Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0Per resident, Chelsea records less crime than 95% of Canadian towns
Split in two, the index gives 51.6 for violence and 20.8 for everything else (normally 85.7 and 62.8). None of the 5 towns next door with figures records less crime per resident. On the record of crime the police covering Chelsea reported from 2023 to 2025, it takes A+ for safety: #10 of 503 in Quebec. Police counts work out at 8.4 violent incidents and 7.2 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents annually; in the typical town its size they are 12.9 and 31.2.
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 Collines-de-l'Outaouais Region service area: crime severity, crime rate and incident counts.
What stands out about safety in Chelsea
Below Quebec’s typical town
Within Quebec, the median town comes to 56.1 on the index, against 29.4 in Chelsea. Towns its size ↓
Heavier on violence
Set beside the typical Canadian town its size, Chelsea’s two halves part ways: 51.6 for violence (typical 85.7) and 20.8 for the rest (typical 62.8). By type ↓
A lower index than most towns its size
Line up the 40 Canadian towns nearest in size by their index and Chelsea stands 8th, the lowest first. Towns its size ↓
More crime solved
Police cleared 49% of Chelsea’s crime, weighted by seriousness (67% of violent crime, 32% of the rest), against 34% across Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people. Questions ↓
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 Chelsea’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: #10 of 503 in Quebec and #110 of 2,572 Canadian towns.
The Crime Severity Index and its two halves, beside the typical figure for Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people.
Chelsea’s crime by kind
Mischief and theft under $5,000 sit below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 1 | 0.02 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 14.7 | 0.3 | 82% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 10 | 0.2 | 100% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 3 | 0.05 | — |
| Robbery | 3 | 0.05 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 7 | 0.1 | 100% |
| Other violent violations | 8 | 0.1 | 46% |
| Breaking and entering | 62.3 | 1.1 | 22% |
| Possession of stolen property | 6 | 0.1 | 72% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 40.7 | 0.7 | 21% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 14 | 0.2 | 16% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 83.3 | 1.4 | 28% |
| Mischief | 74 | 1.3 | 26% |
| Weapons violations | 8.3 | 0.1 | 84% |
| Administration of justice violations | 68.7 | 1.2 | 85% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 11 | 0.2 | 70% |
| Drug violations | 30 | 0.5 | 59% |
| Impaired driving | 96.3 | 1.7 | 96% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 21.7 | 0.4 | 35% |
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 to 10,000 people.
From 2023 to 2025, Chelsea’s index dropped 15%
Crime Severity Index
The first year, 2023, was the heaviest at 31.3, and 2025 the lightest at 26.5. The comparison line, the typical Canadian town its size, runs from 74.3 in 2023 to 64.2 by 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Chelsea | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 26.5 | 64.2 |
| 2024 | 30.4 | 68.8 |
| 2023 | 31.3 | 74.3 |
Statistics Canada, Crime Severity Index by police service, each year as published. Typical: the median of Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people.
The Crime Severity Index of the police covering Chelsea, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
Among 40 towns its size, Chelsea places 8th
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tavistock Ontario | 8,710 | 23.1 | 27.2 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 3 | Sainte-Brigitte-de-Laval Quebec | 9,084 | 28.2 | 46.7 | A+ |
| 4 | Lac-Beauport Quebec | 8,524 | 28.2 | 46.7 | A+ |
| 5 | Drummond/North Elmsley Ontario | 8,817 | 28.8 | 34.8 | A+ |
| 6 | Puslinch Ontario | 8,577 | 29 | 28.2 | A+ |
| 7 | La Pêche Quebec | 9,379 | 29.4 | 51.6 | A+ |
| 8 | Chelsea Quebec | 8,998 | 29.4 | 51.6 | A+ |
| 9 | Otterburn Park Quebec | 9,460 | 37.1 | 58.5 | A |
| 10 | Delson Quebec | 8,802 | 41.6 | 59.8 | A− |
| 11 | Saint-Philippe Quebec | 8,674 | 41.6 | 59.8 | A− |
| 12 | Saint-Apollinaire Quebec | 9,218 | 42.6 | 72.9 | A− |
| 13 | Boischatel Quebec | 9,250 | 42.7 | 62.9 | A− |
| … | |||||
| 40 | Iqaluit Nunavut | 8,612 | 661.3 | 844 | 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 Chelsea in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
58,700 residents, about 490 violent incidents a year: the police area Chelsea belongs to, 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 410 a year and other violations 260 (2023–2025 average). Of 1,000 dots, one per resident, the coloured ones are a year’s incidents at these rates.
Crime in the places around Chelsea
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chelsea | 8,998 | 29.4 | 51.6 | A+ |
| Cantley | 12,291 | 29.4 | 51.6 | A+ |
| Hautes-Plaines | 6,353 | 67.5 | 100.1 | B− |
| Les Rapides | 15,090 | 67.5 | 100.1 | B− |
| Mont-Bleu | 21,636 | 67.5 | 100.1 | B− |
| Du Plateau | 29,234 | 67.5 | 100.1 | B− |
| La Cité | 30,930 | 67.5 | 100.1 | B− |
The places around Chelsea all score higher on the index. A neighbour policed by the same service carries the same figure, so it isn’t set against it.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- A wider service area. The service that polices Chelsea reports once for its whole area, so the figures aren’t the town’s alone.
- The index’s scale. Statistics Canada set the national index at 100 for 2006; every figure here is read against that.
- What clearance means. Cleared means solved by police, charged or not; it says nothing about what courts decide.
- An index, not a verdict. Police-reported incidents, each multiplied by a weight drawn from court sentences, summed and divided by the population: that is the index, and its makers attach a caution, “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
Questions about safety in Chelsea
Is Chelsea safe?
A Crime Severity Index of 29.4 (2023–2025), set beside a median of 68.5 for Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people: that is where Chelsea stands, with 8.4 violent and 7.2 property incidents per 1,000 residents a year.
What is the most common crime in Chelsea?
Most often it is assault: 4.1 per 1,000 residents a year. Next come Criminal Code traffic offences at 2.3 and fraud at 2.2.
Is crime going up in Chelsea?
Over 2023–2025 the index dropped 15%, to 26.5 from 31.3.
How much of Chelsea’s crime do police solve?
Police cleared 49% of crime once each incident is weighted by seriousness: 67% of violent crime and 32% of the rest, against 34% for the typical Canadian town its size.
Whose figures are these?
A police service or detachment that covers Chelsea 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).