Photo: Harfang · CC BY-SA 3.0Recorded crime in Baie-Comeau is close to typical for Canadian towns
In sum, crime its police reported from 2023 to 2025 put Baie-Comeau at C+ (#359 of 503 in Quebec): close to the middle of Canadian towns. On top of that, each year brought 20.6 violent incidents and 12.5 incidents of property crime for every 1,000 residents (12.0 and 30.5 in the typical town its size). Between 2023 and 2025 the severity figure rose, 68.8 to 72.6. The typical town in Quebec scores 56.1 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. Measured across the Manicouagan MRC: crime severity, crime rate and incident counts.
What stands out about safety in Baie-Comeau
Drug offences: high for a town its size
Baie-Comeau records 1.9 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 ↓
Above-typical clearance
Police cleared 54% of Baie-Comeau’s crime, weighted by seriousness (61% of violent crime, 46% of the rest), against 33% across Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people. Questions ↓
The violent half stands out
Set beside the typical Canadian town its size, Baie-Comeau’s two halves part ways: 134 for violence (typical 89.4) and 45 for the rest (typical 56). By type ↓
In the middle of towns its size
Counting up from the lowest index, Baie-Comeau is 24th of the 40 Canadian towns closest in population. 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 sits behind Baie-Comeau’s C+
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: #359 of 503 in Quebec and #1,398 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.
Baie-Comeau’s crime by kind
Against the typical town its size, Baie-Comeau runs highest on drug offences (1.9 per 1,000 against 0.8), sexual assault (1.5 per 1,000 against 0.8) and assault (9.1 per 1,000 against 6.6). Theft under $5,000 and motor vehicle theft sit below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0 | 0 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 27.3 | 1 | 58% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 11 | 0.4 | 75% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 3 | 0.1 | — |
| Robbery | 3 | 0.1 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 5.7 | 0.2 | 88% |
| Other violent violations | 17 | 0.6 | 57% |
| Breaking and entering | 45.7 | 1.6 | 37% |
| Possession of stolen property | 5 | 0.2 | 46% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 19.7 | 0.7 | 36% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 5.7 | 0.2 | 30% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 100 | 3.6 | 49% |
| Mischief | 61.3 | 2.2 | 35% |
| Weapons violations | 16.7 | 0.6 | 74% |
| Administration of justice violations | 110.7 | 4 | 92% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 8.3 | 0.3 | 64% |
| Drug violations | 53 | 1.9 | 60% |
| Impaired driving | 55.3 | 2 | 91% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 66.3 | 2.4 | 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 10,000 to 50,000 people.
Baie-Comeau, year by year
Crime Severity Index
2025, the last year shown, came out highest at 72.6, and 2024 lowest at 68.5. Set beside it, the typical Canadian town its size went from 69.5 in 2023 to 60 in 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Baie-Comeau | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 72.6 | 60 |
| 2024 | 68.5 | 67.9 |
| 2023 | 68.8 | 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 Baie-Comeau, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
Baie-Comeau is 24th of 40 towns its size, lowest index first
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Quispamsis New Brunswick | 20,240 | 20 | 27.9 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 7 | Sainte-Marthe-sur-le-Lac Quebec | 21,949 | 30.8 | 56.8 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 9 | Varennes Quebec | 21,490 | 37.1 | 58.5 | A |
| 10 | Mont-Saint-Hilaire Quebec | 19,447 | 37.1 | 58.5 | A |
| … | |||||
| 12 | Sainte-Sophie Quebec | 19,467 | 38 | 60.1 | A |
| … | |||||
| 21 | Corner Brook Newfoundland and Labrador | 20,549 | 58.8 | 70.5 | B |
| 22 | Pitt Meadows British Columbia | 20,892 | 60.8 | 59.8 | B− |
| 23 | Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures Quebec | 20,864 | 63 | 89.4 | B− |
| 24 | Baie-Comeau Quebec | 20,660 | 70 | 134 | C+ |
| 25 | Colchester County, Subdivision B Nova Scotia | 21,578 | 72.9 | 100.8 | C+ |
| 26 | Red Deer County Alberta | 22,076 | 73.6 | 64.8 | C+ |
| 27 | Windsor Nova Scotia | 20,318 | 78.5 | 98.5 | C+ |
| … | |||||
| 40 | Lloydminster (Part) Alberta | 21,267 | 211.6 | 177.2 | 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 Baie-Comeau in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
The police area Baie-Comeau is part of, 27,600 residents, recorded about 570 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.
And about 350 property crimes, plus 340 other violations, a year (2023–2025 average). Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot, one incident a year at the area’s rates.
Crime in the places around Baie-Comeau
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baie-Comeau | 20,660 | 70 | 134 | C+ |
| Pointe-Lebel | 1,800 | 70 | 134 | C+ |
| Chute-aux-Outardes | 1,406 | 70 | 134 | C+ |
| Pointe-aux-Outardes | 1,447 | 70 | 134 | C+ |
3 nearby places have no figure apart from this one: they share a police service.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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’s figures are for its MRC as a whole, not for Baie-Comeau alone.
- The index’s scale. Figures are relative to one fixed point, Canada in 2006 at 100, rather than to this year’s national number.
- What clearance means. A cleared case is one police consider solved. Whether anyone is convicted is a separate matter the rate doesn’t follow.
Questions about safety in Baie-Comeau
Is Baie-Comeau safe?
On Statistics Canada’s figures, Baie-Comeau scores 70 on the Crime Severity Index for 2023–2025, with 20.6 violent and 12.5 property incidents per 1,000 residents a year. In the middle of Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people the figure is 66.
What is the most common crime in Baie-Comeau?
Top of the list is assault (9.1 per 1,000 residents a year); other Criminal Code offences, at 5.3, and Criminal Code traffic offences, at 5, follow.
Is crime going up in Baie-Comeau?
Yes: the index rose 5%, from 68.8 in 2023 to 72.6 in 2025.
How much of Baie-Comeau’s crime do police solve?
54%, by the weighted clearance rate, where the typical Canadian town its size manages 33%. Violent crime is cleared at 61% and non-violent crime at 46%.
Whose figures are these?
Those of the police serving Baie-Comeau 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).