Photo: Gabriel Picard · CC BY-SA 4.0Cité-Universitaire sits near the middle of Canadian towns for recorded crime
All told, Cité-Universitaire grades B− for safety: close to the middle of Canadian towns, on crime its police reported from 2023 to 2025. Against usual levels of 75.2 and 54.2, violent and non-violent offences here reach 89.4 and 53. Year on year, 15.1 violent incidents and 22.1 incidents of property crime occur per 1,000 residents, compared with 10.8 and 25.1 in the typical Canadian town of 50,000+.
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 and crime rate covers the Québec service area.
What’s behind Cité-Universitaire’s grade
How sure: Less sure, since one city-wide figure stands behind it, and Cité-Universitaire can differ a long way from its city’s average.
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 50,000 people or more.
What Québec’s police record, by type
These are Québec’s figures, for its police’s whole area: they aren’t published by neighbourhood.
Against the typical town its size, Québec runs highest on drug offences (1.5 per 1,000 against 0.9), assault (6.8 per 1,000 against 4.9) and sexual assault (1.1 per 1,000 against 0.8). Mischief and motor vehicle theft sit below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 4.7 | 0.01 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 158.7 | 0.3 | 57% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 294.3 | 0.5 | 91% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 40.7 | 0.07 | 58% |
| Robbery | 140.7 | 0.2 | 44% |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 95.7 | 0.2 | 80% |
| Other violent violations | 222.7 | 0.4 | 48% |
| Breaking and entering | 1,561.3 | 2.5 | 19% |
| Possession of stolen property | 130.3 | 0.2 | 41% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 683.3 | 1.1 | 12% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 257.3 | 0.4 | 7% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 5,452.3 | 8.7 | 20% |
| Mischief | 1,807.7 | 2.9 | 13% |
| Weapons violations | 160.7 | 0.3 | 56% |
| Administration of justice violations | 2,199 | 3.5 | 91% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 298.3 | 0.5 | 46% |
| Drug violations | 957.3 | 1.5 | 77% |
| Impaired driving | 933.7 | 1.5 | 99% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 522.3 | 0.8 | 10% |
Statistics Canada’s violation groups for the whole police service or detachment: incidents a year are its own, the town’s share is only estimated in the tiles. 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 50,000 people or more.
Year by year in Cité-Universitaire: steady, 2023 to 2025
Crime Severity Index
Its index peaked most recently, in 2025 (63.5); 2023 was the low point, at 62.5. Set beside it, the typical Canadian town of 50,000+ went from 64.3 in 2023 to 59.2 in 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Cité-Universitaire | Typical town of 50,000+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 63.5 | 59.2 |
| 2024 | 63 | 59.9 |
| 2023 | 62.5 | 64.3 |
Statistics Canada, Crime Severity Index by police service, each year as published. Typical: the median of Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more.
The Crime Severity Index of the police covering Cité-Universitaire, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 50,000+.
Crime in the places around Cité-Universitaire
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cité-Universitaire | 22,546 | 63 | 89.4 | B− |
| Sillery | 13,950 | 63 | 89.4 | B− |
| Plateau | 14,176 | 63 | 89.4 | B− |
| Saint-Louis | 15,792 | 63 | 89.4 | B− |
| Saint-Sacrement | 10,650 | 63 | 89.4 | B− |
| Duberger—Les Saules | 27,419 | 63 | 89.4 | B− |
| Pointe-de-Sainte-Foy | 14,541 | 63 | 89.4 | B− |
6 neighbours are on the same police service or detachment: they share the figure and aren’t compared here.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
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.”
- One figure for the city. The figures for Cité-Universitaire are city-wide: neighbourhood counts aren’t published as open data here.
- Reading the number. Its scale starts from Canada in 2006, set at 100, so a figure above 100 means more serious crime per resident than the country had then.
- Solved cases. The clearance rate is the share of incidents police solve, by a charge or otherwise, weighted by seriousness like the index. It isn’t a conviction rate.
Questions about safety in Cité-Universitaire
Is Cité-Universitaire safe?
The short answer is an index of 63 for Cité-Universitaire (2023–2025), built from 15.1 violent incidents and 22.1 property crimes a year for every 1,000 residents. Across Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more, the median is 60.3.
What is the most common crime in Cité-Universitaire?
The three biggest groups are theft under $5,000 at 8.7, assault at 6.8 and fraud at 5.9, each per 1,000 residents a year.
Is crime going up in Cité-Universitaire?
Hardly at all, from 62.5 in 2023 to 63.5 in 2025.
How much of Cité-Universitaire’s crime do police solve?
Police cleared 37% of crime once each incident is weighted by seriousness: 53% of violent crime and 26% of the rest, against 38% for the typical Canadian town of 50,000+.
Whose figures are these?
The city force’s, one set of figures for the city.
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).