Photo: WB Robinson Photographer · CC BY-SA 4.0Crime in Port Colborne sits close to the middle of Canadian towns
Split in two, the index gives 72.6 for violence and 49.9 for everything else (normally 89.4 and 56). Across 2023 to 2025 the index held steady, 55.4 to 53.8. Its Safety Grade, B (#377 of 862 in Ontario), rests on crime its police reported from 2023 to 2025: close to the middle of Canadian towns. The yearly rates were 9.4 violent incidents and 25.1 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents, set against 12.0 and 30.5 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-wide: crime severity, crime rate and incident counts, counted over the Niagara Region (St. Catharines) service area.
What stands out about safety in Port Colborne
Lower than many towns its size
Line up the 40 Canadian towns nearest in size by their index and Port Colborne stands 16th, the lowest first. Towns its size ↓
Near the Ontario middle
Within Ontario, the median town comes to 56.2 on the index, against 56.1 in Port Colborne. 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.
What’s behind Port Colborne’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: #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.
What police record in Port Colborne, by type
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.
Port Colborne comes 16th of the 40 towns nearest in 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 | Middlesex Centre Ontario | 21,689 | 25.7 | 29 | A+ |
| 5 | Embrun Ontario | 23,655 | 26.9 | 39.7 | A+ |
| 6 | South Frontenac Ontario | 21,599 | 27.1 | 32.9 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 13 | Colwood British Columbia | 22,794 | 49.8 | 63.6 | B+ |
| 14 | Saint-Lambert Quebec | 23,355 | 53.7 | 69.5 | B |
| 15 | Tillsonburg Ontario | 21,450 | 54.1 | 63.3 | B |
| 16 | Port Colborne Ontario | 21,921 | 56.1 | 72.6 | B |
| 17 | Niagara-on-the-Lake Ontario | 20,080 | 56.1 | 72.6 | B |
| 18 | Pelham Ontario | 19,980 | 56.1 | 72.6 | B |
| 19 | Corner Brook Newfoundland and Labrador | 20,549 | 58.8 | 70.5 | B |
| … | |||||
| 40 | Yellowknife Northwest Territories | 22,858 | 304.6 | 362 | 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 Port Colborne in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
Port Colborne, year by year
Crime Severity Index
The middle year, 2024, was the heaviest at 58.9; 2025 was lightest, at 53.8. The typical Canadian town its size went from 69.5 in 2023 to 60 in 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Port Colborne | 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 Port Colborne, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
The police area Port Colborne is part of, 551,100 residents, recorded about 5,080 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.
Property crime adds about 13,500 a year and other violations 4,880 (2023–2025 average). Of 1,000 dots, one per resident, the coloured ones are a year’s incidents at these rates.
Crime in the places around Port Colborne
Same police, same number: 3 neighbours drop out of the comparison for that reason.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- What 100 means. 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.
- The clearance rate. 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.
- Severity, weighed. Each incident counts by its seriousness, judged from court sentences, and the total is set per resident. As Statistics Canada puts it, “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
- One service, several municipalities. The service that polices Port Colborne reports once for its whole area, so the figures aren’t the town’s alone.
Questions about safety in Port Colborne
Is Port Colborne safe?
On Statistics Canada’s figures, Port Colborne scores 56.1 on the Crime Severity Index for 2023–2025, with 9.4 violent and 25.1 property incidents per 1,000 residents a year. Set that beside 66, the median for Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people.
What is the most common crime in Port Colborne?
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 Port Colborne?
Barely: 55.4 in 2023, 53.8 in 2025.
How much of Port Colborne’s crime do police solve?
37%, by the weighted clearance rate, where the typical Canadian town its size manages 33%. Violent crime is cleared at 49% and non-violent crime at 30%.
Whose figures are these?
A police service or detachment that covers Port Colborne 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).