Photo: Tyeman200 · CC BY-SA 3.0Fewer crimes per resident are recorded in Tillsonburg than in 63% of Canadian towns
On crime the police covering Tillsonburg reported from 2023 to 2025, it grades B for safety: #364 of 862 in Ontario. Add to that, the index that weighs each crime by its seriousness comes to 54.1 here (2023–2025 mean), and to 66 for the typical Canadian town its size. Its 3 neighbours with figures all record less crime per resident. Year on year, 11.2 violent incidents and 24.5 incidents of property crime occur per 1,000 residents, compared with 12.0 and 30.5 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.
What stands out about safety in Tillsonburg
Easing since 2023
From 60.6 in 2023 to 44.9 in 2025: that is Tillsonburg’s index, against 69.5 and 60 for the typical Canadian town its size. Year by year ↓
Lower than many towns its size
Of the 40 Canadian towns nearest it in size, Tillsonburg places 15th from the lowest index. Towns its size ↓
Above-typical clearance
Weighted by seriousness, 45% of crime in Tillsonburg ends in a charge or is otherwise solved: 67% of violent crime and 34% of the rest. Across Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people the figure is 33%. Questions ↓
Sexual assault: high for a town its size
Tillsonburg records 1.2 incidents of sexual assault per 1,000 residents a year, against 0.8 in the typical town among Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people. By type ↓
Written from Statistics Canada’s police-reported crime by police service and detachment, 2023–2025. Figures are what police recorded, not convictions.
Inside Tillsonburg’s B for safety
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: #364 of 862 in Ontario and #691 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.
Tillsonburg’s index fell 26% from 2023 to 2025
Crime Severity Index
Its index has not been as high since 2023 (60.6); the low point came in 2025, at 44.9. 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 | Tillsonburg | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 44.9 | 60 |
| 2024 | 56.9 | 67.9 |
| 2023 | 60.6 | 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 Tillsonburg, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
Which crimes make up Tillsonburg’s figures
Against the typical town its size, Tillsonburg runs highest on sexual assault (1.2 per 1,000 against 0.8), drug offences (1 per 1,000 against 0.8) and fraud (6 per 1,000 against 5.1). Break and enter and motor vehicle theft sit below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0 | 0 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 5.3 | 0.3 | 70% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 3.7 | 0.2 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 1 | 0.05 | — |
| Robbery | 4 | 0.2 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 2.3 | 0.1 | — |
| Other violent violations | 3 | 0.1 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 35.7 | 1.7 | 26% |
| Possession of stolen property | 7.7 | 0.4 | 87% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 20 | 1 | 17% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 12.3 | 0.6 | 8% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 227.3 | 10.9 | 19% |
| Mischief | 82.3 | 4 | 17% |
| Weapons violations | 6 | 0.3 | 83% |
| Administration of justice violations | 142.7 | 6.8 | 77% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 14.3 | 0.7 | 56% |
| Drug violations | 21 | 1 | 78% |
| Impaired driving | 17.7 | 0.8 | 96% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 1.7 | 0.08 | — |
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.
Tillsonburg is 15th of 40 towns its size, lowest index first
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Quispamsis New Brunswick | 20,240 | 20 | 27.9 | A+ |
| 2 | Bridgenorth Ontario | 20,628 | 21.2 | 23.1 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 4 | Middlesex Centre Ontario | 21,689 | 25.7 | 29 | A+ |
| 5 | South Frontenac Ontario | 21,599 | 27.1 | 32.9 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 7 | Loyalist Ontario | 19,761 | 35.7 | 52.3 | A |
| … | |||||
| 12 | Mitchell Manitoba | 19,950 | 48.1 | 54.1 | B+ |
| 13 | Rivière-du-Loup Quebec | 20,650 | 48.3 | 72.4 | B+ |
| 14 | Colwood British Columbia | 22,794 | 49.8 | 63.6 | B+ |
| 15 | Tillsonburg Ontario | 21,450 | 54.1 | 63.3 | B |
| 16 | Port Colborne Ontario | 21,921 | 56.1 | 72.6 | B |
| 17 | Niagara-on-the-Lake Ontario | 20,080 | 56.1 | 72.6 | B |
| 18 | Pelham Ontario | 19,980 | 56.1 | 72.6 | B |
| … | |||||
| 40 | Yellowknife Northwest Territories | 22,858 | 304.6 | 362 | 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 Tillsonburg in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
Tillsonburg’s police: about 230 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 510 a year and other violations 250 (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 Tillsonburg
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tillsonburg | 21,450 | 54.1 | 63.3 | B |
| South-West Oxford | 8,375 | 34.5 | 42.9 | A |
| Norwich | 12,321 | 31.5 | 27.6 | A |
| Bayham | 7,935 | 31.5 | 41.2 | A |
Each neighbour with its own figure comes in under Tillsonburg. South-West Oxford, 14.7 km away, is the nearest lower one, at 34.5 to 54.1.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Reading the number. 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.
- Solved cases. Weighted like the index, so solving one assault counts for more than solving a mischief; a charge laid, recommended or otherwise resolved all count.
- How serious, not how safe. 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.”
Questions about safety in Tillsonburg
Is Tillsonburg safe?
Tillsonburg’s Crime Severity Index is 54.1 (2023–2025 mean); its police record 11.2 violent incidents and 24.5 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year. In the middle of Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people the figure is 66.
What is the most common crime in Tillsonburg?
Most often it is theft under $5,000: 10.9 per 1,000 residents a year. Next come other Criminal Code offences at 9.1 and fraud at 6.
Is crime going up in Tillsonburg?
The reverse: 60.6 in 2023 came down to 44.9 by 2025, 26% lower.
How much of Tillsonburg’s crime do police solve?
About 45% of crime is cleared, weighted by seriousness, with 67% of violent and 34% of other crime; the figure for the typical Canadian town its size is 33%.
Whose figures are these?
A police service or contract that serves Tillsonburg 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).