Photo: SamuelFreli · CC BY-SA 3.0Recorded crime per resident is higher in Cowansville than in 61% of Canadian towns
It grades C+ for safety on crime the police covering Cowansville reported from 2023 to 2025: #369 of 503 in Quebec. What’s more, the local count comes to 12.4 violent incidents and 12.4 incidents of property crime per 1,000 people each year, with 12.0 and 30.5 in the typical town its size. Each of the two towns on its borders with figures records less crime per resident. Cowansville’s violent half comes to 96 and its non-violent half to 64.2, where the norm is 89.4 and 56.
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 Brome-Missisquoi MRC.
What stands out about safety in Cowansville
Drug offences: high for a town its size
Cowansville records 6.7 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 ↓
Higher than many towns its size
Counting up from the lowest index, Cowansville is 28th of the 40 Canadian towns closest in population. Towns its size ↓
Heavier than Quebec’s middle
Set among Quebec’s towns, whose median is 56.1, Cowansville scores 72.8. 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.
The grade: C+ for Cowansville
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: #369 of 503 in Quebec and #1,539 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.
What police record in Cowansville, by type
Against the typical town its size, Cowansville runs highest on Cannabis Act offences (5 per 1,000 against 0.06), drug offences (6.7 per 1,000 against 0.8) and sexual assault (1.1 per 1,000 against 0.8). Motor vehicle theft and theft under $5,000 sit below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 1.3 | 0.02 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 58.3 | 1 | 41% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 16 | 0.3 | 88% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 2.7 | 0.05 | — |
| Robbery | 4.3 | 0.08 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 5 | 0.09 | 94% |
| Other violent violations | 13 | 0.2 | 44% |
| Breaking and entering | 104.7 | 1.8 | 28% |
| Possession of stolen property | 5 | 0.09 | 86% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 43.7 | 0.8 | 23% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 22.7 | 0.4 | 16% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 144.3 | 2.5 | 37% |
| Mischief | 118.7 | 2.1 | 26% |
| Weapons violations | 9.3 | 0.2 | 75% |
| Administration of justice violations | 126 | 2.2 | 97% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 30.7 | 0.5 | 50% |
| Drug violations | 385.7 | 6.7 | 18% |
| Impaired driving | 123.7 | 2.2 | 97% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 85 | 1.5 | 14% |
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.
Among 40 towns its size, Cowansville places 28th
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oak Bay British Columbia | 18,626 | 26.7 | 23.4 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 3 | Deux-Montagnes Quebec | 18,516 | 30.8 | 56.8 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 8 | Mercier Quebec | 16,036 | 35.9 | 60.1 | A |
| 9 | Saint-Basile-le-Grand Quebec | 17,146 | 37.1 | 58.5 | A |
| … | |||||
| 11 | Sainte-Catherine Quebec | 17,782 | 41.6 | 59.8 | A− |
| … | |||||
| 25 | Sturgeon Falls Ontario | 16,682 | 66.8 | 82.7 | B− |
| 26 | Lake Country British Columbia | 17,637 | 67.1 | 59.9 | B− |
| 27 | Saint-Charles-Borromée Quebec | 16,904 | 68.5 | 107.8 | B− |
| 28 | Cowansville Quebec | 17,269 | 72.8 | 96 | C+ |
| 29 | Greater Napanee Ontario | 18,016 | 73.9 | 103.7 | C+ |
| 30 | Sooke British Columbia | 17,248 | 81.4 | 79.8 | C |
| 31 | Sylvan Lake Alberta | 17,897 | 82.3 | 83.4 | C |
| … | |||||
| 40 | Cold Lake Alberta | 17,798 | 204.1 | 204.7 | 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 Cowansville in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
In Cowansville, steady between 2023 and 2025
Crime Severity Index
At 86.7, 2024 topped the three years, and 2023 was lowest at 64.4. 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 | Cowansville | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 67.4 | 60 |
| 2024 | 86.7 | 67.9 |
| 2023 | 64.4 | 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 Cowansville, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
About 710 violent incidents a year across the police area of 58,000 residents that includes Cowansville, 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 710 property crimes and 850 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 Cowansville
The places around Cowansville all score lower on the index. The nearest of them, Bromont (12.7 km away), scores 38.1 against 72.8. Same police, same number: 4 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. Weighted like the index, so solving one assault counts for more than solving a mischief; a charge laid, recommended or otherwise resolved all count.
- What the index measures. One robbery outweighs a run of minor thefts here, since every crime counts by the sentences courts give it. Statistics Canada adds: “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
- Shared across the MRC. The Sûreté du Québec’s figures are for its MRC as a whole, not for Cowansville alone.
- 100 is Canada in 2006. A reading of 100 is the whole country in 2006. Half of that, 50, means half the severity per resident.
Questions about safety in Cowansville
Is Cowansville safe?
Cowansville measures 72.8 on the Crime Severity Index for 2023–2025, next to 66 for Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people. Per 1,000 residents a year, its police record 12.4 violent incidents and 12.4 property crimes.
What is the most common crime in Cowansville?
The three biggest groups are drug offences at 6.7, assault at 6 and Cannabis Act offences at 5, each per 1,000 residents a year.
Is crime going up in Cowansville?
Barely: 64.4 in 2023, 67.4 in 2025.
How much of Cowansville’s crime do police solve?
Counting serious crimes for more, 38% end in a charge or are otherwise solved (33% for the typical Canadian town its size); split up, that is 57% of violent and 27% of non-violent crime.
Whose figures are these?
Those of the police serving Cowansville 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).