Safe Cities profile series: Key indicators by census metropolitan area
Saint John, New Brunswick

Satisfaction with safety

Saint John 90%, New Brunswick 93%*, Canada 88%

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

* significantly different from Saint John (p < 0.05)

Police-reported violent crime rate in 2018

Saint John 1,264, New Brunswick 1,325, Canada 1,143

rate per 100,000 population

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

Saint John -39%, New Brunswick -7%, Canada, -17%

Population and demographics

Saint John was home to 130,107 people in 2018, and it had a population density of 37 residents per square kilometre. Just over one in four (27%) residents were aged 24 and younger, similar to the distribution in New Brunswick (25%) and across Canada (28%).

About 1.9% of Saint John residents were part of the Indigenous population (First Nations, Métis and Inuit) in 2016, lower than in New Brunswick (4.0%) and Canada (4.9%). Immigrants represented a small proportion (5.4%) of residents, similar to New Brunswick (4.6%) but notably lower than Canada (21.9%). Three in ten (30%) immigrants in Saint John were recent immigrants (since 2011), similar to New Brunswick (28%) but almost twice as high as Canada (16%). While the proportion of people who identified as a visible minority in Saint John (4.8%) was similar to New Brunswick (3.4%), it was notably smaller than the proportion in Canada overall (22.3%).

Education, employment and income

In 2016, six in ten (60.9%) Saint John residents aged 25 to 64 had completed some form of postsecondary education, three in ten (29.8%) had completed high school (or equivalent) as their highest level of education, and one in ten (9.4%) had completed neither.

In 2018, the unemployment rate in Saint John (6.3%) was lower than in New Brunswick (8.0%) but similar to Canada’s provinces (5.8%). Households in Saint John earned a median after-tax annual income of $49,520 in 2017, somewhat higher than in New Brunswick ($46,610) but slightly lower than Canada ($52,090). The percentage of families considered low-income was the same in Saint John (17%), New Brunswick (17%) and Canada (17%).

Housing and families

On average, there were 2.3 persons per household in Saint John in 2016, similar to New Brunswick (2.3) and Canada (2.4). Most (70%) households in Saint John owned their homes, slightly lower than New Brunswick (74%) but similar to 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 five (19%) Saint John households, close to New Brunswick (17%) but lower than Canada (24%). A small proportion (8.0%) of occupied private dwellings in Saint John were in need of major repairs, similar to New Brunswick (8.3%) but higher than Canada (6.5%). About one-fifth (18%) of Saint John families were lone-parent families, similar to New Brunswick (16%) and Canada (16%). In 2018, there were an estimated minimum of 117 homeless individuals living in Saint John.

Community safety and sense of belonging

• In 2014, nearly half (45%) of Saint John residents aged 15 and older were very satisfied with their personal safety from crime, on par with New Brunswick residents (46%) but significantly higher than Canadians living in the provinces overall (38%).
• Two-thirds (67%) of Saint John residents felt very safe when walking alone after dark, a similar proportion to New Brunswick (63%) but significantly higher than Canada’s provinces (52%).
  • Women who lived in Saint John were significantly less likely than men to feel very safe when walking alone after dark (42% versus 82%), similar to New Brunswick and Canada’s provinces.
• About one in five (18%) Saint John residents thought social disorder was a big or moderate problem in their neighbourhood, the same as in New Brunswick (18%) but significantly lower than Canada’s provinces (22%).
• Nearly one in four (23%) Saint John residents said they had a very strong sense of belonging to their community, significantly lower than in New Brunswick (33%) but similar to Canada’s provinces (25%).
• Over a six-year period (2009 to 2014), 9%^E of Saint John residents experienced discrimination, similar to New Brunswick (10%) but significantly lower than Canada’s provinces (13%).
• About 23% of Saint John residents said they knew most people in their neighbourhood in 2014, significantly lower than in New Brunswick (37%) but on par with Canada’s provinces (21%).
• The large majority (80%) of Saint John residents thought crime levels in their neighbourhood were lower than the rest of Canada, similar to New Brunswick (83%) but significantly higher than Canada’s provinces (74%).
• The vast majority (96%) of Saint John residents reported having confidence in police in 2014, which was significantly higher than the proportion in New Brunswick (93%) and Canada’s provinces (91%).

Self-reported experiences of victimization

• In 2018, 5.0% of Saint John residents aged 15 and older were victims of a self-reported physical or sexual assault, close to New Brunswick (4.0%) and Canada’s provinces (4.4%).
• Just over one in five (22%) Saint John residents experienced unwanted sexual behaviour in public, which was significantly higher than New Brunswick (18%) but on par with Canada’s provinces (23%).
  • In Saint John, women were significantly more likely to experience unwanted sexual behaviour in public than men (30% versus 13%).
  • Of those who experienced unwanted sexual behaviour in public in 2018, nearly half (47%) of Saint John residents changed their behaviour while in public as a result, as did about half of those in New Brunswick (48%) and those in Canada’s provinces (50%).

Property crime

• Police-reported: There were 2,419 property crimes per 100,000 population reported by police in Saint John in 2018, 20% lower than in New Brunswick (3,041) and 28% lower than Canada (3,339).
• Self-reported: There were 103^E property crimes per 1,000 Saint John households reported in 2014 (includes breaking and entering, theft of motor vehicle or parts, theft of household property and vandalism), which was not significantly different than New Brunswick (86) and Canada’s provinces (143).

Hate crime

• The police-reported hate crime rate—which depends on police services' level of expertise in identifying crimes motivated by hate—was notably lower in Saint John (0.8 incidents per 100,000 population) than in New Brunswick (2.1) and Canada (4.9) in 2018.
• Between 2014 and 2018, the rate of police-reported hate crime in Saint John increased from no incidents to 0.8 per 100,000 population, a smaller increase than in New Brunswick (+159%) but larger than in Canada (+33%).

Homicide

• In 2018, Saint John had 1 homicide—a rate of 0.77 per 100,000 population—lower than New Brunswick (1.69) and Canada (1.76).
• The single homicide victim in Saint John was male. Meanwhile, 62% of homicide victims in New Brunswick and 25% of homicide victims in Canada were female.
• The number of homicides in Saint John remained the same with 1 victim in 2008 and 1 victim in 2018.

Charts and tables

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^E use with caution

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.