Photo: ipatboy (Patrick) · CC BY-SA 2.0Sayabec has less crime per resident than 64% of Canadian towns
Year on year, 12.8 violent incidents and 11.7 incidents of property crime occur per 1,000 residents, compared with 12.0 and 31.2 in the typical Canadian town of 2,500+. From 2023 to 2025, crime the police covering Sayabec reported put it at B for safety. Its Crime Severity Index averaged 53.7 over 2023–2025, against 67.2 for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
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. Not measured by town: crime severity, crime rate and incident counts (the Matapédia MRC).
What stands out about safety in Sayabec
Lighter than in 2023
Sayabec’s index went from 70.3 in 2023 to 44.5 in 2025; the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ moved from 70.6 to 62.9. Year by year ↓
Above-typical clearance
The weighted clearance rate, the share of crime police solve, is 63% for Sayabec (86% violent, 38% non-violent), beside 34% for Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more. Questions ↓
Much like Quebec’s towns
Within Quebec, the median town comes to 56.1 on the index, against 53.7 in Sayabec. Towns its size ↓
Violent crime leads the index
Sayabec scores 103.9 for violence and 34.2 for other crime; the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ scores 86.4 and 62.8. By type ↓
Written from Statistics Canada’s police-reported crime by police service and detachment, 2023–2025. Figures are what police recorded, not convictions.
The grade: B for Sayabec
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.
Sayabec’s index fell 37% from 2023 to 2025
Crime Severity Index
From 70.3 in 2023, its first and heaviest year, it eased to a low of 44.5 in 2025. For the typical Canadian town of 2,500+, 2023 gave 70.6 and 2025 gave 62.9.
Every year as a table
| Year | Sayabec | Typical town of 2,500+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 44.5 | 62.9 |
| 2024 | 46.4 | 68.5 |
| 2023 | 70.3 | 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 Sayabec, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
Crime in Sayabec, 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 | 1 | 0.06 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 14 | 0.8 | 57% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 4.3 | 0.2 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 0.7 | 0.04 | — |
| Robbery | 0 | 0 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 1.7 | 0.09 | — |
| Other violent violations | 2.7 | 0.2 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 26.3 | 1.5 | 30% |
| Possession of stolen property | 2 | 0.1 | — |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 14.3 | 0.8 | 16% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 7.7 | 0.4 | 13% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 55 | 3.1 | 45% |
| Mischief | 40 | 2.2 | 35% |
| Weapons violations | 3.7 | 0.2 | — |
| Administration of justice violations | 47.7 | 2.7 | 98% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 5.7 | 0.3 | 75% |
| Drug violations | 15 | 0.8 | 93% |
| Impaired driving | 27 | 1.5 | 93% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 31.3 | 1.8 | 12% |
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.
Around 230 violent incidents a year in the 17,800-resident police area around Sayabec, 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 210 property crimes and 140 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 Sayabec
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sayabec | 1,763 | 53.7 | 103.9 | B |
| Amqui (21 km) | 6,059 | 53.7 | 103.9 | B |
| Saint-Ulric (25 km) | 1,658 | 53.9 | 85.4 | B |
| Sainte-Angèle-de-Mérici (29 km) | 1,005 | 67.8 | 133.2 | B− |
| Lac-au-Saumon (29 km) | 1,485 | 53.7 | 103.9 | B |
The places around Sayabec all score higher on the index. 2 neighbours report through the same police, so their figure is this one and they aren’t compared.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means. Sayabec has few close neighbours with figures, so the list reaches 21–29 km out.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- What clearance means. A crime is cleared when police lay or recommend a charge, or solve it another way; the weighted rate counts serious crimes for more.
- An index, not a verdict. Police-reported incidents, each multiplied by a weight drawn from court sentences, summed and divided by the population: that is the index, and its makers attach a caution, “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
- Policed as an MRC. Where the Sûreté du Québec polices, Statistics Canada publishes one figure per MRC; Sayabec shares it with its neighbours.
- The index’s scale. 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.
Questions about safety in Sayabec
Is Sayabec safe?
A Crime Severity Index of 53.7 (2023–2025), set beside a median of 67.2 for Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more: that is where Sayabec stands, with 12.8 violent and 11.7 property incidents per 1,000 residents a year.
What is the most common crime in Sayabec?
Top of the list is assault (4.5 per 1,000 residents a year); Criminal Code traffic offences, at 3.8, and other Criminal Code offences, at 3.4, follow.
Is crime going up in Sayabec?
Down 37%: 70.3 in 2023, 44.5 in 2025.
How much of Sayabec’s crime do police solve?
Counting serious crimes for more, 63% end in a charge or are otherwise solved (34% for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+); split up, that is 86% of violent and 38% of non-violent crime.
Whose figures are these?
Those of the police serving Sayabec together with its neighbours or the countryside around it.
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).