Photo: Krisco75 · CC BY-SA 3.0Ayer's Cliff records less crime per resident than 84% of Canadian towns
Violence and property crime split as 8.2 violent incidents and 7.9 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents a year, beside 12.0 and 31.2 in the typical Canadian town of 2,500+. Counting crime the police covering Ayer's Cliff reported from 2023 to 2025, it grades A− for safety. Its violent half comes to 58.3 and its non-violent half to 32.9, where the norm is 86.4 and 62.8. Each of the 3 towns on its borders with figures records more crime per resident.
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. Measured across the Memphrémagog MRC: crime severity, crime rate and incident counts.
What stands out about safety in Ayer's Cliff
Easing since 2023
In 2023 the index in Ayer's Cliff stood at 45.1, by 2025 at 34.8. Over the same years the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ went from 70.6 to 62.9. Year by year ↓
Below Quebec’s typical town
The typical Quebec town scores 56.1; Ayer's Cliff, 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.
What’s behind Ayer's Cliff’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.
The Crime Severity Index and its two halves, beside the typical figure for Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more.
Year by year in Ayer's Cliff: down 23%, 2023 to 2025
Crime Severity Index
Its index has not been as high since 2023 (45.1); the low point came in 2025, at 34.8. In the same years the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ read 70.6 (2023), then 62.9 (2025).
Every year as a table
| Year | Ayer's Cliff | 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 Ayer's Cliff, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
About 150 violent incidents a year across the police area of 18,800 residents that includes Ayer's Cliff, 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 150 a year and other violations 210 (2023–2025 average). Of 1,000 dots, one per resident, the coloured ones are a year’s incidents at these rates.
Ayer's Cliff’s crime by kind
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.
Crime in the places around Ayer's Cliff
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ayer's Cliff | 1,284 | 39.9 | 58.3 | A− |
| Sainte-Catherine-de-Hatley | 2,938 | 39.9 | 58.3 | A− |
| Stanstead | 1,171 | 39.9 | 58.3 | A− |
| Magog | 30,764 | 42 | 55.3 | A− |
| Compton | 3,351 | 44.5 | 81.6 | A− |
| Waterville | 2,643 | 44.5 | 81.6 | A− |
| Stanstead | 2,994 | 39.9 | 58.3 | A− |
Every neighbour with a figure of its own has a higher index than Ayer's Cliff. Same police, same number: 3 neighbours drop out of the comparison for that reason.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Cleared, not convicted. A crime is cleared when police lay or recommend a charge, or solve it another way; the weighted rate counts serious crimes for more.
- What the index measures. 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.”
- Shared across the MRC. Where the Sûreté du Québec polices, Statistics Canada publishes one figure per MRC; Ayer's Cliff shares it with its neighbours.
- 100 is Canada in 2006. Figures are relative to one fixed point, Canada in 2006 at 100, rather than to this year’s national number.
Questions about safety in Ayer's Cliff
Is Ayer's Cliff safe?
With 8.2 violent incidents and 7.9 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, Ayer's Cliff comes to 39.9 on the Crime Severity Index (2023–2025); Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more have a median of 67.2.
What is the most common crime in Ayer's Cliff?
Assault is the most common, at 3.6 per 1,000 residents a year, then fraud (2.4) and Criminal Code traffic offences (2.3).
Is crime going up in Ayer's Cliff?
The reverse: 45.1 in 2023 came down to 34.8 by 2025, 23% lower.
How much of Ayer's Cliff’s crime do police solve?
Police cleared 40% of crime once each incident is weighted by seriousness: 59% of violent crime and 26% of the rest, against 34% for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
Whose figures are these?
A shared service or detachment’s, reported as one for Ayer's Cliff and everywhere else it polices.
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).