Photo: Jean-Philippe Boulet · CC BY 3.0Austin has less crime per resident than 84% of Canadian towns
On crime the police covering Austin reported from 2023 to 2025, it grades A− for safety. Add to that, in a usual year, 8.2 violent incidents and 7.9 incidents of property crime are logged per 1,000 inhabitants; in the typical Canadian town of 2,500+, 12.0 and 31.2. Against usual levels of 86.4 and 62.8, violent and non-violent offences here reach 58.3 and 32.9. Its weighted clearance rate, the share of crime police solved, is 40% (the typical Canadian town of 2,500+: 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. Crime severity, crime rate and incident counts: one figure for all of the Memphrémagog MRC.
What stands out about safety in Austin
Crime per resident, visitors uncounted
Only year-round residents divide the crime in Austin, yet 38% 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 ↓
Easing since 2023
Austin’s index went from 45.1 in 2023 to 34.8 in 2025; the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ moved from 70.6 to 62.9. Year by year ↓
Lower than most of Quebec
The typical Quebec town scores 56.1; Austin, 39.9. 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.
Inside Austin’s A− 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.
The Crime Severity Index and its two halves, beside the typical figure for Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more.
Austin’s index fell 23% from 2023 to 2025
Crime Severity Index
Nothing since 2023 has matched that year’s 45.1; the lightest was 2025, at 34.8. Over 2023–2025, the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ moved from 70.6 to 62.9.
Every year as a table
| Year | Austin | Typical town of 2,500+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 34.8 | 62.9 |
| 2024 | 39.9 | 68.5 |
| 2023 | 45.1 | 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 Austin, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
Austin’s crime by kind
Assault sits below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0 | 0 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 11 | 0.6 | 48% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 3 | 0.2 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 0.3 | 0.02 | — |
| Robbery | 0.3 | 0.02 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 2.7 | 0.1 | — |
| Other violent violations | 3.3 | 0.2 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 32.3 | 1.8 | 16% |
| Possession of stolen property | 2.3 | 0.1 | — |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 13 | 0.7 | 2% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 6.7 | 0.4 | 10% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 21.7 | 1.2 | 23% |
| Mischief | 23.3 | 1.3 | 23% |
| Weapons violations | 3 | 0.2 | — |
| Administration of justice violations | 15.3 | 0.8 | 87% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 11 | 0.6 | 27% |
| Drug violations | 9.3 | 0.5 | 29% |
| Impaired driving | 25.7 | 1.4 | 98% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 13.3 | 0.7 | 10% |
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.
Around 150 violent incidents a year in the 18,800-resident police area around Austin, 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 150 property crimes and 210 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 Austin
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Austin | 1,959 | 39.9 | 58.3 | A− |
| Eastman | 2,706 | 39.9 | 58.3 | A− |
| Magog | 30,764 | 42 | 55.3 | A− |
| Bolton-Est | 1,337 | 39.9 | 58.3 | A− |
| Orford | 5,698 | 39.9 | 58.3 | A− |
| Stukely-Sud | 1,242 | 39.9 | 58.3 | A− |
| Stanstead | 1,171 | 39.9 | 58.3 | A− |
5 places nearby are policed together with it and reported as one, so there is nothing to compare.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- The index’s scale. The index is scaled so that Canada as a whole scored 100 in its base year, 2006: a town at 50 has half that severity per resident.
- What clearance means. A cleared case is one police consider solved. Whether anyone is convicted is a separate matter the rate doesn’t follow.
- An index, not a verdict. Statistics Canada builds the index from every crime police record, weighted by how seriously the courts treat it, and divides by the population. It adds a warning of its own: “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
- Policed as an MRC. The Sûreté du Québec reports by MRC, so the figures cover every municipality it polices there, Austin among them.
Questions about safety in Austin
Is Austin safe?
Its police recorded 8.2 violent incidents and 7.9 property crimes a year per 1,000 residents over 2023–2025, which gives Austin a Crime Severity Index of 39.9. In the middle of Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more the figure is 67.2.
What is the most common crime in Austin?
Most often it is assault: 3.6 per 1,000 residents a year. Next come fraud at 2.4 and Criminal Code traffic offences at 2.3.
Is crime going up in Austin?
The reverse: 45.1 in 2023 came down to 34.8 by 2025, 23% lower.
How much of Austin’s crime do police solve?
About 40% of crime is cleared, weighted by seriousness, with 59% of violent and 26% of other crime; the figure for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ is 34%.
Whose figures are these?
A police service or detachment that covers Austin 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).