Photo: Johny-le-cowboy · CC BY-SA 3.0Recorded crime per resident is lower in Alma than in 69% of Canadian towns
Violence accounts for an index of 81.8 and other offences for 37.1, against usual levels of 89.4 and 56. Scored on crime the police covering Alma reported across 2023 to 2025, the town lands on B+ for safety: #163 of 503 in Quebec. Still, each year brought 12.1 violent incidents and 11.6 incidents of property crime for every 1,000 residents (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. Crime severity, crime rate and incident counts: one figure for all of the Lac-Saint-Jean-Est MRC.
What stands out about safety in Alma
Police clear more here
Weighted by seriousness, 59% of crime in Alma ends in a charge or is otherwise solved: 73% of violent crime and 46% of the rest. Across Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people the figure is 33%. Questions ↓
Down since 2023
In 2023 the index in Alma stood at 51.8, by 2025 at 43.2. Over the same years the typical Canadian town its size went from 69.5 to 60. Year by year ↓
In the middle of towns its size
Line up the 40 Canadian towns nearest in size by their index and Alma stands 17th, the lowest first. Towns its size ↓
Drug offences: high for a town its size
Alma records 1.3 incidents of drug offences 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.
What’s behind Alma’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: #163 of 503 in Quebec and #521 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.
Which crimes make up Alma’s figures
Against the typical town its size, Alma runs highest on drug offences (1.3 per 1,000 against 0.8) and sexual assault (1.1 per 1,000 against 0.8). Mischief and theft under $5,000 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 | 42.7 | 0.8 | 56% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 15 | 0.3 | 95% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 1.3 | 0.03 | — |
| Robbery | 7.3 | 0.1 | 92% |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 6 | 0.1 | 95% |
| Other violent violations | 9.7 | 0.2 | 62% |
| Breaking and entering | 109.3 | 2 | 40% |
| Possession of stolen property | 11.7 | 0.2 | 85% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 60.7 | 1.1 | 36% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 15.7 | 0.3 | 13% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 170.7 | 3.2 | 34% |
| Mischief | 92 | 1.7 | 31% |
| Weapons violations | 10.3 | 0.2 | 75% |
| Administration of justice violations | 135.7 | 2.5 | 94% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 22.7 | 0.4 | 85% |
| Drug violations | 72.3 | 1.3 | 70% |
| Impaired driving | 94 | 1.8 | 92% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 64.7 | 1.2 | 17% |
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.
From 2023 to 2025, Alma’s index dropped 17%
Crime Severity Index
Its heaviest year fell in the middle, 2024, at 53.7; 2025 was the lightest, at 43.2. 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 | Alma | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 43.2 | 60 |
| 2024 | 53.7 | 67.9 |
| 2023 | 51.8 | 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 Alma, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
About 650 violent incidents a year across the police area of 53,800 residents that includes Alma, 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 620 a year and other violations 430 (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, Alma places 17th
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fergus Ontario | 34,565 | 29 | 28.2 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 5 | Chambly Quebec | 31,870 | 37.1 | 58.5 | A |
| 6 | Sainte-Julie Quebec | 30,981 | 37.1 | 58.5 | A |
| … | |||||
| 9 | Saint-Constant Quebec | 32,124 | 41.6 | 59.8 | A− |
| 10 | La Prairie Quebec | 27,159 | 41.6 | 59.8 | A− |
| … | |||||
| 14 | Orangeville Ontario | 33,070 | 43.5 | 50.6 | A− |
| 15 | Saint-Georges Quebec | 33,881 | 47.7 | 81.3 | B+ |
| 16 | Sainte-Thérèse Quebec | 27,253 | 47.9 | 61 | B+ |
| 17 | Alma Quebec | 30,659 | 49.6 | 81.8 | B+ |
| 18 | Wasaga Beach Ontario | 28,736 | 50 | 61.1 | B+ |
| 19 | King Ontario | 29,077 | 52.8 | 67.4 | B+ |
| 20 | Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville Quebec | 26,786 | 53.7 | 69.5 | B |
| … | |||||
| 40 | Whitehorse Yukon | 34,129 | 171.7 | 196.7 | 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 Alma in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
Crime in the places around Alma
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alma | 30,659 | 49.6 | 81.8 | B+ |
| Saint-Nazaire | 2,167 | 49.6 | 81.8 | B+ |
| Saint-Bruno | 2,935 | 49.6 | 81.8 | B+ |
| Saint-Gédéon | 2,349 | 49.6 | 81.8 | B+ |
| Hébertville-Station | 1,298 | 49.6 | 81.8 | B+ |
| L'Ascension-de-Notre-Seigneur | 2,291 | 49.6 | 81.8 | B+ |
| Larouche | 1,734 | 48.7 | 80 | B+ |
5 neighbours are on the same police service or detachment: they share the figure and aren’t compared here.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 100 is Canada in 2006. 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.
- Cleared, not convicted. Weighted like the index, so solving one assault counts for more than solving a mischief; a charge laid, recommended or otherwise resolved all count.
- What the index measures. Statistics Canada, which publishes the index, attaches a caution: “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.” The number weighs each reported crime by its seriousness before dividing by residents.
- Shared across the MRC. Where the Sûreté du Québec polices, Statistics Canada publishes one figure per MRC; Alma shares it with its neighbours.
Questions about safety in Alma
Is Alma safe?
The short answer is an index of 49.6 for Alma (2023–2025), built from 12.1 violent incidents and 11.6 property crimes a year for every 1,000 residents. For Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, the typical index is 66.
What is the most common crime in Alma?
The three biggest groups are assault at 5.5, other Criminal Code offences at 3.4 and Criminal Code traffic offences at 3.3, each per 1,000 residents a year.
Is crime going up in Alma?
No: the index fell 17%, from 51.8 in 2023 to 43.2 in 2025.
How much of Alma’s crime do police solve?
59%, by the weighted clearance rate, where the typical Canadian town its size manages 33%. Violent crime is cleared at 73% and non-violent crime at 46%.
Whose figures are these?
A police service or detachment that covers Alma and other places, so the figures are shared.
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).