Photo: Eric Marshall · CC BY 3.0Recorded crime in Smithville is close to typical for Canadian towns
Across 2023 to 2025 the index held steady, 55.4 to 53.8. Its letter overall is B (#377 of 862 in Ontario): close to the middle of Canadian towns, from crime its police reported through 2023 to 2025. On top of that, each of the 4 towns on its borders with figures records more crime per resident. In a usual year, 9.4 violent incidents and 25.1 incidents of property crime are logged per 1,000 inhabitants; in the typical town its size, 12.0 and 30.5.
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 Niagara Region (St. Catharines) service area).
What stands out about safety in Smithville
In the middle of towns its size
Line up the 40 Canadian towns nearest in size by their index and Smithville stands 18th, the lowest first. Towns its size ↓
Much like Ontario’s towns
Within Ontario, the median town comes to 56.2 on the index, against 56.1 in Smithville. 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.
Smithville: 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.
Smithville’s crime by kind
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.
Smithville, year by year
Crime Severity Index
It rose to 58.9 in 2024 before easing, with the low of 53.8 in 2025. The comparison line, the typical Canadian town its size, runs from 69.5 in 2023 to 60 by 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Smithville | 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 Smithville, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
The police area Smithville 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.
And about 13,500 property crimes, plus 4,880 other violations, a year (2023–2025 average). Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot, one incident a year at the area’s rates.
By its index, Smithville stands 18th of 40 towns its size
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dorchester Ontario | 15,475 | 28.2 | 19.4 | A+ |
| 2 | Almonte Ontario | 16,073 | 28.8 | 36.6 | A+ |
| 3 | Stayner Ontario | 16,571 | 31.5 | 35.3 | A |
| 4 | Central Elgin Ontario | 15,230 | 31.5 | 41.2 | A |
| … | |||||
| 15 | High River Alberta | 15,508 | 50.5 | 56.6 | B+ |
| 16 | Sainte-Adèle Quebec | 15,216 | 53.5 | 71.6 | B |
| 17 | Limoges Ontario | 15,122 | 53.9 | 62.3 | B |
| 18 | Smithville Ontario | 16,586 | 56.1 | 72.6 | B |
| 19 | Gaspé Quebec | 15,479 | 57.9 | 106.1 | B |
| 20 | Lavaltrie Quebec | 15,996 | 58 | 90.3 | B |
| 21 | Oakbank Manitoba | 17,494 | 58.8 | 39.1 | B |
| … | |||||
| 40 | Cold Lake Alberta | 17,798 | 204.1 | 204.7 | 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 Smithville in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
Crime in the places around Smithville
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smithville | 16,586 | 56.1 | 72.6 | B |
| Grimsby | 31,478 | 56.1 | 72.6 | B |
| Beamsville | 28,356 | 56.1 | 72.6 | B |
| Fifty Point | 3,690 | 65.7 | 85.7 | B− |
| Industrial | 6,690 | 65.7 | 85.7 | B− |
| Trillium | 2,967 | 65.7 | 85.7 | B− |
| Westmeria | 2,646 | 65.7 | 85.7 | B− |
Every neighbour with a figure of its own has a higher index than Smithville. Same police, same number: 2 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 the index measures. 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.”
- Shared policing. A regional or shared police service reports one set of figures for every municipality it covers, Smithville included.
- 100 is Canada in 2006. 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.
- Cleared, not convicted. Cleared means solved by police, charged or not; it says nothing about what courts decide.
Questions about safety in Smithville
Is Smithville safe?
Smithville’s Crime Severity Index is 56.1 (2023–2025 mean); its police record 9.4 violent incidents and 25.1 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year. The typical figure for Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people is 66.
What is the most common crime in Smithville?
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 Smithville?
Not much: the index went from 55.4 in 2023 to 53.8 in 2025.
How much of Smithville’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?
A police service or detachment that covers Smithville 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).