 4 | Sainte-Catherine-de-la-Jacques-Cartier Quebec | 9,830 | 28.2 | 46.7 | A+ |
| 5 | Palmerston Ontario | 10,029 | 29 | 28.2 | A+ |
| 6 | Thamesford Ontario | 9,755 | 30.7 | 22.5 | A+ |
| 7 | Malahide Ontario | 9,995 | 31.5 | 41.2 | A |
| 8 | Mono Ontario | 10,036 | 34.9 | 55.4 | A |
| 9 | Laurentian Valley Ontario | 9,714 | 36.3 | 44.5 | A |
| … | |||||
| 12 | Mitchell Ontario | 10,080 | 44.1 | 52.1 | A− |
| 13 | Wiarton Ontario | 9,799 | 46 | 52.4 | A− |
| … | |||||
| 40 | Wheatland County Alberta | 10,150 | 298.8 | 486.4 | 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 Palmerston in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
106,900 residents, about 520 violent incidents a year: the police area Palmerston belongs to, 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 1,440 a year and other violations 420 (2023–2025 average). Of 1,000 dots, one per resident, the coloured ones are a year’s incidents at these rates.
Palmerston, year by year
Crime Severity Index
Nothing since 2023 has matched that year’s 30; the lightest was 2025, at 28.2. In the same years the typical Canadian town its size read 69.5 (2023), then 60 (2025).
Every year as a table
| Year | Palmerston | 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 Palmerston, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
Crime in the places around Palmerston
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Palmerston | 10,029 | 29 | 28.2 | A+ |
| Howick (19 km) | 4,517 | 35 | 39.3 | A |
| Mount Forest (20 km) | 14,407 | 29 | 28.2 | A+ |
| Listowel (22 km) | 18,168 | 53 | 54 | B+ |
| Drayton (24 km) | 11,518 | 29 | 28.2 | A+ |
| Durham (30 km) | 14,355 | 51.9 | 63.2 | B+ |
The places around Palmerston all score higher on the index. Where neighbours share its police, they share the figure too: 2 aren’t counted above.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means. The nearest places to Palmerston with figures are 19–30 km away.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- The index’s scale. A reading of 100 is the whole country in 2006. Half of that, 50, means half the severity per resident.
- What clearance means. 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.
- 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: Palmerston together with the countryside and smaller places it polices.
Questions about safety in Palmerston
Is Palmerston safe?
Its police recorded 4.9 violent incidents and 13.6 property crimes a year per 1,000 residents over 2023–2025, which gives Palmerston a Crime Severity Index of 29. Set that beside 66, the median for Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people.
What is the most common crime in Palmerston?
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 Palmerston?
The reverse: 30 in 2023 came down to 28.2 by 2025, 6% lower.
How much of Palmerston’s crime do police solve?
Weighted by seriousness, police cleared 35% of crime (69% of violent crime, 22% of the rest). The typical Canadian town its size clears 33%.
Whose figures are these?
A police service or detachment that covers Palmerston 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).