Safe Cities profile series: Key indicators by census metropolitan area
Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo, Ontario

Release date: May 15, 2020

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Satisfaction with safety

Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo 92%, Ontario 89%, Canada 88%*

proportion of people who reported being satisfied with their personal safety from crime in 2014

* significantly different from Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo (p < 0.05)

Police-reported violent crime rate in 2018

Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo 1,181, Ontario 899, Canada 1,143

rate per 100,000 population

Ten-year change in police-reported crime rate (2008 to 2018)

Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo +6%, Ontario -16%, Canada, -17%

Population and demographics

Map showing the location of Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo, Ontario

Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo, Ontario

Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo was home to 567,740 people in 2018, and it had a high density population of 520 residents per square kilometre. Three in ten (31%) residents were aged 24 and younger, similar to the distribution in Ontario (29%) and across Canada (28%).

About 1.7% of Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo residents were part of the Indigenous population (First Nations, Métis and Inuit) in 2016, lower than Ontario (2.8%) and much lower than Canada (4.9%). Immigrants represented nearly one in four (23%) residents, lower than Ontario (29%) but similar to Canada (22%). One in eight (12%) immigrants in Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo were recent immigrants (since 2011), similar to Ontario (12%) but lower than Canada (16%). While there was a notably smaller proportion of people who identified as a visible minority in Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo (19%) than Ontario (29%), it was closer to the proportion in Canada overall (22%).

Education, employment and income

In 2016, nearly two in three (63%) Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo residents aged 25 to 64 had completed some form of postsecondary education, one in four (26%) had completed high school (or equivalent) as their highest level of education, and one in ten (11%) had completed neither.

In 2018, the unemployment rate in Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo (5.1%) was slightly lower than in Ontario (5.6%) and Canada’s provinces (5.8%). Households in Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo earned a median after-tax annual income of $57,290 in 2017, higher than in Ontario ($53,850) and Canada ($52,090). The percentage of families considered low-income was somewhat lower in Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo (14%) than in Ontario (17%) and Canada (17%).

Housing and families

On average, there were 2.6 persons per household in Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo in 2016, similar to Ontario (2.6) and Canada (2.4). Most (68%) households in Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo owned their homes, on par with Ontario (70%) and Canada (68%). When a household spends 30% or more of its income on shelter costs, it is considered to live in unaffordable housing: this was the case for one in four (24%) Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo households, slightly lower than in Ontario (28%) but the same as Canada (24%). A small proportion (5.0%) of occupied private dwellings in Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo were in need of major repairs, lower than Ontario (6.1%) and Canada (6.5%). About one-sixth (16%) of Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo families were lone-parent families, on par with Ontario (17%) and Canada (16%).

Community safety and sense of belonging

In 2014, more than two in five (44%) Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo residents aged 15 and older were very satisfied with their personal safety from crime, which was not significantly different from Ontario residents (40%) and Canadians living in the provinces overall (38%).
Over half (55%) of Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo residents felt very safe when walking alone after dark, not significantly different than Ontario (51%) and Canada’s provinces (52%).
- Women who lived in Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo were significantly less likely than men to feel very safe when walking alone after dark (42% versus 63%), similar to Ontario and Canada’s provinces.
One in five (19%) Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo residents thought social disorder was a big or moderate problem in their neighbourhood, similar to Ontario (21%) and Canada’s provinces (22%).
One-fifth (20%) of Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo residents said they had a very strong sense of belonging to their community, which was not significantly different from Ontario (25%) and Canada’s provinces (25%).
Over a six-year period (2009 to 2014), 16% of Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo residents experienced discrimination, similar to Ontario (15%) and Canada’s provinces (13%).
About 22% of Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo residents said they knew most people in their neighbourhood in 2014, similar to Ontario (20%) and Canada’s provinces (21%).
The large majority (77%) of Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo residents thought crime levels in their neighbourhood were lower than the rest of Canada, similar to Ontario (76%) and Canada’s provinces (74%).
The vast majority (94%) of Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo residents reported having confidence in police in 2014, which was similar to the proportion in Ontario (91%) and Canada’s provinces (91%).

Self-reported experiences of victimization

In 2018, just over one in five (22%) Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo residents aged 15 and older experienced unwanted sexual behaviour in public, which was not significantly different than Ontario (25%) and Canada’s provinces (23%).
- In Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo, the difference between the proportion of women and men who experienced unwanted sexual behaviour in public was not significant (29% versus 16%).
- Of those who experienced unwanted sexual behaviour in public in 2018, three in five (60%) Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo residents changed their behaviour while in public as a result, as did half of those in Ontario (52%) and those in Canada’s provinces (50%).

Police-reported crime

In 2018, Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo police reported an overall crime rate of 5,493 incidents per 100,000 population, 34% higher than in Ontario (4,113) and virtually the same (less than 1% higher) as Canada (5,488).
Over the past decade (2008 to 2018), police-reported crime increased by 6% in Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo, while a decline was seen in Ontario (-16%) and Canada (-17%).
The severity of crime in Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo increased by 6% between 2017 and 2018, mostly due to an increase in breaking and entering, fraud and theft of $5,000 or under (non-shoplifting). Over the past decade (2008 to 2018), the severity of crime in Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo increased by 7%, compared with a 15% decline in Ontario and a 17% decline in Canada.

Property crime

Police-reported: There were 3,398 property crimes per 100,000 population reported by police in Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo in 2018, 30% higher than in Ontario (2,621) and 2% higher than Canada (3,339).

Violent crime

In 2018, there were 1,181 incidents of violent crime per 100,000 population reported by police in Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo, 31% higher than Ontario (899) and 3% higher than Canada overall (1,143).
- Just over half of victims of violent crime were female in Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo (52%), Ontario (53%) and Canada (53%).
Between 2008 and 2018:
- The violent crime rate in Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo increased by 31%, while there was a decline seen in Ontario (-14%) and Canada (-14%).
- The severity of violent crime in Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo increased by 30%, while there was a decline in Ontario (-11%) and Canada (-13%).
Violent crime against girls and women increased to a slightly larger extent in Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo than violent crime against boys and men between 2009 and 2018 (+23% versus +20%).

Hate crime

The police-reported hate crime rate—which depends on police services' level of expertise in identifying crimes motivated by hate—was higher in Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo (6.7 incidents per 100,000 population) than in Ontario (5.3) and Canada (4.9) in 2018.
Between 2014 and 2018, the rate of police-reported hate crime in Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo increased by 29%, a larger increase than in Ontario (+10%) but smaller than in Canada (+33%).

Intimate partner violence

There were 345 victims of intimate partner violence per 100,000 population aged 15 and older reported by police in Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo in 2018, 42% higher than Ontario (243) and 7% higher than Canada (323).
The large majority (77%) of victims of police-reported intimate partner violence in Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo were female, slightly lower than in Ontario (81%) and Canada (79%).
Same-sex partners accounted for 2.7% of police-reported intimate partner violence in Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo between 2009 and 2018, lower than in Ontario (4.2%) and Canada (3.4%).

Homicide

In 2018, Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo had 7 homicides—a rate of 1.21 per 100,000 population—lower than Ontario (1.86) and Canada (1.76).
Of the 7 homicide victims in Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo, 2 were female (29%). This was slightly higher than the proportion in Ontario (27%) and Canada (25%).
The number of homicides in Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo increased from 4 victims in 2008 to 7 victims in 2018.

Charts and tables

Chart 1 start

Chart 1 Police-reported violent and non-violent Crime Severity Indexes, census metropolitan area of Hamilton, Ontario and Canada, 1998 to 2018

Data table for Chart 1

Data table for Chart 1
Table summary
This table displays the results of Data table for Chart 1. The information is grouped by Year (appearing as row headers), Violent Crime Severity Index, Non-violent Crime Severity Index, Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo, Ontario and Canada, calculated using index units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Year	Violent Crime Severity Index			Non-violent Crime Severity Index
	Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo	Ontario	Canada	Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo	Ontario	Canada
	index
1998	73	85	98	111	107	127
1999	61	83	99	106	96	116
2000	66	85	98	95	91	110
2001	58	85	97	89	87	108
2002	54	82	96	91	85	107
2003	56	81	98	87	84	110
2004	72	79	96	89	78	107
2005	62	83	99	85	74	102
2006	72	87	100	82	75	100
2007	67	86	98	73	70	94
2008	61	82	95	72	67	89
2009	66	82	94	78	64	85
2010	70	78	89	68	61	81
2011	72	73	86	61	57	75
2012	62	70	82	58	55	73
2013	58	62	74	57	49	67
2014	52	58	71	57	47	65
2015	55	60	75	62	48	68
2016	60	65	77	61	49	70
2017	73	70	81	68	51	71
2018	79	73	82	72	55	72
Note: Crime Severity Indexes are based on Criminal Code incidents, including traffic offences, as well as other federal statute violations. The base index was set at 100 for 2006 for Canada. Data on the Crime Severity Indexes are available as of 1998. Populations are based on July 1 estimates from Statistics Canada, Centre for Demography. Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Centre for Justice and Community Safety Statistics, Uniform Crime Reporting Survey, Aggregate Database.

Chart 1 end

Chart 2 start

Chart 2 Police-reported violent crime, by sex of victim, census metropolitan area of Hamilton, Ontario and Canada, 2009 to 2018

Data table for Chart 2

Data table for Chart 2
Table summary
This table displays the results of Data table for Chart 2. The information is grouped by Year (appearing as row headers), Female victims, Male victims, Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo, Ontario and Canada, calculated using rate per 100,000 population units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Year	Female victims			Male victims
	Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo	Ontario	Canada	Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo	Ontario	Canada
	rate per 100,000 population
2009	975	937	1,206	909	940	1,202
2010	997	917	1,209	1,002	913	1,162
2011	987	872	1,124	961	859	1,087
2012	904	824	1,079	907	809	1,048
2013	865	771	1,004	831	726	947
2014	814	721	952	695	675	898
2015	814	729	970	767	687	914
2016	857	741	978	798	708	910
2017	1,062	790	1,019	931	739	926
2018	1,197	834	1,048	1,086	766	936
Note: Crime rates are based on Criminal Code incidents, excluding traffic offences. Counts are based on the most serious violation in the incident. One incident may involve multiple offences. Rates are calculated on the basis of 100,000 population. Populations are based on July 1 estimates from Statistics Canada, Centre for Demography. Excludes victims where the sex was reported as unknown. Victims refer to those aged 89 and younger. Victims aged 90 and older are excluded due to possible instances of miscoding of unknown age within this age category. For a list of offences included in violent crime see Table 2. Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Centre for Justice and Community Safety Statistics, Uniform Crime Reporting Survey, Trend Database.

Chart 2 end

Chart 3 start

Chart 3 Police-reported property crime, census metropolitan area of Hamilton, Ontario and Canada, 2009 to 2018

Data table for Chart 3

Data table for Chart 3
Table summary
This table displays the results of Data table for Chart 3. The information is grouped by Year (appearing as row headers), Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo, Ontario and Canada, calculated using rate per 100,000 population units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Year	Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo	Ontario	Canada
Year	rate per 100,000 population
2009	3,930	3,193	4,122
2010	3,381	2,968	3,838
2011	3,151	2,760	3,536
2012	3,079	2,648	3,438
2013	2,937	2,365	3,154
2014	2,902	2,281	3,100
2015	3,116	2,290	3,231
2016	2,969	2,315	3,239
2017	3,193	2,428	3,266
2018	3,398	2,621	3,339
Note: Crime rates are based on Criminal Code incidents, excluding traffic offences. Counts are based on the most serious violation in the incident. One incident may involve multiple offences. Rates are calculated on the basis of 100,000 population. Populations are based on July 1 estimates from Statistics Canada, Centre for Demography. For a list of offences included in property crime see Table 3. Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Centre for Justice and Community Safety Statistics, Uniform Crime Reporting Survey, Aggregate Database.

Chart 3 end

Table 1 start

Table 1
Police-reported crime rate for selected offences, census metropolitan area of Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo, Ontario and Canada, 2018
Table summary
This table displays the results of Police-reported crime rate for selected offences. The information is grouped by Type of offence (appearing as row headers), Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, Percent difference between Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo and Ontario and Percent difference between Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo and Canada, calculated using rate units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Type of offence	Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo	Ontario	Canada	Percent difference between Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo and Ontario	Percent difference between Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo and Canada
Type of offence	rate
Total crime (excluding traffic)	5,493	4,113	5,488	34	0.1
Total violent crime	1,181	899	1,143	31	3
Violations causing death and attempted murder	2	5	4	-57	-51
Sexual assault and sexual violations against children^{Table 1 Note 1}	113	91	101	25	12
Assaults^{Table 1 Note 2}	654	500	649	31	0.8
Other violent offences	412	303	389	36	6
Total property crime	3,398	2,621	3,339	30	2
Breaking and entering	474	319	431	48	10
Theft^{Table 1 Note 3}	1,836	1,506	1,720	22	7
Fraud	559	381	402	47	39
Mischief^{Table 1 Note 4}	431	372	699	16	-38
Other property crime offences	99	43	86	128	15
*Total other Criminal Code* offences**	913	593	1,006	54	-9
*Total Criminal Code* traffic offences**	152	199	339	-23	-55
Total alcohol-impaired driving^{Table 1 Note 5}	85	92	178	-7	-52
Total drug-impaired driving^{Table 1 Note 6}	6	6	12	-3	-49
Alcohol and drug-impaired driving^{Table 1 Note 7}	0	0.6	0.7	-100	-100
Impaired driving (not specified)^{Table 1 Note 7}	0.7	0.4	0.3	80	172
Other Criminal Code traffic offences	60	99	148	-40	-60
Total drug offences	160	146	225	10	-29
Total other federal statute offences	10	29	70	-67	-86
Total all offences	5,815	4,487	6,123	30	-5
Note 1 Includes sexual assault (level 1, 2 and 3), sexual interference, invitation to sexual touching, sexual exploitation, making sexually explicit material available to children, and the offences of parent or guardian procuring sexual activity, luring a child by means of telecommunication, agreement or arrangement (sexual offence against a child) and bestiality (in presence of, or incites a child). Excludes incidents of child pornography. Return to note 1 referrer Note 2 Includes assault (level 1, 2 and 3), assault against a peace officer, unlawfully causing bodily harm, criminal negligence causing bodily harm and other assaults. Return to note 2 referrer Note 3 Includes total theft of motor vehicle, total theft over $5,000 (non-motor vehicle) and total theft of $5,000 or under (non-motor vehicle). Return to note 3 referrer Note 4 Includes altering, removing or destroying a vehicle identification number. Return to note 4 referrer Note 5 Includes alcohol-impaired operation of a vehicle, alcohol-impaired operation of a vehicle causing death or bodily harm, failure or refusal to comply with testing for the presence of alcohol and failure or refusal to provide a breath or blood sample. In some jurisdictions, impaired driving incidents that meet the elements of the Criminal Code may be handled using a provincial statute. Collection of these incidents is not within the scope of the Uniform Crime Reporting Survey. Return to note 5 referrer Note 6 Includes drug-impaired operation of a vehicle, drug-impaired operation of a vehicle causing death or bodily harm, failure or refusal to comply with testing for the presence of drugs and failure or refusal to provide a breath or blood sample. In some jurisdictions, impaired driving incidents that meet the elements of the Criminal Code may be handled using a provincial statute. Collection of these incidents is not within the scope of the Uniform Crime Reporting Survey. Return to note 6 referrer Note 7 Reflects new impaired driving offences as per Bill C-46, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (offences relating to conveyances) and to make consequential amendments to other Acts, which came into effect part way through 2018. Return to note 7 referrer Note: Crime rates are based on Criminal Code incidents, including traffic offences, as well as other federal statute violations. Counts are based on the most serious violation in the incident. One incident may involve multiple offences. Rates are calculated on the basis of 100,000 population. Populations are based on July 1 estimates from Statistics Canada, Centre for Demography. Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Centre for Justice and Community Safety Statistics, Uniform Crime Reporting Survey, Aggregate Database.

Table 1 end

Table 2 start

Table 2
Police-reported violent crime rate for selected offences, by sex of victim, census metropolitan area of Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo, Ontario and Canada, 2018
Table summary
This table displays the results of Police-reported violent crime rate for selected offences. The information is grouped by Type of offence (appearing as row headers), Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, Female victims and Male victims, calculated using rate units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Type of offence	Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo		Ontario		Canada
	Female victims	Male victims	Female victims	Male victims	Female victims	Male victims
	rate
Total violent crime	1,197	1,086	834	766	1,048	936
Violations causing death and attempted murder	1	3	3	7	2	6
Homicide	0.7	2	1	3	0.9	3
Other violations causing death^{Table 2 Note 1}	0	0	0.3	0.4	0.3	0.3
Attempted murder	0.3	1	1	4	1	3
Sexual offences	199	25	152	22	170	23
Sexual assault	153	16	130	17	134	16
Sexual assault – level 3 – aggravated	1	0	0.4	0.1	0.7	0.1
Sexual assault – level 2 – weapon or bodily harm	1	0	2	0.5	2	0.4
Sexual assault – level 1	150	16	128	17	131	16
Sexual violations against children^{Table 2 Note 2}	46	9	22	5	36	7
Assaults	607	696	467	510	613	644
Physical assault	589	622	456	463	599	590
Assault – level 3 – aggravated	3	8	4	10	6	13
Assault – level 2 – weapon or bodily harm	121	176	83	126	111	173
Assault – level 1	465	438	369	327	483	404
Assault against a peace officer	9	40	7	37	10	48
Other assaults	9	35	4	10	4	7
Other violent offences	389	362	213	227	263	262
Firearms – use of, discharge, pointing	2	4	2	6	2	6
Robbery	27	70	27	83	31	75
Forcible confinement or kidnapping	25	5	12	2	15	3
Trafficking in persons^{Table 2 Note 3}	2	0	2	0^sNote: value rounded to 0 (zero) where there is a meaningful distinction between true zero and the value that was rounded. A “0” represents a true zero value.	1	0^sNote: value rounded to 0 (zero) where there is a meaningful distinction between true zero and the value that was rounded. A “0” represents a true zero value.
Extortion	6	19	4	7	6	9
Criminal harassment	140	48	52	16	53	17
Uttering threats	158	210	85	102	114	134
Indecent or harassing communications	11	3	16	8	22	9
Non-consensual distribution of intimate images	7	1	5	0.8	7	1
Commodification of sexual activity^{Table 2 Note 4}	0	0	0.6	0^sNote: value rounded to 0 (zero) where there is a meaningful distinction between true zero and the value that was rounded. A “0” represents a true zero value.	1	0.1
Other violent offences	10	2	6	3	10	8
Total traffic offences	2	2	2	3	16	21
Traffic violations causing death	0	0.3	0.3	0.7	0.4	0.9
Traffic violations causing bodily harm	2	2	2	3	6	7
Traffic violations – injury unspecified or unknown^{Table 2 Note 5}	0	0	0.1	0	9	12
0^s value rounded to 0 (zero) where there is a meaningful distinction between true zero and the value that was rounded. A “0” represents a true zero value. Note 1 Includes, for example, criminal negligence causing death. Return to note 1 referrer Note 2 Includes sexual interference, invitation to sexual touching, sexual exploitation, making sexually explicit material available to children and the offences of parent or guardian procuring sexual activity, luring a child by means of telecommunication, agreement or arrangement (sexual offence against a child) and bestiality (in presence of, or incites a child). Excludes sexual assaults against children and youth, which are reported as level 1, 2 or 3 sexual assault, and incidents of child pornography. Return to note 2 referrer Note 3 Includes four specific indictable offences to address human trafficking, namely sections 279.01 (trafficking in persons), 279.011 (trafficking of a person under the age of 18), 279.02 (material benefit) and 279.03 (withholding or destroying documents). Return to note 3 referrer Note 4 As of December 2014, new offences classified as “commodification of sexual activity” under “violent crime” include: the purchasing of sexual services or communicating for that purpose, receiving a material benefit deriving from the purchase of sexual services, procuring of persons for the purpose of prostitution and advertising sexual services offered for sale. Return to note 4 referrer Note 5 Includes failure to stop after an accident and failure to stop or remain (expired 2011-04-28). Return to note 5 referrer Note: Crime rates are based on Criminal Code incidents, excluding traffic offences. Counts are based on the most serious violation in the incident. One incident may involve multiple offences. Rates are calculated on the basis of 100,000 population. Populations are based on July 1 estimates from Statistics Canada, Centre for Demography. Excludes victims where the sex was reported as unknown. Victims refer to those aged 89 and younger. Victims aged 90 and older are excluded due to possible instances of miscoding of unknown age within this age category. Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Centre for Justice and Community Safety Statistics, Uniform Crime Reporting Survey, Trend Database.

Table 2 end

Table 3 start

Table 3
Police-reported crime for selected offences, census metropolitan area of Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo, Ontario and Canada, 2018
Table summary
This table displays the results of Police-reported crime for selected offences. The information is grouped by Type of offence (appearing as row headers), Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo, Ontario and Canada, calculated using number and rate units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Type of offence	Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo		Ontario		Canada
Type of offence	number	rate	number	rate	number	rate
Total non-violent crime	26,835	4,634	513,941	3,588	1,845,269	4,979
Total property crime	19,682	3,398	375,402	2,621	1,237,324	3,339
Breaking and entering	2,745	474	45,736	319	159,812	431
Possess stolen property^{Table 3 Note 1}	485	84	4,854	34	23,898	64
Theft of motor vehicle	1,014	175	23,952	167	86,132	232
Theft over $5,000 (non-motor vehicle)	220	38	5,887	41	20,113	54
Theft of $5,000 or under (non-motor vehicle)	9,397	1,623	185,837	1,297	531,312	1,434
Fraud	2,590	447	49,193	343	129,409	349
Identity theft	104	18	426	3	3,745	10
Identity fraud	542	94	4,907	34	15,839	43
Mischief^{Table 3 Note 2}	2,497	431	53,236	372	259,064	699
Arson	88	15	1,374	10	8,000	22
Total other offences	5,289	913	84,959	593	372,834	1,006
Weapons violations	231	40	4,415	31	16,610	45
Child pornography^{Table 3 Note 3}	52	9	1,669	12	5,843	16
Prostitution^{Table 3 Note 4}	0	0	29	0.2	110	0.3
Terrorism	0	0	58	0.4	102	0.3
Disturb the peace	20	3	5,075	35	94,378	255
Administration of justice offences	4,484	774	66,876	467	226,864	612
Other offences	502	87	6,837	48	28,927	78
*Total Criminal Code* traffic offences**	880	152	28,446	199	125,544	339
Total alcohol-impaired driving^{Table 3 Note 5}	495	85	13,216	92	65,820	178
Total drug-impaired driving^{Table 3 Note 6}	35	6	894	6	4,429	12
Alcohol and drug-impaired driving^{Table 3 Note 7}	0	0	80	0.6	250	0.7
Impaired driving (not specified)^{Table 3 Note 7}	4	0.7	55	0.4	94	0.3
Other Criminal Code traffic offences	346	60	14,201	99	54,951	148
Total drug offences	928	160	20,937	146	83,483	225
Total other federal statute offences	56	10	4,197	29	26,084	70
Human trafficking^{Table 3 Note 8}	1	0.2	94	0.7	112	0.3
Youth Criminal Justice Act	53	9	1,076	8	4,823	13
Other federal statute offences	2	0.3	3,027	21	21,149	57
Note 1 Includes trafficking and the intent to traffic stolen goods. Return to note 1 referrer Note 2 Includes altering, removing or destroying a vehicle identification number. Return to note 2 referrer Note 3 Includes offences under section 163.1 of the Criminal Code which makes it illegal to access, possess, make, print or distribute child pornography. When the victim is not identified, this offence is reported to the Uniform Crime Reporting Survey with the most serious offence being “child pornography” which falls under the larger crime category of “other Criminal Code offences.” In cases where a victim is identified, police will report the most serious offence as sexual assault, sexual exploitation or other sexual violations against children, which fall under the category of “violent crime” and child pornography may be reported as a secondary violation. Due to the complexity of these cyber incidents, the data likely reflect the number of active or closed investigations for the year rather than the total number of incidents reported to police. Data are based on police-reported incidents that are recorded in police services’ records management systems. Return to note 3 referrer Note 4 Includes prostitution offences that are considered non-violent offences. These include: communicating to provide sexual services for consideration and stopping or impeding traffic for the purpose of offering, providing or obtaining sexual services for consideration. Excludes commodification of sexual activity offences. Return to note 4 referrer Note 5 Includes alcohol-impaired operation of a vehicle, alcohol-impaired operation of a vehicle causing death or bodily harm, failure or refusal to comply with testing for the presence of alcohol and failure or refusal to provide a breath or blood sample. In some jurisdictions, impaired driving incidents that meet the elements of the Criminal Code may be handled using a provincial statute. Collection of these incidents is not within the scope of the Uniform Crime Reporting Survey. Return to note 5 referrer Note 6 Includes drug-impaired operation of a vehicle, drug-impaired operation of a vehicle causing death or bodily harm, failure or refusal to comply with testing for the presence of drugs and failure or refusal to provide a breath or blood sample. In some jurisdictions, impaired driving incidents that meet the elements of the Criminal Code may be handled using a provincial statute. Collection of these incidents is not within the scope of the Uniform Crime Reporting Survey. Return to note 6 referrer Note 7 Reflects new impaired driving offences as per Bill C-46, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (offences relating to conveyances) and to make consequential amendments to other Acts, which came into effect part way through 2018. Return to note 7 referrer Note 8 Includes human trafficking offences under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. Return to note 8 referrer Note: Crime rates are based on Criminal Code incidents, excluding traffic offences. Counts are based on the most serious violation in the incident. One incident may involve multiple offences. Rates are calculated on the basis of 100,000 population. Populations are based on July 1 estimates from Statistics Canada, Centre for Demography. Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Centre for Justice and Community Safety Statistics, Uniform Crime Reporting Survey, Aggregate Database.

Table 3 end

Table 4 start

Table 4
Police-reported crime rate, census metropolitan area of Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo, 2008 to 2018
Table summary
This table displays the results of Police-reported crime rate. The information is grouped by Year (appearing as row headers), Violent crime, Property crime and Total crime, calculated using number, rate and percent change in rate from previous year units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Year	Violent crime			Property crime			Total crime
Year	number	rate	percent change in rate from previous year	number	rate	percent change in rate from previous year	number	rate	percent change in rate from previous year
2008	4,569	899	7	18,226	3,586	0.7	26,264	5,167	0.5
2009	4,991	974	8	20,141	3,930	10	28,362	5,535	7
2010	5,294	1,023	5	17,504	3,381	-14	26,043	5,030	-9
2011	5,222	997	-2	16,504	3,151	-7	24,904	4,755	-5
2012	4,933	933	-6	16,278	3,079	-2	24,423	4,619	-3
2013	4,633	869	-7	15,660	2,937	-5	23,476	4,403	-5
2014	4,194	781	-10	15,587	2,902	-1	23,178	4,315	-2
2015	4,423	816	5	16,890	3,116	7	25,032	4,618	7
2016	4,695	848	4	16,431	2,969	-5	25,824	4,666	1
2017	5,789	1,025	21	18,040	3,193	8	29,219	5,172	11
2018	6,842	1,181	15	19,682	3,398	6	31,813	5,493	6
Percent change from 2008 to 2018	50	31	Note ...: not applicable	8	-5	Note ...: not applicable	21	6	Note ...: not applicable
... not applicable Note: Crime rates are based on Criminal Code incidents, excluding traffic offences. Counts are based on the most serious violation in the incident. One incident may involve multiple offences. Rates are calculated on the basis of 100,000 population. Populations are based on July 1 estimates from Statistics Canada, Centre for Demography. Percent changes are based on unrounded rates. For a list of offences included in violent crime see Table 2 and for a list of offences included in property crime see Table 3. Total crime includes violent, property and other types of crimes. Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Centre for Justice and Community Safety Statistics, Uniform Crime Reporting Survey, Aggregate Database.

Table 4 end

Note: This fact sheet contains data that come from multiple sources across multiple reference years. Some figures may be presented differently than in other Statistics Canada publications due to rounding. For detailed information on data definitions and sources, please refer to the Safe Cities profile series: Definitions and data sources document.

Date modified:: 2020-05-15

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Safe Cities profile series: Key indicators by census metropolitan area
Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo, Ontario

Satisfaction with safety

Police-reported violent crime rate in 2018

Ten-year change in police-reported crime rate (2008 to 2018)

Population and demographics

Education, employment and income

Housing and families

Community safety and sense of belonging

Self-reported experiences of victimization

Police-reported crime

Property crime

Violent crime

Hate crime

Intimate partner violence

Homicide

Charts and tables

Safe Cities profile series: Key indicators by census metropolitan area Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo, Ontario

Satisfaction with safety

Police-reported violent crime rate in 2018

Ten-year change in police-reported crime rate (2008 to 2018)

Population and demographics

Education, employment and income

Housing and families

Community safety and sense of belonging

Self-reported experiences of victimization

Police-reported crime

Property crime

Violent crime

Hate crime

Intimate partner violence

Homicide

Charts and tables

Note of appreciation

Standards of service to the public

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Safe Cities profile series: Key indicators by census metropolitan area
Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo, Ontario