Photo: Gogerr · CC BY-SA 4.0St. Catharines is about average among Canadian towns for recorded crime
Taking everything together, St. Catharines scores B (#377 of 862 in Ontario): close to the middle of Canadian towns, measured on crime its police reported between 2023 and 2025. The index held steady between 2023 (55.4) and 2025 (53.8). Out of every 1,000 residents, 9.4 violent incidents and 25.1 incidents of property crime are reported annually, against 10.8 and 25.1 in the typical town its size. Against usual levels of 75.2 and 54.2, violent and non-violent offences here reach 72.6 and 49.9.
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 behind the crime severity, crime rate and incident counts figures: the Niagara Region (St. Catharines) service area.
What stands out about safety in St. Catharines
Lower than many towns its size
Set among the 40 Canadian towns closest to it in population, St. Catharines comes 14th, counting from the lowest Crime Severity Index. Towns its size ↓
Near the Ontario middle
The typical Ontario town scores 56.2; St. Catharines, 56.1. 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.
The B for St. Catharines, 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: #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 50,000 people or more.
What police record in St. Catharines, by type
Assault and drug offences 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 50,000 people or more.
St. Catharines is 14th of 40 towns its size, lowest index first
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Burlington Ontario | 197,737 | 31.4 | 28.3 | A |
| 2 | Milton Ontario | 157,345 | 31.4 | 28.3 | A |
| … | |||||
| 7 | Whitby Ontario | 162,413 | 45.8 | 61.4 | A− |
| 8 | Ajax Ontario | 141,111 | 45.8 | 61.4 | A− |
| … | |||||
| 11 | Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu Quebec | 100,806 | 53.1 | 81 | B+ |
| 12 | Saguenay Quebec | 151,972 | 53.3 | 87.4 | B+ |
| 13 | Sherbrooke Quebec | 184,135 | 54.6 | 85.1 | B |
| 14 | St. Catharines Ontario | 153,865 | 56.1 | 72.6 | B |
| 15 | Niagara Falls Ontario | 113,983 | 56.1 | 72.6 | B |
| 16 | Guelph Ontario | 160,760 | 56.8 | 73.1 | B |
| 17 | Delta British Columbia | 124,670 | 59.7 | 69.8 | B− |
| … | |||||
| 40 | Victoria British Columbia | 103,888 | 161.3 | 160.1 | 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 St. Catharines in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
St. Catharines, year by year
Crime Severity Index
The middle year, 2024, was the heaviest at 58.9; 2025 was lightest, at 53.8. Over 2023–2025, the typical Canadian town its size moved from 64.3 to 59.2.
Every year as a table
| Year | St. Catharines | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 53.8 | 59.2 |
| 2024 | 58.9 | 59.9 |
| 2023 | 55.4 | 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 St. Catharines, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
The police area St. Catharines 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 St. Catharines
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Catharines | 153,865 | 56.1 | 72.6 | B |
| Thorold | 33,844 | 56.1 | 72.6 | B |
| Niagara-on-the-Lake | 20,080 | 56.1 | 72.6 | B |
| Niagara Falls | 113,983 | 56.1 | 72.6 | B |
| Beamsville | 28,356 | 56.1 | 72.6 | B |
| Pelham | 19,980 | 56.1 | 72.6 | B |
5 neighbours report through the same police, so their figure is this one and they aren’t compared.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- An index, not a verdict. 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.”
- A wider service area. St. Catharines is policed by a service that covers other municipalities too, and Statistics Canada reports the service as a whole.
- The index’s scale. 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.
- What clearance means. Weighted like the index, so solving one assault counts for more than solving a mischief; a charge laid, recommended or otherwise resolved all count.
Questions about safety in St. Catharines
Is St. Catharines safe?
Police-reported crime in St. Catharines scores 56.1 on Statistics Canada’s Crime Severity Index (2023–2025 mean), with 9.4 violent incidents and 25.1 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year. The middle of Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more is 60.3.
What is the most common crime in St. Catharines?
Top of the list is theft under $5,000 (11.5 per 1,000 residents a year); other Criminal Code offences, at 6.8, and fraud, at 5.4, follow.
Is crime going up in St. Catharines?
It held about level between 2023 and 2025, 55.4 to 53.8.
How much of St. Catharines’s crime do police solve?
Weighted by seriousness, police cleared 37% of crime (49% of violent crime, 30% of the rest). The typical Canadian town its size clears 38%.
Whose figures are these?
Those of the police serving St. Catharines 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).