Photo: Michael Pardo from Niagara, Canada · CC0Pelham sits near the middle of Canadian towns for recorded crime
All told, Pelham grades B for safety (#377 of 862 in Ontario): close to the middle of Canadian towns, on crime its police reported from 2023 to 2025. Steady over the three years, the index read 55.4 in 2023 and 53.8 in 2025. Behind the grade sit 9.4 violent incidents and 25.1 incidents of property crime per 1,000 people a year, where the comparison is 12.0 and 30.5 in the typical town its size. Split in two, the index gives 72.6 for violence and 49.9 for everything else (normally 89.4 and 56).
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: the Niagara Region (St. Catharines) service area.
What stands out about safety in Pelham
In the middle of towns its size
Counting up from the lowest index, Pelham is 20th of the 40 Canadian towns closest in population. Towns its size ↓
About the Ontario norm
Set among Ontario’s towns, whose median is 56.2, Pelham scores 56.1. 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.
Pelham: B 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: #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 10,000 to 50,000 people.
Which crimes make up Pelham’s figures
Drug offences and assault 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 10,000 to 50,000 people.
Pelham, year by year
Crime Severity Index
The middle year, 2024, was the heaviest at 58.9; 2025 was lightest, at 53.8. Over 2023–2025, the typical Canadian town its size moved from 69.5 to 60.
Every year as a table
| Year | Pelham | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 53.8 | 60 |
| 2024 | 58.9 | 67.9 |
| 2023 | 55.4 | 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 Pelham, 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 Pelham, 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.
By its index, Pelham stands 20th of 40 towns its 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+ |
| … | |||||
| 4 | South Frontenac Ontario | 21,599 | 27.1 | 32.9 | A+ |
| 5 | Petawawa Ontario | 19,606 | 29.3 | 42.6 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 7 | Port Hope Ontario | 18,446 | 31.2 | 36.4 | A |
| … | |||||
| 17 | Rivière-du-Loup Quebec | 20,650 | 48.3 | 72.4 | B+ |
| 18 | Tillsonburg Ontario | 21,450 | 54.1 | 63.3 | B |
| 19 | Niagara-on-the-Lake Ontario | 20,080 | 56.1 | 72.6 | B |
| 20 | Pelham Ontario | 19,980 | 56.1 | 72.6 | B |
| 21 | Corner Brook Newfoundland and Labrador | 20,549 | 58.8 | 70.5 | B |
| 22 | Pitt Meadows British Columbia | 20,892 | 60.8 | 59.8 | B− |
| 23 | Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures Quebec | 20,864 | 63 | 89.4 | B− |
| … | |||||
| 40 | Lloydminster (Part) Alberta | 21,267 | 211.6 | 177.2 | 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 Pelham in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
Crime in the places around Pelham
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pelham | 19,980 | 56.1 | 72.6 | B |
| Welland | 66,480 | 56.1 | 72.6 | B |
| Thorold | 33,844 | 56.1 | 72.6 | B |
| Wainfleet | 7,329 | 56.1 | 72.6 | B |
| St. Catharines | 153,865 | 56.1 | 72.6 | B |
| Beamsville | 28,356 | 56.1 | 72.6 | B |
| Niagara Falls | 113,983 | 56.1 | 72.6 | B |
Neighbours policed by the same service carry the same figure, so the 6 of them aren’t set against it.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- The clearance rate. Weighted like the index, so solving one assault counts for more than solving a mischief; a charge laid, recommended or otherwise resolved all count.
- Severity, weighed. Police-reported incidents, each multiplied by a weight drawn from court sentences, summed and divided by the population: that is the index, and its makers attach a caution, “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
- One service, several municipalities. A regional or shared police service reports one set of figures for every municipality it covers, Pelham included.
- What 100 means. A reading of 100 is the whole country in 2006. Half of that, 50, means half the severity per resident.
Questions about safety in Pelham
Is Pelham safe?
Statistics Canada puts Pelham at 56.1 on its Crime Severity Index over 2023–2025; Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people sit at 66 in the middle. Violent incidents run at 9.4 and property crimes at 25.1 per 1,000 residents a year.
What is the most common crime in Pelham?
The three biggest groups are theft under $5,000 at 11.5, other Criminal Code offences at 6.8 and fraud at 5.4, each per 1,000 residents a year.
Is crime going up in Pelham?
Hardly at all, from 55.4 in 2023 to 53.8 in 2025.
How much of Pelham’s crime do police solve?
Police solve 49% of violent crime and 30% of everything else, 37% overall once each crime is weighted by seriousness, against 33% for the typical Canadian town its size.
Whose figures are these?
Those of the police serving Pelham 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).