Photo: Harfang · CC BY-SA 3.0Recorded crime per resident is higher in Port-Cartier than in 80% of Canadian towns
Its Crime Severity Index averaged 103.9 over 2023–2025, against 68.5 for the typical Canadian town its size. Annual rates stand at 28.8 violent incidents and 16.7 incidents of property crime for every thousand residents, next to 12.9 and 31.2 in the typical town its size. What’s more, a Safety Grade of C− follows from crime the police covering Port-Cartier reported over the years 2023 to 2025: #487 of 503 in Quebec. Within Quebec, half the towns score under 56.1.
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. Crime severity, crime rate and incident counts published for the Sept-Rivières MRC, not by town.
What stands out about safety in Port-Cartier
Drug offences: high for a town its size
Port-Cartier records 2.8 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 ↓
Rising since 2023
From 71.6 in 2023 to 110.5 in 2025: that is Port-Cartier’s index, against 74.3 and 64.2 for the typical Canadian town its size. Year by year ↓
Violence weighs more than the rest
Port-Cartier scores 209.6 for violence and 62.6 for other crime; the typical Canadian town its size scores 85.7 and 62.8. By type ↓
More crime solved
The weighted clearance rate, the share of crime police solve, is 59% for Port-Cartier (70% violent, 46% non-violent), beside 34% for 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.
Port-Cartier: C− for safety, and why
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: #487 of 503 in Quebec and #1,949 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.
Year by year in Port-Cartier: up 54%, 2023 to 2025
Crime Severity Index
Its heaviest year fell in the middle, 2024, at 129.8; 2023 was the lightest, at 71.6. Set beside it, the typical Canadian town its size went from 74.3 in 2023 to 64.2 in 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Port-Cartier | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 110.5 | 64.2 |
| 2024 | 129.8 | 68.8 |
| 2023 | 71.6 | 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 Port-Cartier, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
Crime in Port-Cartier, type by type
Against the typical town its size, Port-Cartier runs highest on drug offences (2.8 per 1,000 against 0.7), assault (15.4 per 1,000 against 6.7) and sexual assault (1.4 per 1,000 against 0.9). 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 | 0.03 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 30.3 | 1 | 70% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 29.7 | 1 | 77% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 13.3 | 0.4 | 43% |
| Robbery | 6.3 | 0.2 | 52% |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 7.3 | 0.2 | 78% |
| Other violent violations | 19.7 | 0.6 | 61% |
| Breaking and entering | 82.3 | 2.6 | 36% |
| Possession of stolen property | 5.7 | 0.2 | 75% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 35.3 | 1.1 | 37% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 11.3 | 0.4 | 35% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 153.3 | 4.9 | 44% |
| Mischief | 111.3 | 3.6 | 31% |
| Weapons violations | 29.3 | 0.9 | 65% |
| Administration of justice violations | 185.3 | 6 | 83% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 15.3 | 0.5 | 63% |
| Drug violations | 87 | 2.8 | 62% |
| Impaired driving | 105.7 | 3.4 | 89% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 82 | 2.6 | 11% |
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.
By its index, Port-Cartier stands 35th of 40 towns its size
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beresford New Brunswick | 6,543 | 25 | 35.4 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 3 | Charlemagne Quebec | 6,695 | 28.1 | 48.2 | A+ |
| 4 | Pontiac Quebec | 6,490 | 29.4 | 51.6 | A+ |
| 5 | Pointe-Calumet Quebec | 6,427 | 30.8 | 56.8 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 10 | Les Coteaux Quebec | 6,294 | 39.2 | 61.7 | A |
| … | |||||
| 32 | Willow Creek No. 26 Alberta | 6,225 | 91.1 | 68.1 | C |
| 33 | Beaver County Alberta | 6,245 | 95.7 | 81.2 | C− |
| 34 | Annapolis County, Subdivision A Nova Scotia | 6,719 | 96 | 107.6 | C− |
| 35 | Port-Cartier Quebec | 6,436 | 103.9 | 209.6 | C− |
| 36 | Vegreville Alberta | 6,153 | 138.4 | 107.9 | D |
| 37 | Woodstock New Brunswick | 6,260 | 153.7 | 132.1 | D |
| 38 | Petrolia Ontario | 6,422 | 333.9 | 378.3 | D− |
| … | |||||
| 40 | St. Paul Alberta | 6,218 | 364.7 | 364.4 | 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 Port-Cartier in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
The police area Port-Cartier is part of, 31,100 residents, recorded about 890 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 520 property crimes, plus 540 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 Port-Cartier
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Port-Cartier | 6,436 | 103.9 | 209.6 | C− |
| Uashat 27 (41 km) | 1,694 | 354.4 | 870.6 | D− |
| Sept-Îles (42 km) | 24,483 | 103.9 | 209.6 | C− |
| Maliotenam (53 km) | 1,683 | 354.4 | 870.6 | D− |
Port-Cartier has the lowest index of the places around it. Where a neighbour shares its police, it shares the figure too, and isn’t counted above.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means. Port-Cartier has few close neighbours with figures, so the list reaches 41–53 km out.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- How serious, not how safe. Each incident counts by its seriousness, judged from court sentences, and the total is set per resident. As Statistics Canada puts it, “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 reports by MRC, so the figures cover every municipality it polices there, Port-Cartier among them.
- Reading the number. The index is scaled so that Canada as a whole scored 100 in its base year, 2006: a town at 50 has half that severity per resident.
- Solved cases. 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 Port-Cartier
Is Port-Cartier safe?
The short answer is an index of 103.9 for Port-Cartier (2023–2025), built from 28.8 violent incidents and 16.7 property crimes a year for every 1,000 residents. Set that beside 68.5, the median for Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is the most common crime in Port-Cartier?
Police record assault most, 15.4 per 1,000 residents a year, ahead of other Criminal Code offences (7.9) and Criminal Code traffic offences (6.7).
Is crime going up in Port-Cartier?
Up 54%: 71.6 in 2023, 110.5 in 2025.
How much of Port-Cartier’s crime do police solve?
Weighted by seriousness, police cleared 59% of crime (70% of violent crime, 46% of the rest). The typical Canadian town its size clears 34%.
Whose figures are these?
A police service or detachment that covers Port-Cartier 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).