Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 4.0Crime per resident in Powassan runs lower than in almost every Canadian town
Violence accounts for an index of 22.5 and other offences for 12.2, against usual levels of 85.7 and 62.8. The local count comes to 3.7 violent incidents and 4.7 incidents of property crime per 1,000 people each year, with 12.9 and 31.2 in the typical town its size. Add to that, it grades A+ for safety on crime the police covering Powassan reported from 2023 to 2025: #1 of 862 in Ontario. Each of the 3 towns on its borders with figures records more crime per resident.
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 North Bay (Powassan) detachment area: crime severity, crime rate and incident counts.
What stands out about safety in Powassan
Lower than most of Ontario
Powassan’s index of 15 compares with 56.2 for the typical town in Ontario. Towns its size ↓
A lower index than most towns its size
Of the 40 Canadian towns nearest it in size, Powassan places 1st from the lowest index. Towns its size ↓
More crime solved
The weighted clearance rate, the share of crime police solve, is 53% for Powassan (74% violent, 35% non-violent), beside 34% for Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people. Questions ↓
Heavier on violence
Powassan scores 22.5 for violence and 12.2 for other crime; the typical Canadian town its size scores 85.7 and 62.8. By type ↓
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 Powassan’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: #1 of 862 in Ontario and #1 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.
Crime in Powassan, type by type
Fraud and assault sit below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0 | 0 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 0.3 | 0.04 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 0 | 0 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 0.3 | 0.04 | — |
| Robbery | 0 | 0 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 1 | 0.1 | — |
| Other violent violations | 1.3 | 0.2 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 2.3 | 0.3 | — |
| Possession of stolen property | 0 | 0 | — |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 2.3 | 0.3 | — |
| Theft over $5,000 | 0.7 | 0.09 | — |
| Theft under $5,000 | 9 | 1.2 | 14% |
| Mischief | 5.7 | 0.7 | 18% |
| Weapons violations | 1.3 | 0.2 | — |
| Administration of justice violations | 7.3 | 1 | 96% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 1.3 | 0.2 | — |
| Drug violations | 1 | 0.1 | — |
| Impaired driving | 3.3 | 0.4 | — |
| Failing to stop or remain | 0 | 0 | — |
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.
By its index, Powassan stands 1st of 40 towns its size
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Powassan Ontario | 3,657 | 15 | 22.5 | A+ |
| 2 | Horton Ontario | 3,550 | 29.1 | 36.6 | A+ |
| 3 | Saint-Isidore Quebec | 3,550 | 37.7 | 68.7 | A |
| 4 | Kingston New Brunswick | 3,577 | 37.7 | 35.6 | A |
| … | |||||
| 20 | Melancthon Ontario | 3,581 | 68.8 | 125.9 | B− |
| … | |||||
| 23 | Blind River Ontario | 3,692 | 77.7 | 114 | C+ |
| … | |||||
| 31 | Timiskaming, Unorganized, West Part Ontario | 3,606 | 97.4 | 171.6 | C− |
| … | |||||
| 40 | Opportunity No. 17 Alberta | 3,592 | 495.1 | 602.4 | 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 Powassan in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
7,680 residents, about 29 violent incidents a year: the police area Powassan 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 36 a year and other violations 17 (2023–2025 average). Of 1,000 dots, one per resident, the coloured ones are a year’s incidents at these rates.
In Powassan, steady between 2023 and 2025
Crime Severity Index
2024 was the peak (16.6) and 2023 the trough (14.2). For the typical Canadian town its size, 2023 gave 74.3 and 2025 gave 64.2.
Every year as a table
| Year | Powassan | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 14.3 | 64.2 |
| 2024 | 16.6 | 68.8 |
| 2023 | 14.2 | 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 Powassan, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
Crime in the places around Powassan
The places around Powassan all score higher on the index.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- An index, not a verdict. The index weighs crimes rather than counting them: a serious offence moves it far more than a minor one. Statistics Canada is plain about its limits: “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: Powassan together with the countryside and smaller places it polices.
- The index’s scale. Figures are relative to one fixed point, Canada in 2006 at 100, rather than to this year’s national number.
- What clearance means. A cleared case is one police consider solved. Whether anyone is convicted is a separate matter the rate doesn’t follow.
Questions about safety in Powassan
Is Powassan safe?
On Statistics Canada’s figures, Powassan scores 15 on the Crime Severity Index for 2023–2025, with 3.7 violent and 4.7 property incidents per 1,000 residents a year. Set that beside 68.5, the median for Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is the most common crime in Powassan?
Top of the list is fraud (2 per 1,000 residents a year); assault, at 1.6, and other Criminal Code offences, at 1.5, follow.
Is crime going up in Powassan?
The index stayed close to where it was, 14.2 in 2023 and 14.3 in 2025.
How much of Powassan’s crime do police solve?
Police cleared 53% of crime once each incident is weighted by seriousness: 74% of violent crime and 35% of the rest, against 34% for the typical Canadian town its size.
Whose figures are these?
Those of the police serving Powassan 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).