Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0Per resident, South River records about as much crime as the typical place among Canadian towns
Statistics Canada puts its Crime Severity Index at 63.1 for 2023–2025; the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ scores 67.2. What’s more, its letter overall is B−: close to the middle of Canadian towns, from crime its police reported through 2023 to 2025. The local count comes to 10.2 violent incidents and 13.2 incidents of property crime per 1,000 people each year, with 12.0 and 31.2 in the typical Canadian town of 2,500+. Both towns next door with figures record less 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 detachment area: crime severity, crime rate and incident counts.
What stands out about safety in South River
Heavier than in 2023
Between 2023 and 2025, South River moved from 37.9 to 99.7, while the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ went from 70.6 to 62.9. Year by year ↓
A high clearance rate
Weighted by seriousness, 53% of crime in South River ends in a charge or is otherwise solved: 67% of violent crime and 44% of the rest. Across Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more the figure is 34%. Questions ↓
Heavier on violence
Violent crime scores 107.2 on South River’s index against 86.4 for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+; non-violent crime, 46 against 62.8. By type ↓
Near the Ontario middle
Within Ontario, the median town comes to 56.2 on the index, against 63.1 in South River. 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.
Inside South River’s B− for safety
How sure: Less sure than most: the grade leans on the closest detachment, 53 km from South River, since none reports under the town’s name.
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.
The Crime Severity Index and its two halves, beside the typical figure for Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more.
South River’s index rose 163% from 2023 to 2025
Crime Severity Index
Of the years charted, 2025 weighed most (99.7) and 2023 least (37.9). For the typical Canadian town of 2,500+, 2023 gave 70.6 and 2025 gave 62.9.
Every year as a table
| Year | South River | Typical town of 2,500+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 99.7 | 62.9 |
| 2024 | 51.8 | 68.5 |
| 2023 | 37.9 | 70.6 |
Statistics Canada, Crime Severity Index by police service, each year as published. Typical: the median of Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more.
The Crime Severity Index of the police covering South River, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
Which crimes make up South River’s figures
Assault sits below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0.7 | 0.10 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 3.7 | 0.5 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 1 | 0.1 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 0 | 0 | — |
| Robbery | 0 | 0 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 0.3 | 0.05 | — |
| Other violent violations | 2.3 | 0.3 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 10.3 | 1.5 | 7% |
| Possession of stolen property | 2.3 | 0.3 | — |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 7.7 | 1.1 | 39% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 2.3 | 0.3 | — |
| Theft under $5,000 | 15.3 | 2.3 | 13% |
| Mischief | 15 | 2.2 | 22% |
| Weapons violations | 6.7 | 1 | 100% |
| Administration of justice violations | 23.3 | 3.4 | 86% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 4.7 | 0.7 | — |
| Drug violations | 8 | 1.2 | 88% |
| Impaired driving | 44.3 | 6.5 | 99% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 1.3 | 0.2 | — |
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 people or more.
Around 69 violent incidents a year at the detachment nearest South River (6,910 residents), 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.
Add about 90 property crimes and 110 other violations a year (2023–2025 average). The grid is 1,000 residents, a coloured dot for each incident a year at these rates.
Crime in the places around South River
South River has the highest index of the places around it. Just 7.7 km away, Sundridge comes to 32.8, against 63.1.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Severity, weighed. Statistics Canada builds the index from every crime police record, weighted by how seriously the courts treat it, and divides by the population. It adds a warning of its own: “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
- What 100 means. Canada’s own index has been below its 2006 base of 100 for years, so 100 marks a fixed reference, not today’s national average.
- The clearance rate. 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.
Questions about safety in South River
Is South River safe?
On Statistics Canada’s figures, South River scores 63.1 on the Crime Severity Index for 2023–2025, with 10.2 violent and 13.2 property incidents per 1,000 residents a year. The typical figure for Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more is 67.2.
What is the most common crime in South River?
Top of the list is Criminal Code traffic offences (9 per 1,000 residents a year); other Criminal Code offences, at 5.6, and fraud, at 5.3, follow.
Is crime going up in South River?
Yes: the index rose 163%, from 37.9 in 2023 to 99.7 in 2025.
How much of South River’s crime do police solve?
Police solve 67% of violent crime and 44% of everything else, 53% overall once each crime is weighted by seriousness, against 34% for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
Whose figures are these?
Those of the police serving South River 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).