Photo: Cantons-de-l'Est · CC0Crime per resident in Saint-Nazaire runs lower than in 69% of Canadian towns
The grade is B+, built on crime the police covering Saint-Nazaire reported from 2023 to 2025. Out of every 1,000 residents, 12.1 violent incidents and 11.6 incidents of property crime are reported annually, against 12.0 and 31.2 in the typical Canadian town of 2,500+. Violence accounts for an index of 81.8 and other offences for 37.1, against usual levels of 86.4 and 62.8.
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. The crime severity, crime rate and incident counts numbers here cover the Lac-Saint-Jean-Est MRC.
What stands out about safety in Saint-Nazaire
A high clearance rate
The weighted clearance rate, the share of crime police solve, is 59% for Saint-Nazaire (73% violent, 46% non-violent), beside 34% for Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more. Questions ↓
Violence weighs more than the rest
Saint-Nazaire scores 81.8 for violence and 37.1 for other crime; the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ scores 86.4 and 62.8. By type ↓
Lighter than in 2023
From 51.8 in 2023 to 43.2 in 2025: that is Saint-Nazaire’s index, against 70.6 and 62.9 for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+. Year by year ↓
Near the Quebec middle
Within Quebec, the median town comes to 56.1 on the index, against 49.6 in Saint-Nazaire. 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.
What’s behind Saint-Nazaire’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.
The Crime Severity Index and its two halves, beside the typical figure for Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more.
Crime in Saint-Nazaire, type by type
Fraud and theft under $5,000 sit below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0.3 | 0.01 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 42.7 | 0.8 | 56% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 15 | 0.3 | 95% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 1.3 | 0.03 | — |
| Robbery | 7.3 | 0.1 | 92% |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 6 | 0.1 | 95% |
| Other violent violations | 9.7 | 0.2 | 62% |
| Breaking and entering | 109.3 | 2 | 40% |
| Possession of stolen property | 11.7 | 0.2 | 85% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 60.7 | 1.1 | 36% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 15.7 | 0.3 | 13% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 170.7 | 3.2 | 34% |
| Mischief | 92 | 1.7 | 31% |
| Weapons violations | 10.3 | 0.2 | 75% |
| Administration of justice violations | 135.7 | 2.5 | 94% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 22.7 | 0.4 | 85% |
| Drug violations | 72.3 | 1.3 | 70% |
| Impaired driving | 94 | 1.8 | 92% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 64.7 | 1.2 | 17% |
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 people or more.
From 2023 to 2025, Saint-Nazaire’s index dropped 17%
Crime Severity Index
It rose to 53.7 in 2024 before easing, with the low of 43.2 in 2025. The typical Canadian town of 2,500+ went from 70.6 in 2023 to 62.9 in 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Saint-Nazaire | Typical town of 2,500+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 43.2 | 62.9 |
| 2024 | 53.7 | 68.5 |
| 2023 | 51.8 | 70.6 |
Statistics Canada, Crime Severity Index by police service, each year as published. Typical: the median of Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more.
The Crime Severity Index of the police covering Saint-Nazaire, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
About 650 violent incidents a year across the police area of 53,800 residents that includes Saint-Nazaire, 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.
Property crime adds about 620 a year and other violations 430 (2023–2025 average). Of 1,000 dots, one per resident, the coloured ones are a year’s incidents at these rates.
Crime in the places around Saint-Nazaire
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saint-Nazaire | 2,167 | 49.6 | 81.8 | B+ |
| Alma | 30,659 | 49.6 | 81.8 | B+ |
| Labrecque | 1,375 | 49.6 | 81.8 | B+ |
| Saint-Bruno | 2,935 | 49.6 | 81.8 | B+ |
| L'Ascension-de-Notre-Seigneur | 2,291 | 49.6 | 81.8 | B+ |
| Larouche | 1,734 | 48.7 | 80 | B+ |
| Saint-Gédéon | 2,349 | 49.6 | 81.8 | B+ |
5 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.”
- The whole MRC. The Sûreté du Québec’s figures are for its MRC as a whole, not for Saint-Nazaire alone.
- 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 Saint-Nazaire
Is Saint-Nazaire safe?
The short answer is an index of 49.6 for Saint-Nazaire (2023–2025), built from 12.1 violent incidents and 11.6 property crimes a year for every 1,000 residents. The typical figure for Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more is 67.2.
What is the most common crime in Saint-Nazaire?
Top of the list is assault (5.5 per 1,000 residents a year); other Criminal Code offences, at 3.4, and Criminal Code traffic offences, at 3.3, follow.
Is crime going up in Saint-Nazaire?
Over 2023–2025 the index dropped 17%, to 43.2 from 51.8.
How much of Saint-Nazaire’s crime do police solve?
Police solve 73% of violent crime and 46% of everything else, 59% overall once each crime is weighted by seriousness, against 34% for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
Whose figures are these?
A shared service or detachment’s, reported as one for Saint-Nazaire and everywhere else it polices.
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).