Photo: Genvievegarneau2 · CC BY-SA 4.0Sherbrooke sees less crime per resident than 62% of Canadian towns
Its 6 neighbours with figures all record less crime per resident. Graded on crime the police covering Sherbrooke reported from 2023 to 2025, it scores B for safety: #226 of 503 in Quebec. Each year brought 10.3 violent incidents and 16.1 incidents of property crime for every 1,000 residents (10.8 and 25.1 in the typical town its size). Weighted by seriousness, its crime scores 54.6 on the index for 2023–2025, beside 60.3 for the typical Canadian 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 Sherbrooke
Lower than many towns its size
Set among the 40 Canadian towns closest to it in population, Sherbrooke comes 15th, counting from the lowest Crime Severity Index. Towns its size ↓
Police clear more here
The weighted clearance rate, the share of crime police solve, is 51% for Sherbrooke (64% violent, 41% non-violent), beside 38% for Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more. Questions ↓
Drug offences: high for a town its size
Sherbrooke 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 ↓
Violent crime leads the index
Sherbrooke scores 85.1 for violence and 42.9 for other crime; the typical Canadian town its size scores 75.2 and 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 Sherbrooke’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: #226 of 503 in Quebec and #703 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.
Crime in Sherbrooke, type by type
Against the typical town its size, Sherbrooke runs highest on drug offences (1.5 per 1,000 against 0.9) and sexual assault (1.1 per 1,000 against 0.8). 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 | 2.3 | 0.01 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 129 | 0.7 | 50% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 50.7 | 0.3 | 99% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 8.3 | 0.05 | 60% |
| Robbery | 47.7 | 0.3 | 78% |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 26 | 0.1 | 78% |
| Other violent violations | 45.3 | 0.2 | 71% |
| Breaking and entering | 296.3 | 1.6 | 31% |
| Possession of stolen property | 13.7 | 0.08 | 88% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 154.3 | 0.8 | 25% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 53 | 0.3 | 21% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 1,127.7 | 6.2 | 36% |
| Mischief | 381 | 2.1 | 22% |
| Weapons violations | 33 | 0.2 | 84% |
| Administration of justice violations | 1,168.7 | 6.4 | 98% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 59.3 | 0.3 | 66% |
| Drug violations | 273.3 | 1.5 | 90% |
| Impaired driving | 229.7 | 1.3 | 100% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 173 | 0.9 | 24% |
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.
Sherbrooke is 15th of 40 towns its size, lowest index first
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oakville Ontario | 243,107 | 31.4 | 28.3 | A |
| … | |||||
| 4 | Lévis Quebec | 160,882 | 34.5 | 57.5 | A |
| … | |||||
| 6 | Terrebonne Quebec | 126,872 | 41.6 | 72.5 | A− |
| … | |||||
| 12 | Bowmanville Ontario | 114,180 | 45.8 | 61.4 | A− |
| 13 | Richmond Hill Ontario | 222,031 | 52.8 | 67.4 | B+ |
| 14 | Saguenay Quebec | 151,972 | 53.3 | 87.4 | B+ |
| 15 | Sherbrooke Quebec | 184,135 | 54.6 | 85.1 | B |
| 16 | St. Catharines Ontario | 153,865 | 56.1 | 72.6 | B |
| 17 | Niagara Falls Ontario | 113,983 | 56.1 | 72.6 | B |
| 18 | Guelph Ontario | 160,760 | 56.8 | 73.1 | B |
| … | |||||
| 22 | Trois-Rivières Quebec | 149,934 | 61.5 | 93.7 | B− |
| … | |||||
| 40 | Kamloops British Columbia | 108,793 | 148.2 | 134.8 | 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 Sherbrooke in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
Sherbrooke’s police: about 1,880 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.
Add about 2,930 property crimes and 2,030 other violations a year (2023–2025 average). The grid is 1,000 residents, a coloured dot for each incident a year at these rates.
From 2023 to 2025, Sherbrooke’s index held steady
Crime Severity Index
2024 was the peak (56.4) and 2023 the trough (53.6). Over 2023–2025, the typical Canadian town its size moved from 64.3 to 59.2.
Every year as a table
| Year | Sherbrooke | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 53.8 | 59.2 |
| 2024 | 56.4 | 59.9 |
| 2023 | 53.6 | 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 Sherbrooke, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
Crime in the places around Sherbrooke
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sherbrooke | 184,135 | 54.6 | 85.1 | B |
| Hatley | 2,512 | 39.9 | 58.3 | A− |
| Waterville | 2,643 | 44.5 | 81.6 | A− |
| Ascot Corner | 3,725 | 50.5 | 89.1 | B+ |
| Stoke | 3,272 | 45 | 82.8 | A− |
| Saint-Denis-de-Brompton | 5,249 | 45 | 82.8 | A− |
| Sainte-Catherine-de-Hatley | 2,938 | 39.9 | 58.3 | A− |
Sherbrooke has the highest index of the places around it. Just 8.2 km away, Hatley comes to 39.9, against 54.6.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- What 100 means. Statistics Canada set the national index at 100 for 2006; every figure here is read against that.
- The clearance rate. A crime is cleared when police lay or recommend a charge, or solve it another way; the weighted rate counts serious crimes for more.
- Severity, weighed. 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.”
Questions about safety in Sherbrooke
Is Sherbrooke safe?
On Statistics Canada’s figures, Sherbrooke scores 54.6 on the Crime Severity Index for 2023–2025, with 10.3 violent and 16.1 property incidents per 1,000 residents a year. In the middle of Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more the figure is 60.3.
What is the most common crime in Sherbrooke?
Top of the list is other Criminal Code offences (7.1 per 1,000 residents a year); theft under $5,000, at 6.2, and fraud, at 4.7, follow.
Is crime going up in Sherbrooke?
The index stayed close to where it was, 53.6 in 2023 and 53.8 in 2025.
How much of Sherbrooke’s crime do police solve?
Police solve 64% of violent crime and 41% of everything else, 51% overall once each crime is weighted by seriousness, against 38% for the typical Canadian town its size.
Whose figures are these?
Its own police: the service or contract that covers Sherbrooke and nowhere else.
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).