Photo: Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0Fewer crimes per resident are recorded in Perth South than in 66% of Canadian towns
Measured on crime the police covering Perth South reported between 2023 and 2025, it earns a Safety Grade of B+: #295 of 862 in Ontario. Add to that, in a usual year, 6.0 violent incidents and 12.6 incidents of property crime are logged per 1,000 inhabitants; in the typical town its size, 12.9 and 31.2. Weighted by seriousness, its crime scores 52.5 on the index for 2023–2025, beside 68.5 for the typical Canadian 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. Not measured by town: crime severity, crime rate and incident counts (the Middlesex (Strathroy) detachment area).
What stands out about safety in Perth South
Above-typical clearance
For Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people the typical clearance rate is 34%; Perth South’s police clear 58%, 91% of violent crime and 42% of the rest. Questions ↓
Lower than many towns its size
Of the 40 Canadian towns nearest it in size, Perth South places 16th from the lowest index. Towns its size ↓
Much like Ontario’s towns
Perth South’s index of 52.5 compares with 56.2 for the typical town in Ontario. Towns its size ↓
More severe than in 2023
Perth South’s index went from 30.5 in 2023 to 44 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 sits behind Perth South’s B+
How sure: Less sure than most. No detachment reports for Perth South itself, so the grade rests on the nearest one’s figures, 56 km away.
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: #295 of 862 in Ontario and #570 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.
Perth South’s index rose 44% from 2023 to 2025
Crime Severity Index
Its heaviest year fell in the middle, 2024, at 83.2; 2023 was the lightest, at 30.5. The comparison line, the typical Canadian town its size, runs from 74.3 in 2023 to 64.2 by 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Perth South | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 44 | 64.2 |
| 2024 | 83.2 | 68.8 |
| 2023 | 30.5 | 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 Perth South, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
What police record in Perth South, 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 | 0.7 | 0.1 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 0 | 0 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 0.7 | 0.1 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 0 | 0 | — |
| Robbery | 0.3 | 0.05 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 1.3 | 0.2 | — |
| Other violent violations | 0.7 | 0.1 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 7 | 1.1 | 24% |
| Possession of stolen property | 4 | 0.6 | — |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 10.7 | 1.7 | 19% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 3 | 0.5 | — |
| Theft under $5,000 | 18.3 | 2.9 | 20% |
| Mischief | 17 | 2.7 | 19% |
| Weapons violations | 4.3 | 0.7 | — |
| Administration of justice violations | 19 | 3 | 72% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 2.7 | 0.4 | — |
| Drug violations | 7.7 | 1.2 | 87% |
| Impaired driving | 42.3 | 6.7 | 99% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 5.7 | 0.9 | 12% |
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.
The detachment nearest Perth South, 6,330 residents: around 38 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 80 property crimes, plus 110 other violations, a year (2023–2025 average). Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot, one incident a year at the area’s rates.
Among 40 towns its size, Perth South places 16th
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lac-Etchemin Quebec | 4,089 | 30.8 | 48.9 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 3 | Lake of Bays Ontario | 4,105 | 32.8 | 34.7 | A |
| … | |||||
| 5 | Morris-Turnberry Ontario | 4,028 | 35 | 39.3 | A |
| … | |||||
| 7 | Barry's Bay Ontario | 4,151 | 41.5 | 77.6 | A− |
| … | |||||
| 13 | Carleton-sur-Mer Quebec | 4,175 | 47.7 | 75.4 | B+ |
| 14 | New Richmond Quebec | 3,947 | 47.7 | 75.4 | B+ |
| 15 | Saint-Faustin--Lac-Carré Quebec | 4,009 | 48.8 | 71.8 | B+ |
| 16 | Perth South Ontario | 4,055 | 52.5 | 75.2 | B+ |
| 17 | Sainte-Anne-des-Lacs Quebec | 4,080 | 53.5 | 71.6 | B |
| 18 | Saint-Adolphe-d'Howard Quebec | 3,974 | 53.5 | 71.6 | B |
| 19 | Electoral Area E, Kitimat-Stikine British Columbia | 4,153 | 53.7 | 75.4 | B |
| 20 | Callander Ontario | 4,021 | 63.1 | 107.2 | B− |
| … | |||||
| 40 | Swan River Manitoba | 4,048 | 435.7 | 403.3 | 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 Perth South in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
Crime in the places around Perth South
Same police, same number: one neighbour drops out of the comparison for that reason.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- 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.”
Questions about safety in Perth South
Is Perth South safe?
Perth South measures 52.5 on the Crime Severity Index for 2023–2025, next to 68.5 for Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people. Per 1,000 residents a year, its police record 6 violent incidents and 12.6 property crimes.
What is the most common crime in Perth South?
Police record Criminal Code traffic offences most, 11.1 per 1,000 residents a year, ahead of other Criminal Code offences (4.4) and assault (3.4).
Is crime going up in Perth South?
It has: 30.5 in 2023 became 44 by 2025, a rise of 44%.
How much of Perth South’s crime do police solve?
Police solve 91% of violent crime and 42% of everything else, 58% overall once each crime is weighted by seriousness, against 34% for the typical Canadian town its size.
Whose figures are these?
A shared service or detachment’s, reported as one for Perth South and everywhere else it polices.
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).