Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0Per resident, Bristol records less crime than three in five Canadian towns
That puts it at B for safety, judged on crime the police covering Bristol reported from 2023 to 2025. Violence accounts for an index of 83.9 and other offences for 44.9, against usual levels of 86.4 and 62.8. Each year brought 16.9 violent incidents and 12.5 incidents of property crime for every 1,000 residents (12.0 and 31.2 in the typical Canadian town of 2,500+). Still, its Crime Severity Index dropped from 57.5 in 2023 to 54.2 by 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. Area-wide: crime severity, crime rate and incident counts, counted over the Pontiac MRC.
What stands out about safety in Bristol
Visitors count, residents divide
About 46% of Bristol’s homes are cottages, second homes or otherwise empty much of the year: crime in the busy months is divided by year-round residents only, which lifts every rate here. How to read it ↓
A high clearance rate
The weighted clearance rate, the share of crime police solve, is 63% for Bristol (79% violent, 51% non-violent), beside 34% for Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more. Questions ↓
Violent crime leads the index
Bristol scores 83.9 for violence and 44.9 for other crime; the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ scores 86.4 and 62.8. By type ↓
Much like Quebec’s towns
Set among Quebec’s towns, whose median is 56.1, Bristol scores 55.7. 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 Bristol’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.
Bristol, year by year
Crime Severity Index
Nothing since 2023 has matched that year’s 57.5; the lightest was 2025, at 54.2. 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 | Bristol | Typical town of 2,500+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 54.2 | 62.9 |
| 2024 | 55.2 | 68.5 |
| 2023 | 57.5 | 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 Bristol, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
Crime in Bristol, type by type
Against the typical town its size, Bristol runs highest on assault (8.4 per 1,000 against 6.7).
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0 | 0 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 9 | 0.6 | 78% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 9.3 | 0.6 | 94% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 1.3 | 0.09 | — |
| Robbery | 0 | 0 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 2.7 | 0.2 | — |
| Other violent violations | 6 | 0.4 | 38% |
| Breaking and entering | 34.7 | 2.3 | 28% |
| Possession of stolen property | 3 | 0.2 | — |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 23.3 | 1.6 | 23% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 3 | 0.2 | — |
| Theft under $5,000 | 35 | 2.4 | 29% |
| Mischief | 37.3 | 2.5 | 33% |
| Weapons violations | 9.3 | 0.6 | 100% |
| Administration of justice violations | 59 | 4 | 86% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 7.3 | 0.5 | 82% |
| Drug violations | 37.3 | 2.5 | 98% |
| Impaired driving | 45.3 | 3 | 100% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 13.7 | 0.9 | 29% |
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 250 violent incidents a year in the 15,000-resident police area around Bristol, 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 190 property crimes and 190 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 Bristol
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bristol | 1,151 | 55.7 | 83.9 | B |
| Arnprior | 11,459 | 52.1 | 81.8 | B+ |
| Shawville | 1,729 | 55.7 | 83.9 | B |
| McNab/Braeside | 8,340 | 52.1 | 81.8 | B+ |
| Horton | 3,550 | 29.1 | 36.6 | A+ |
| Clarendon | 1,442 | 55.7 | 83.9 | B |
Each neighbour with its own figure comes in under Bristol. Arnprior, 10.3 km away, is the nearest lower one, at 52.1 to 55.7. Same police, same number: 2 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
- Solved cases. A crime is cleared when police lay or recommend a charge, or solve it another way; the weighted rate counts serious crimes for more.
- 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.”
- The whole MRC. The Sûreté du Québec’s figures are for its MRC as a whole, not for Bristol alone.
- Reading the number. Statistics Canada set the national index at 100 for 2006; every figure here is read against that.
Questions about safety in Bristol
Is Bristol safe?
A Crime Severity Index of 55.7 (2023–2025), set beside a median of 67.2 for Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more: that is where Bristol stands, with 16.9 violent and 12.5 property incidents per 1,000 residents a year.
What is the most common crime in Bristol?
Top of the list is assault (8.4 per 1,000 residents a year); other Criminal Code offences, at 5.4, and Criminal Code traffic offences, at 4.6, follow.
Is crime going up in Bristol?
Over 2023–2025 the index dropped 6%, to 54.2 from 57.5.
How much of Bristol’s crime do police solve?
63%, by the weighted clearance rate, where the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ manages 34%. Violent crime is cleared at 79% and non-violent crime at 51%.
Whose figures are these?
A police service or detachment that covers Bristol 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).