Photo: SaguenayMaville · CC BY-SA 4.0Saguenay has less crime per resident than 65% of Canadian towns
Between 2023 and 2025 the severity figure fell, 53.3 to 49.8. Add to that, on crime the police covering Saguenay reported from 2023 to 2025, it grades B+ for safety: #180 of 503 in Quebec. Its police logs show 13.3 violent incidents and 16.2 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents a year, while in the typical town its size the numbers are 10.8 and 25.1. Each of the two towns on its borders with figures records less crime per resident.
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 Saguenay
More crime solved
For Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more the typical clearance rate is 38%; Saguenay’s police clear 53%, 71% of violent crime and 38% of the rest. Questions ↓
Lower than many towns its size
Of the 40 Canadian towns nearest it in size, Saguenay places 12th from the lowest index. Towns its size ↓
About the Quebec norm
Saguenay’s index of 53.3 compares with 56.1 for the typical town in Quebec. Towns its size ↓
Violence weighs more than the rest
Saguenay’s index splits into violent crime, 87.4 here and 75.2 for the typical Canadian town its size, and everything else, 40.1 against 54.2. By type ↓
Written from Statistics Canada’s police-reported crime by police service and detachment, 2023–2025. Figures are what police recorded, not convictions.
What’s behind Saguenay’s grade
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: #180 of 503 in Quebec and #639 of 2,572 Canadian towns.
The Crime Severity Index and its two halves, beside the typical figure for Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more.
What police record in Saguenay, by type
Against the typical town its size, Saguenay runs highest on sexual assault (1.1 per 1,000 against 0.8) and assault (6.1 per 1,000 against 4.9). Theft under $5,000 and motor vehicle theft sit below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0.7 | 0.00 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 61 | 0.4 | 64% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 71 | 0.5 | 97% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 14 | 0.09 | 62% |
| Robbery | 26.3 | 0.2 | 81% |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 47.3 | 0.3 | 89% |
| Other violent violations | 47.3 | 0.3 | 68% |
| Breaking and entering | 314.7 | 2.1 | 29% |
| Possession of stolen property | 30.3 | 0.2 | 72% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 127.3 | 0.8 | 28% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 61.7 | 0.4 | 13% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 925.7 | 6.1 | 28% |
| Mischief | 316.7 | 2.1 | 21% |
| Weapons violations | 34.7 | 0.2 | 78% |
| Administration of justice violations | 510 | 3.3 | 89% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 55 | 0.4 | 68% |
| Drug violations | 108 | 0.7 | 75% |
| Impaired driving | 227 | 1.5 | 97% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 17.3 | 0.1 | 29% |
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.
Saguenay is 12th of 40 towns its size, lowest index first
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Burlington Ontario | 197,737 | 31.4 | 28.3 | A |
| … | |||||
| 3 | Lévis Quebec | 160,882 | 34.5 | 57.5 | A |
| … | |||||
| 5 | Terrebonne Quebec | 126,872 | 41.6 | 72.5 | A− |
| … | |||||
| 9 | Pickering Ontario | 118,378 | 45.8 | 61.4 | A− |
| 10 | Bowmanville Ontario | 114,180 | 45.8 | 61.4 | A− |
| 11 | Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu Quebec | 100,806 | 53.1 | 81 | B+ |
| 12 | Saguenay Quebec | 151,972 | 53.3 | 87.4 | B+ |
| 13 | Sherbrooke Quebec | 184,135 | 54.6 | 85.1 | B |
| 14 | St. Catharines Ontario | 153,865 | 56.1 | 72.6 | B |
| 15 | Niagara Falls Ontario | 113,983 | 56.1 | 72.6 | B |
| … | |||||
| 20 | Trois-Rivières Quebec | 149,934 | 61.5 | 93.7 | B− |
| … | |||||
| 40 | Victoria British Columbia | 103,888 | 161.3 | 160.1 | 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 Saguenay in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
Saguenay, year by year
Crime Severity Index
It rose to 56.8 in 2024 before easing, with the low of 49.8 in 2025. The typical Canadian town its size went from 64.3 in 2023 to 59.2 in 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Saguenay | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 49.8 | 59.2 |
| 2024 | 56.8 | 59.9 |
| 2023 | 53.3 | 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 Saguenay, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
Saguenay’s police: about 2,030 violent incidents a year over 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 2,470 property crimes, plus 1,040 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 Saguenay
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saguenay | 151,972 | 53.3 | 87.4 | B+ |
| Saint-Fulgence | 2,202 | 48.7 | 80 | B+ |
| Saint-Honoré | 6,984 | 48.7 | 80 | B+ |
The places around Saguenay all score lower on the index. The nearest of them, Saint-Fulgence (13.6 km away), scores 48.7 against 53.3.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 100 is Canada in 2006. 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.
- Cleared, not convicted. 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.
- What the index measures. The index weighs crimes rather than counting them: a serious offence moves it far more than a minor one. Statistics Canada is plain about its limits: “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
Questions about safety in Saguenay
Is Saguenay safe?
Against a typical 60.3 for Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more, Saguenay’s Crime Severity Index stands at 53.3 for 2023–2025. Its police record 13.3 violent incidents and 16.2 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year.
What is the most common crime in Saguenay?
Most often it is theft under $5,000: 6.1 per 1,000 residents a year. Next come assault at 6.1 and other Criminal Code offences at 4.2.
Is crime going up in Saguenay?
Down 7%: 53.3 in 2023, 49.8 in 2025.
How much of Saguenay’s crime do police solve?
53%, by the weighted clearance rate, where the typical Canadian town its size manages 38%. Violent crime is cleared at 71% and non-violent crime at 38%.
Whose figures are these?
They are Saguenay’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) · 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).