Photo: Marty Aligata · CC BY-SA 4.0Recorded crime per resident is lower in Belfast than in 75% of Canadian towns
Of the two halves, violence comes to 50.7 and other offences to 45.3, beside norms of 86.4 and 62.8. Recorded violent incidents ran at 10.1 per 1,000 residents a year and property crime at 16.3, against 12.0 and 31.2 in the typical Canadian town of 2,500+. It grades A− for safety on crime the police covering Belfast reported from 2023 to 2025.
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. Source area for crime severity, crime rate and incident counts: the Queens District detachment area.
What stands out about safety in Belfast
A busy place, counted per resident
With 31% of its homes not lived in all year, Belfast counts its crime against a smaller year-round population than the one that is there in season. How to read it ↓
Down since 2023
From 52.3 in 2023 to 43.1 in 2025: that is Belfast’s index, against 70.6 and 62.9 for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+. Year by year ↓
Below-typical clearance
For Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more the typical clearance rate is 34%; Belfast’s police clear 25%, 36% of violent crime and 21% of the rest. Questions ↓
Mischief: high for a town its size
Belfast records 7.1 incidents of mischief per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.2 in the typical town among Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more. By type ↓
Written from Statistics Canada’s police-reported crime by police service and detachment, 2023–2025. Figures are what police recorded, not convictions.
Belfast: A− for safety, and why
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.
What police record in Belfast, by type
Against the typical town its size, Belfast runs highest on mischief (7.1 per 1,000 against 4.2). Assault 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 | 14.7 | 0.5 | 34% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 9.7 | 0.3 | 90% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 0.3 | 0.01 | — |
| Robbery | 1.7 | 0.05 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 1.7 | 0.05 | — |
| Other violent violations | 5.7 | 0.2 | 18% |
| Breaking and entering | 41 | 1.3 | 17% |
| Possession of stolen property | 8 | 0.2 | 29% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 24 | 0.8 | 29% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 6.3 | 0.2 | 5% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 105.7 | 3.3 | 9% |
| Mischief | 227.7 | 7.1 | 6% |
| Weapons violations | 5.3 | 0.2 | 57% |
| Administration of justice violations | 97.7 | 3 | 67% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 31.7 | 1 | 6% |
| Drug violations | 27.3 | 0.8 | 28% |
| Impaired driving | 117.7 | 3.7 | 50% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 1 | 0.03 | — |
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.
From 2023 to 2025, Belfast’s index dropped 18%
Crime Severity Index
Its highest year was 2023, at 52.3, and its lowest 2025, at 43.1. The comparison line, the typical Canadian town of 2,500+, runs from 70.6 in 2023 to 62.9 by 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Belfast | Typical town of 2,500+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 43.1 | 62.9 |
| 2024 | 44.4 | 68.5 |
| 2023 | 52.3 | 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 Belfast, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
The police area Belfast is part of, 32,800 residents, recorded about 320 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.
Add about 520 property crimes and 410 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 Belfast
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belfast | 2,110 | 46.6 | 50.7 | A− |
| Vernon River (17 km) | 2,779 | 46.6 | 50.7 | A− |
| Murray River, Part 1 (22 km) | 1,638 | 61.6 | 82.1 | B− |
| Crossroads (22 km) | 2,366 | 46.6 | 50.7 | A− |
| Stratford (24 km) | 13,152 | 50 | 78.6 | B+ |
| Three Rivers (24 km) | 9,322 | 61.6 | 82.1 | B− |
Belfast has the lowest index of the places around it. Neighbours policed by the same service carry the same figure, so the 2 of them aren’t set against it.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means. Distances here run 17–24 km: that is how far the nearest places with figures are from Belfast.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Town and surroundings together. The detachment counts crime across its whole territory, of which Belfast is one part.
- Reading the number. A reading of 100 is the whole country in 2006. Half of that, 50, means half the severity per resident.
- Solved cases. 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.
- How serious, not how safe. The Crime Severity Index adds up police-reported crime, each kind weighted by the sentences courts give it, so one robbery counts for more than many thefts. In Statistics Canada’s words, “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
Questions about safety in Belfast
Is Belfast safe?
Statistics Canada puts Belfast at 46.6 on its Crime Severity Index over 2023–2025; Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more sit at 67.2 in the middle. Violent incidents run at 10.1 and property crimes at 16.3 per 1,000 residents a year.
What is the most common crime in Belfast?
Mischief is the most common, at 7.1 per 1,000 residents a year, then other Criminal Code offences (7) and Criminal Code traffic offences (4.7).
Is crime going up in Belfast?
No: the index fell 18%, from 52.3 in 2023 to 43.1 in 2025.
How much of Belfast’s crime do police solve?
Counting serious crimes for more, 25% end in a charge or are otherwise solved (34% for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+); split up, that is 36% of violent and 21% of non-violent crime.
Whose figures are these?
Those of the police serving Belfast 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).