Photo: Joe Mabel (on Flickr as Joe Mabel from Seattle, US) · CC BY-SA 3.0Per resident, Wasaga Beach records less crime than 67% of Canadian towns
In a usual year, 10.8 violent incidents and 23.5 incidents of property crime are logged per 1,000 inhabitants; in the typical town its size, 12.0 and 30.5. What’s more, that puts it at B+ for safety, judged on crime the police covering Wasaga Beach reported from 2023 to 2025: #283 of 862 in Ontario. A Crime Severity Index of 50, the 2023–2025 mean, compares with 66 for the typical Canadian town its size. The typical town in Ontario scores 56.2 on the same index.
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 Wasaga Beach
Crime per resident, visitors uncounted
As a visitor town, Wasaga Beach has a far bigger population on a summer weekend than in the census, and its per-resident rates carry that crowd. How to read it ↓
Down since 2023
Wasaga Beach’s index went from 56.7 in 2023 to 39.2 in 2025; the typical Canadian town its size moved from 69.5 to 60. Year by year ↓
A high clearance rate
Weighted by seriousness, 47% of crime in Wasaga Beach ends in a charge or is otherwise solved: 74% of violent crime and 33% of the rest. Across Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people the figure is 33%. Questions ↓
In the middle of towns its size
Set among the 40 Canadian towns closest to it in population, Wasaga Beach comes 21st, counting from the lowest Crime Severity Index. 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 Wasaga Beach, 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: #283 of 862 in Ontario and #547 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.
In Wasaga Beach, down 31% between 2023 and 2025
Crime Severity Index
Its highest year was 2023, at 56.7, and its lowest 2025, at 39.2. In the same years the typical Canadian town its size read 69.5 (2023), then 60 (2025).
Every year as a table
| Year | Wasaga Beach | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 39.2 | 60 |
| 2024 | 54 | 67.9 |
| 2023 | 56.7 | 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 Wasaga Beach, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
Which crimes make up Wasaga Beach’s figures
Against the typical town its size, Wasaga Beach runs highest on fraud (6.7 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 | 0.3 | 0.01 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 5.7 | 0.2 | 82% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 7.3 | 0.3 | 100% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 1.3 | 0.05 | — |
| Robbery | 5.3 | 0.2 | 75% |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 1.7 | 0.06 | — |
| Other violent violations | 4.7 | 0.2 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 36.3 | 1.3 | 33% |
| Possession of stolen property | 5.7 | 0.2 | 70% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 19 | 0.7 | 26% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 12 | 0.4 | 11% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 283 | 10.1 | 24% |
| Mischief | 112.3 | 4 | 22% |
| Weapons violations | 13 | 0.5 | 56% |
| Administration of justice violations | 122.7 | 4.4 | 88% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 14 | 0.5 | 64% |
| Drug violations | 21.7 | 0.8 | 60% |
| Impaired driving | 58 | 2.1 | 99% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 2.3 | 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.
Around 300 violent incidents a year on Wasaga Beach’s police records (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 660 a year and other violations 300 (2023–2025 average). Of 1,000 dots, one per resident, the coloured ones are a year’s incidents at these rates.
Among 40 towns its size, Wasaga Beach places 21st
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oro-Medonte Ontario | 24,681 | 27 | 31.5 | A+ |
| 2 | Tecumseh Ontario | 25,554 | 28.9 | 26.6 | A+ |
| 3 | Kingsville Ontario | 25,302 | 29.8 | 24.8 | A+ |
| 4 | Angus Ontario | 26,036 | 33.2 | 50.9 | A |
| … | |||||
| 18 | Chestermere Alberta | 31,671 | 43.2 | 43.5 | A− |
| 19 | Sainte-Thérèse Quebec | 27,253 | 47.9 | 61 | B+ |
| 20 | Alma Quebec | 30,659 | 49.6 | 81.8 | B+ |
| 21 | Wasaga Beach Ontario | 28,736 | 50 | 61.1 | B+ |
| 22 | King Ontario | 29,077 | 52.8 | 67.4 | B+ |
| 23 | Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville Quebec | 26,786 | 53.7 | 69.5 | B |
| 24 | Saint-Lin--Laurentides Quebec | 26,673 | 54 | 93.4 | B |
| … | |||||
| 40 | Courtenay British Columbia | 32,869 | 131.2 | 129 | 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 Wasaga Beach in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
Crime in the places around Wasaga Beach
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wasaga Beach | 28,736 | 50 | 61.1 | B+ |
| Stayner | 16,571 | 31.5 | 35.3 | A |
| Collingwood | 28,366 | 57.8 | 66.4 | B |
Wasaga Beach sits above 1 of the 2 neighbours with figures of their own. Closest is Stayner, 10 km away, at 31.5 to 50 here.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- An index, not a verdict. 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.”
- The index’s scale. A reading of 100 is the whole country in 2006. Half of that, 50, means half the severity per resident.
- What clearance means. The clearance rate is the share of incidents police solve, by a charge or otherwise, weighted by seriousness like the index. It isn’t a conviction rate.
Questions about safety in Wasaga Beach
Is Wasaga Beach safe?
Its police recorded 10.8 violent incidents and 23.5 property crimes a year per 1,000 residents over 2023–2025, which gives Wasaga Beach a Crime Severity Index of 50. The typical figure for Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people is 66.
What is the most common crime in Wasaga Beach?
Most often it is theft under $5,000: 10.1 per 1,000 residents a year. Next come other Criminal Code offences at 6.8 and fraud at 6.7.
Is crime going up in Wasaga Beach?
Down 31%: 56.7 in 2023, 39.2 in 2025.
How much of Wasaga Beach’s crime do police solve?
About 47% of crime is cleared, weighted by seriousness, with 74% of violent and 33% 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 Wasaga Beach 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).