Photo: Canmenwalker · CC BY 4.0Per resident, Richmond Hill records less crime than two in three Canadian towns
Between 2023 and 2025 the severity figure fell, 54.6 to 50.3. Split in two, the index gives 67.4 for violence and 47.4 for everything else (normally 75.2 and 54.2). The grade is B+, built on crime the police covering Richmond Hill reported from 2023 to 2025: #295 of 862 in Ontario. Per 1,000 residents a year, 9.7 violent incidents and 21.4 incidents of property crime were recorded, against 10.8 and 25.1 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. Crime severity, crime rate and incident counts published for the York Region service area, not by town.
What stands out about safety in Richmond Hill
Lower than many towns its size
Counting up from the lowest index, Richmond Hill is 13th of the 40 Canadian towns closest in population. Towns its size ↓
Close to Ontario’s typical town
Set among Ontario’s towns, whose median is 56.2, Richmond Hill scores 52.8. Towns its size ↓
Motor vehicle theft: high for a town its size
Richmond Hill records 2.6 incidents of motor vehicle theft per 1,000 residents a year, against 1.7 in the typical town among Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more. 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 B+ for Richmond Hill, and how it is built
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 50,000 people or more.
Richmond Hill’s crime by kind
Against the typical town its size, Richmond Hill runs highest on motor vehicle theft (2.6 per 1,000 against 1.7). Sexual assault and mischief sit below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 14.7 | 0.01 | 80% |
| Sexual violations against children | 128.7 | 0.1 | 58% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 153.7 | 0.1 | 95% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 97.7 | 0.08 | 38% |
| Robbery | 617.3 | 0.5 | 47% |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 91.7 | 0.07 | 65% |
| Other violent violations | 290.7 | 0.2 | 41% |
| Breaking and entering | 2,306 | 1.8 | 18% |
| Possession of stolen property | 291 | 0.2 | 85% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 3,372.3 | 2.6 | 6% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 732.7 | 0.6 | 15% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 10,573 | 8.3 | 25% |
| Mischief | 2,944 | 2.3 | 24% |
| Weapons violations | 266.3 | 0.2 | 66% |
| Administration of justice violations | 4,033.3 | 3.1 | 96% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 552.7 | 0.4 | 58% |
| Drug violations | 636 | 0.5 | 91% |
| Impaired driving | 1,207.3 | 0.9 | 99% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 3,411.7 | 2.7 | 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 50,000 people or more.
By its index, Richmond Hill stands 13th of 40 towns its size
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oakville Ontario | 243,107 | 31.4 | 28.3 | A |
| 2 | Burlington Ontario | 197,737 | 31.4 | 28.3 | A |
| 3 | Milton Ontario | 157,345 | 31.4 | 28.3 | A |
| … | |||||
| 8 | Oshawa Ontario | 213,592 | 45.8 | 61.4 | A− |
| … | |||||
| 10 | Ajax Ontario | 141,111 | 45.8 | 61.4 | A− |
| 11 | Pickering Ontario | 118,378 | 45.8 | 61.4 | A− |
| 12 | Bowmanville Ontario | 114,180 | 45.8 | 61.4 | A− |
| 13 | Richmond Hill Ontario | 222,031 | 52.8 | 67.4 | B+ |
| 14 | Saguenay Quebec | 151,972 | 53.3 | 87.4 | B+ |
| 15 | Sherbrooke Quebec | 184,135 | 54.6 | 85.1 | B |
| 16 | St. Catharines Ontario | 153,865 | 56.1 | 72.6 | B |
| … | |||||
| 40 | Kamloops British Columbia | 108,793 | 148.2 | 134.8 | 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 Richmond Hill in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
Richmond Hill, year by year
Crime Severity Index
Nothing since 2023 has matched that year’s 54.6; the lightest was 2025, at 50.3. Set beside it, the typical Canadian town its size went from 64.3 in 2023 to 59.2 in 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Richmond Hill | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 50.3 | 59.2 |
| 2024 | 53.6 | 59.9 |
| 2023 | 54.6 | 64.3 |
Statistics Canada, Crime Severity Index by police service, each year as published. Typical: the median of Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more.
The Crime Severity Index of the police covering Richmond Hill, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
1,298,900 residents, about 12,500 violent incidents a year: the police area Richmond Hill 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 27,300 a year and other violations 11,000 (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 Richmond Hill
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Richmond Hill | 222,031 | 52.8 | 67.4 | B+ |
| Upper Thornhill Estates | 10,435 | 52.8 | 67.4 | B+ |
| The Valleys of Thornhill | 9,979 | 52.8 | 67.4 | B+ |
| Cathedraltown | 11,029 | 52.8 | 67.4 | B+ |
| Thornhill Woods | 13,237 | 52.8 | 67.4 | B+ |
| Hope | 6,997 | 52.8 | 67.4 | B+ |
| Carrville Corners | 13,004 | 52.8 | 67.4 | B+ |
6 nearby places have no figure apart from this one: they share a police service.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- What clearance means. A cleared case is one police consider solved. Whether anyone is convicted is a separate matter the rate doesn’t follow.
- An index, not a verdict. The Crime Severity Index adds up police-reported crime, each kind weighted by the sentences courts give it, so one robbery counts for more than many thefts. In Statistics Canada’s words, “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
- A wider service area. A regional or shared police service reports one set of figures for every municipality it covers, Richmond Hill included.
- The index’s scale. The index is scaled so that Canada as a whole scored 100 in its base year, 2006: a town at 50 has half that severity per resident.
Questions about safety in Richmond Hill
Is Richmond Hill safe?
Richmond Hill scores 52.8 on Statistics Canada’s Crime Severity Index (2023–2025 mean), where the typical figure for Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more is 60.3; per 1,000 residents a year that is 9.7 violent incidents and 21.4 property crimes.
What is the most common crime in Richmond Hill?
Top of the list is theft under $5,000 (8.3 per 1,000 residents a year); fraud, at 5.3, and assault, at 4.9, follow.
Is crime going up in Richmond Hill?
Over 2023–2025 the index dropped 8%, to 50.3 from 54.6.
How much of Richmond Hill’s crime do police solve?
Police cleared 35% of crime once each incident is weighted by seriousness: 53% of violent crime and 25% of the rest, against 38% for the typical Canadian town its size.
Whose figures are these?
Those of the police serving Richmond Hill 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).