Photo: Dominic Germain · CC BY-SA 3.0Nicolet sits near the middle of Canadian towns for recorded crime
2 of the 3 towns next door with figures record less crime per resident. Add to that, in 2023 the index stood at 53.3; it rose to 60.7 in 2025. Its Safety Grade, B (#257 of 503 in Quebec), rests on crime its police reported from 2023 to 2025: close to the middle of Canadian towns. The yearly rates were 12.4 violent incidents and 13.8 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents, set against 12.9 and 31.2 in the typical town its size.
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. Data for crime severity, crime rate and incident counts covers the Nicolet-Yamaska MRC.
What stands out about safety in Nicolet
Drug offences: high for a town its size
Nicolet records 1.4 incidents of drug offences per 1,000 residents a year, against 0.7 in the typical town among Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people. By type ↓
More crime solved
Weighted by seriousness, 52% of crime in Nicolet ends in a charge or is otherwise solved: 67% of violent crime and 40% of the rest. Across Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people the figure is 34%. Questions ↓
In the middle of towns its size
Line up the 40 Canadian towns nearest in size by their index and Nicolet stands 23rd, the lowest first. Towns its size ↓
Violent crime leads the index
Violent crime scores 87.6 on Nicolet’s index against 85.7 for the typical Canadian town its size; non-violent crime, 44.6 against 62.8. By type ↓
Written from Statistics Canada’s police-reported crime by police service and detachment, 2023–2025. Figures are what police recorded, not convictions.
Inside Nicolet’s B for safety
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: #257 of 503 in Quebec and #765 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.
Which crimes make up Nicolet’s figures
Against the typical town its size, Nicolet runs highest on Cannabis Act offences (0.8 per 1,000 against 0.03) and drug offences (1.4 per 1,000 against 0.7). Mischief and theft under $5,000 sit below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0 | 0 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 21.7 | 0.9 | 60% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 5.3 | 0.2 | 100% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 2.3 | 0.10 | — |
| Robbery | 1 | 0.04 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 2.3 | 0.10 | — |
| Other violent violations | 7.3 | 0.3 | 78% |
| Breaking and entering | 47 | 2 | 30% |
| Possession of stolen property | 4 | 0.2 | — |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 35 | 1.5 | 9% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 7.3 | 0.3 | 18% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 86 | 3.6 | 33% |
| Mischief | 43.7 | 1.8 | 30% |
| Weapons violations | 4.3 | 0.2 | — |
| Administration of justice violations | 61.3 | 2.6 | 81% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 7 | 0.3 | 76% |
| Drug violations | 34.3 | 1.4 | 50% |
| Impaired driving | 48.7 | 2 | 94% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 27.3 | 1.1 | 23% |
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.
Nicolet, year by year
Crime Severity Index
The latest year was its heaviest: 2025, at 60.7, with 2023 the lightest at 53.3. 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 | Nicolet | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 60.7 | 64.2 |
| 2024 | 55.5 | 68.8 |
| 2023 | 53.3 | 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 Nicolet, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
Nicolet comes 23rd of the 40 towns nearest in size
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Douro-Dummer Ontario | 8,379 | 14.9 | 13.8 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 4 | Sainte-Brigitte-de-Laval Quebec | 9,084 | 28.2 | 46.7 | A+ |
| 5 | Lac-Beauport Quebec | 8,524 | 28.2 | 46.7 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 8 | Chelsea Quebec | 8,998 | 29.4 | 51.6 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 12 | Delson Quebec | 8,802 | 41.6 | 59.8 | A− |
| … | |||||
| 20 | Aylmer Ontario | 8,371 | 49 | 63.6 | B+ |
| 21 | Electoral Area A, Comox Valley British Columbia | 8,415 | 49.5 | 61.5 | B+ |
| 22 | McNab/Braeside Ontario | 8,340 | 52.1 | 81.8 | B+ |
| 23 | Nicolet Quebec | 8,737 | 56.5 | 87.6 | B |
| 24 | Goderich Ontario | 8,412 | 68.4 | 100.1 | B− |
| 25 | Camrose County Alberta | 8,951 | 70.5 | 76.9 | C+ |
| 26 | Kings County, Subdivision C Nova Scotia | 8,994 | 72.3 | 91.5 | C+ |
| … | |||||
| 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 Nicolet in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
The police area Nicolet is part of, 24,000 residents, recorded about 300 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 330 property crimes, plus 200 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 Nicolet
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nicolet | 8,737 | 56.5 | 87.6 | B |
| Trois-Rivières | 149,934 | 61.5 | 93.7 | B− |
| Bécancour | 14,943 | 46.5 | 64.3 | A− |
| Baie-du-Febvre | 1,023 | 56.5 | 87.6 | B |
| Yamachiche | 2,801 | 44.3 | 60.8 | A− |
Nicolet sits above 2 of the 3 neighbours with figures of their own. Bécancour, 14.4 km away, is the nearest lower one, at 46.5 to 56.5. One place nearby is policed together with it and reported as one, so there is nothing to compare.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- The whole MRC. The Sûreté du Québec reports by MRC, so the figures cover every municipality it polices there, Nicolet among them.
- Reading the number. A reading of 100 is the whole country in 2006. Half of that, 50, means half the severity per resident.
- Solved cases. Police clear an incident by charging someone, recommending a charge, or closing it another way. The rate weighs serious crimes more, as the index does.
- How serious, not how safe. Statistics Canada, which publishes the index, attaches a caution: “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.” The number weighs each reported crime by its seriousness before dividing by residents.
Questions about safety in Nicolet
Is Nicolet safe?
A Crime Severity Index of 56.5 (2023–2025), set beside a median of 68.5 for Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people: that is where Nicolet stands, with 12.4 violent and 13.8 property incidents per 1,000 residents a year.
What is the most common crime in Nicolet?
Police record assault most, 5.5 per 1,000 residents a year, ahead of fraud (4.1) and Criminal Code traffic offences (3.6).
Is crime going up in Nicolet?
It went up 14% between 2023 and 2025, from 53.3 to 60.7.
How much of Nicolet’s crime do police solve?
52%, by the weighted clearance rate, where the typical Canadian town its size manages 34%. Violent crime is cleared at 67% and non-violent crime at 40%.
Whose figures are these?
Those of the police serving Nicolet 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).