Photo: Wilfredor · CC0Québec’s Crime Severity Index sits close to the typical Canadian town its size
Its violent half comes to 89.4 and its non-violent half to 53, where the norm is 75.2 and 54.2. None of the 6 towns next door with figures records less crime per resident. Violence and property crime split as 15.1 violent incidents and 22.1 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents a year, beside 10.8 and 25.1 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.
What stands out about safety in Québec
Drug offences: high for a town its size
Québec records 1.5 incidents of drug offences per 1,000 residents a year, against 0.9 in the typical town among Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more. By type ↓
Close to Quebec’s typical town
Québec’s index of 63 compares with 56.1 for the typical town in Quebec. 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.
Québec’s Safety Grade is still to come
Canada’s letters aren’t in yet; they arrive with one grading run for the whole country, and until then the figures speak for themselves.
Crime Severity Index
Violent crime index
Non-violent crime index
Typical: the median of Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more, 2023–2025 means. City neighbourhoods count, each with its city’s figure; city totals and reserves don’t.
The Crime Severity Index and its two halves, beside the typical figure for Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more.
Québec’s crime by kind
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 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 50,000 people or more.
Year by year in Québec: steady, 2023 to 2025
Crime Severity Index
Its most recent year, 2025, was also its heaviest (63.5); the lightest was 2023 (62.5). The typical Canadian town its size went from 64.3 in 2023 to 59.2 in 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Québec | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 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 Québec, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
Around 9,380 violent incidents a year on Québec’s police records (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 13,800 property crimes and 5,490 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 Québec
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Québec | 592,658 | 63 | 89.4 | — |
| Neufchatel Est—Lebourgneuf | 37,164 | 63 | 89.4 | B− |
| Charlesbourg | 9,660 | 63 | 89.4 | B− |
| Saint-Rodrigue | 12,018 | 63 | 89.4 | B− |
| Duberger—Les Saules | 27,419 | 63 | 89.4 | B− |
| Vanier | 13,494 | 63 | 89.4 | B− |
| Lairet | 15,251 | 63 | 89.4 | B− |
Each neighbour with its own figure comes in over Québec.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Severity, weighed. Statistics Canada builds the index from every crime police record, weighted by how seriously the courts treat it, and divides by the population. It adds a warning of its own: “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
- What 100 means. 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.
- The clearance rate. 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 Québec
Is Québec safe?
Québec scores 63 on Statistics Canada’s Crime Severity Index (2023–2025 mean), where the typical figure for Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more is 60.3; per 1,000 residents a year that is 15.1 violent incidents and 22.1 property crimes.
What is the most common crime in Québec?
Most often it is theft under $5,000: 8.7 per 1,000 residents a year. Next come assault at 6.8 and fraud at 5.9.
Is crime going up in Québec?
It held about level between 2023 and 2025, 62.5 to 63.5.
How much of Québec’s crime do police solve?
About 37% of crime is cleared, weighted by seriousness, with 53% of violent and 26% of other crime; the figure for the typical Canadian town its size is 38%.
Whose figures are these?
They are Québec’s own: its police cover the town and no other.
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). 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).