Photo: Kenn Chaplin from Toronto, Canada · CC BY-SA 2.0Per resident, Tay Valley records less crime than 89% of Canadian towns
Of the two halves, violence comes to 46.6 and other offences to 34.4, beside norms of 85.7 and 62.8. Graded on crime the police covering Tay Valley reported from 2023 to 2025, it scores A for safety: #171 of 862 in Ontario. Add to that, in a usual year, 8.5 violent incidents and 14.5 incidents of property crime are logged per 1,000 inhabitants; in the typical town its size, 12.9 and 31.2. For solved cases, the weighted rate is 40%, where the typical Canadian town its size manages 34%.
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.
What stands out about safety in Tay Valley
Crime per resident, visitors uncounted
Only year-round residents divide the crime in Tay Valley, yet 36% of its homes are seasonal or empty: the rates run higher than the place feels to the people who live there. How to read it ↓
A lower index than most towns its size
Line up the 40 Canadian towns nearest in size by their index and Tay Valley stands 5th, the lowest first. Towns its size ↓
Below Ontario’s typical town
Within Ontario, the median town comes to 56.2 on the index, against 37.7 in Tay Valley. Towns its size ↓
Heavier than in 2023
From 33.5 in 2023 to 41.4 in 2025: that is Tay Valley’s index, against 74.3 and 64.2 for the typical Canadian town its size. Year by year ↓
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 Tay Valley’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: #171 of 862 in Ontario and #227 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 Tay Valley, type by type
Mischief and theft under $5,000 sit below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0 | 0 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 2.3 | 0.4 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 0 | 0 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 0.3 | 0.06 | — |
| Robbery | 0 | 0 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 1.3 | 0.2 | — |
| Other violent violations | 1 | 0.2 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 11.3 | 1.9 | 12% |
| Possession of stolen property | 1.7 | 0.3 | — |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 7.7 | 1.3 | 26% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 6.7 | 1.1 | 30% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 24 | 3.9 | 7% |
| Mischief | 13.3 | 2.2 | 23% |
| Weapons violations | 1 | 0.2 | — |
| Administration of justice violations | 12.7 | 2.1 | 69% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 3.3 | 0.5 | — |
| Drug violations | 0.3 | 0.06 | — |
| Impaired driving | 7 | 1.1 | 100% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 0.3 | 0.05 | — |
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.
Year by year in Tay Valley: up 24%, 2023 to 2025
Crime Severity Index
The latest year was its heaviest: 2025, at 41.4, with 2023 the lightest at 33.5. The typical Canadian town its size went from 74.3 in 2023 to 64.2 in 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Tay Valley | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 41.4 | 64.2 |
| 2024 | 38.1 | 68.8 |
| 2023 | 33.5 | 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 Tay Valley, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
By its index, Tay Valley stands 5th of 40 towns its size
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pointe-Calumet Quebec | 6,427 | 30.8 | 56.8 | A+ |
| 2 | Lanark Highlands Ontario | 6,370 | 33.1 | 38.8 | A |
| 3 | Mildmay Ontario | 6,247 | 33.7 | 38.7 | A |
| 4 | McMasterville Quebec | 6,114 | 37.1 | 58.5 | A |
| 5 | Tay Valley Ontario | 6,171 | 37.7 | 46.6 | A |
| 6 | Les Coteaux Quebec | 6,294 | 39.2 | 61.7 | A |
| 7 | Saint-Henri Quebec | 6,048 | 39.7 | 73 | A |
| 8 | Beauceville Quebec | 6,228 | 44 | 75.8 | A− |
| … | |||||
| 36 | Cochrane Ontario | 5,948 | 145.5 | 191 | D |
| … | |||||
| 38 | Sioux Lookout Ontario | 6,122 | 267.2 | 543.5 | D |
| 39 | Petrolia Ontario | 6,422 | 333.9 | 378.3 | D− |
| 40 | St. Paul Alberta | 6,218 | 364.7 | 364.4 | 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 Tay Valley in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
Tay Valley’s police: about 52 violent incidents a year over 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 88 a year and other violations 31 (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 Tay Valley
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tay Valley | 6,171 | 37.7 | 46.6 | A |
| Perth | 6,972 | 72.7 | 120.3 | C+ |
| Drummond/North Elmsley | 8,817 | 28.8 | 34.8 | A+ |
1 of the 2 neighbours with their own figures score lower than Tay Valley. Drummond/North Elmsley, 16.7 km away, is the nearest lower one, at 28.8 to 37.7.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- How serious, not how safe. One robbery outweighs a run of minor thefts here, since every crime counts by the sentences courts give it. Statistics Canada adds: “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
- Reading the number. Statistics Canada set the national index at 100 for 2006; every figure here is read against that.
- Solved cases. Cleared means solved by police, charged or not; it says nothing about what courts decide.
Questions about safety in Tay Valley
Is Tay Valley safe?
Tay Valley’s Crime Severity Index is 37.7 (2023–2025 mean); its police record 8.5 violent incidents and 14.5 property crimes 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 Tay Valley?
Most often it is assault: 5.4 per 1,000 residents a year. Next come theft under $5,000 at 3.9 and fraud at 3.8.
Is crime going up in Tay Valley?
It went up 24% between 2023 and 2025, from 33.5 to 41.4.
How much of Tay Valley’s crime do police solve?
Counting serious crimes for more, 40% end in a charge or are otherwise solved (34% for the typical Canadian town its size); split up, that is 76% of violent and 22% of non-violent crime.
Whose figures are these?
A police service or contract that serves Tay Valley alone, so the figures are the town’s.
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).