Crime in Toronto: Where Things Actually Stand in 2026
Toronto is Canada’s largest city, home to over 3 million residents across 158 neighbourhoods — and by virtually every objective measure, it ended 2025 in a notably safer position than it began. The Toronto Police Service (TPS) recorded 45,146 Major Crime Indicator (MCI) reports through late December 2025, down from a full-year total of 51,006 in 2024 — an 11.5% decline. That improvement cuts across nearly every major category: homicides fell to 45, the lowest in approximately 40 years; auto theft dropped 25.5%; robberies slid 18.7%; and break-and-enter fell 11% year over year. For a city of Toronto’s size and demographic complexity, those are statistically meaningful gains — not rounding errors.
Yet the picture resists simple cheerfulness. Assaults now account for over 54% of all MCIs, a share that has grown consistently from 46% in 2023 to its current level. Theft over $5,000 is the only major property crime that rose in 2025, up 8.4%. And a Liaison Strategies survey from late 2025 found that most Toronto residents believe crime is rising — even as TPS data shows the opposite for most categories. The violent crime severity index also hit a record high between 2023 and 2024, confirming that while fewer crimes are being committed, the ones that are happening have been trending more serious. This article maps every major verified statistic behind that story, sourced directly from the TPS, Statistics Canada, and peer-reviewed crime data platforms.
🔑 Key Facts: Crime Statistics in Toronto 2026
TORONTO CRIME SNAPSHOT — 2025 FULL-YEAR DATA (TPS)
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Total MCIs (late Dec 2025) ████████████████████████████ 45,146
Total MCIs (full year 2024) ████████████████████████████████ 51,006
Homicides (2025) ████ 45 — lowest in ~40 yrs
Homicides (2024) █████████ 85–86
Auto theft (2025) █████████████████████ 7,044
Auto theft (2023 peak) ████████████████████████████ 12,143
Assaults as % of MCIs ████████████████████████████ 54%+ (2025)
Break-and-enter (2025) ████████████████████ 6,092
Crime Severity Index (2024) ████████████ 59.4 vs national 79.2
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| Key Fact | Statistic |
|---|---|
| Total MCIs in 2025 | 45,146 — down from 51,006 in 2024 (-11.5%) |
| Homicides in 2025 | 45 — lowest in approximately 40 years |
| Homicides in 2024 | 85–86 — up from 73 in 2023; rate ~3.1 per 100,000 |
| Auto theft (2025) | 7,044 — down 25.5% from 9,598 in 2024 |
| Auto theft peak (2023) | 12,143 — a vehicle stolen every 40 minutes |
| Break-and-enter (2025) | 6,092 — down 11% from 2024; -20.3% since 2023 |
| Break-and-enter rate (2025) | 189.5 incidents per 100,000 residents |
| Assaults as share of MCIs (2025) | 54%+ — up from 50.6% (2024) and 46% (2023) |
| Assaults — full year 2024 | 25,819 — a record high that year |
| Robbery incidents (2025) | 2,531 — down 18.7% from 3,196 in 2024 |
| Sexual violations (2025) | 3,138 through late December — down from 3,558 in 2024 |
| Theft over $5,000 (2025) | Up 8.4% year-over-year — only major crime category rising |
| Toronto Crime Severity Index (2024) | 59.4 — vs national average of 79.2 |
| Toronto crime rate per 100,000 (2024) | 4,177 — below Montreal (5,074) and Vancouver (7,545) |
| Toronto global safety rank (EIU, 2024) | 6th safest major city globally — highest in North America |
| Hate crimes (2024) | 443 occurrences — up 19% from 372 in 2023 |
| Hate crimes (2025 YTD mid-year) | Down 47% vs same period 2024 |
Source: TPS Year-to-Date MCI Data (December 2025), Statistics Canada Police-Reported Crime 2024 (July 2025), TPS 2024 Hate Crime Report (August 2025), TPS 2025 Hate Crime Report (May 2026), EIU Safe Cities Index 2024, Kruse Law (January 2026)
Two numbers from this table define Toronto’s 2026 crime story: 45 homicides in a city of over 3 million, and a Crime Severity Index of 59.4 — nearly 20 points below the Canadian national average of 79.2. Together they position Toronto as one of the safer large cities in the developed world, a fact that coexists uncomfortably with the reality that 19 of Canada’s top 20 cities — including Toronto — broke violent crime severity records between 2023 and 2024, according to Statistics Canada and reporting by The Hub in April 2026. The overall volume of crime is falling; the weight of the crimes being committed has been creeping upward.
The auto theft turnaround stands as one of the most dramatic multi-year shifts in the data. The city went from a peak crisis of 12,143 stolen vehicles in 2023 — with the Police Chief publicly describing a theft every 40 minutes and a combined stolen-vehicle value of $790 million — to 7,044 in 2025, a 42% cumulative drop over two years. Federal port-of-entry legislation, TPS task forces, and insurance industry pressure on anti-theft technology all contributed. The improvement has been nationally confirmed: Statistics Canada’s July 2025 data found Canada’s police-reported crime rate fell 4% in 2024, with the biggest drops in Ontario and Quebec.
1. Homicide & Violent Crime Statistics in Toronto 2026
TORONTO HOMICIDES — ANNUAL TREND
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2021 ████████████████████ 79
2022 █████████████████████ 83
2023 ██████████████████████ 73
2024 ████████████████████████████████ 85–86
2025 ████████████████ 45 (lowest in ~40 yrs)
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| Violent Crime Metric | 2025 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Homicides | 45 — ~47% drop year-over-year | 85–86 (+17% from 73 in 2023) |
| Homicide rate (est.) | ~1.5 per 100,000 | ~3.1 per 100,000 |
| Robberies | 2,531 — down 18.7% | 3,196 full year |
| Assaults (all, 2024 full year) | 25,819 — record high | Up 8% from 24,414 in 2023 |
| Assaults with weapon (2024) | 4,564 | TPS year-end data |
| Assaults causing bodily harm (2024) | 1,075 | TPS year-end data |
| Firearm discharge incidents (2024) | 461 — up 34% from 345 in 2023 | Fewer injured but more killed |
| Shooting deaths (2024) | 44 killed | vs 29 in 2023 |
| Shooting injuries (2024) | 120 injured | vs 135 in 2023 |
| York Region homicides (to Oct 2025) | 9 deaths — down 53% from 19 in 2024 | Mirrors Toronto trend |
| Violent crime severity trend | Toronto broke severity record (2023–2024) | One of 19/20 major Canadian cities |
Source: TPS MCI Data (December 2025), TPS 2024 Year-End Statistics, Statistics Canada (July 2025), CBC News (December 2025), The Hub (April 2026)
45 homicides across a city of more than 3 million people is a genuinely exceptional result. At roughly 1.5 per 100,000, Toronto’s 2025 homicide rate sits well below comparably sized North American cities. The prior-year context amplifies the significance: 2024’s 85–86 homicides was itself a spike year that alarmed residents and generated significant political response. The 34% increase in firearm discharge incidents in 2024 — rising to 461 — suggested the city was heading in a dangerous direction. The 2025 reversal, driven partly by targeted TPS gang intervention operations and partly by shifts in organized crime dynamics, has been swift and statistically dramatic. York Region’s simultaneous 53% drop in homicides through October 2025 suggests the improvement is regional rather than a localised Toronto anomaly.
The assault picture tells a different story. At 25,819 assaults in 2024 — a record — and with assaults claiming over 54% of all MCIs in 2025, interpersonal violence remains stubbornly persistent. This pattern — homicides falling while non-lethal assaults rise as a share of crime — is not uncommon when targeted enforcement successfully suppresses organized gun violence but leaves street-level conflict unaddressed. For residents who experience assault directly, the homicide headline provides cold comfort. The 4% rise in youth-involved offences in 2025, flagged by CBLAW, adds a forward-looking concern: younger offenders entering the criminal justice pipeline today shape the crime statistics of tomorrow.
2. Property Crime Statistics in Toronto 2026
PROPERTY CRIME TREND — TORONTO (ANNUAL)
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Auto theft 2023 ████████████████████████████████ 12,143
Auto theft 2024 ██████████████████████████ 9,598 (-21%)
Auto theft 2025 ████████████████████ 7,044 (-25.5%)
B&E 2023 █████████████████████████████ 7,644
B&E 2024 ████████████████████████ 6,860 (-10.2%)
B&E 2025 ███████████████████ 6,092 (-11%)
Theft >$5,000 2025 █████████████████████████ UP 8.4% — only rising MCI
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| Property Crime | 2025 Data | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Auto theft (2025) | 7,044 — lowest since 2021 | -25.5% from 9,598 in 2024 |
| Auto theft peak (2023) | 12,143 — theft every 40 minutes; value ~$790M | -42% over two years |
| Break-and-enter (2025) | 6,092 | -11% from 6,860 in 2024; -20.3% since 7,644 in 2023 |
| B&E citywide rate (2025) | 189.5 per 100,000 residents | Down from ~215 in 2024 |
| Highest B&E neighbourhood (2025) | University — nearly 4x city B&E average | TPS Neighbourhood Crime Map |
| Theft over $5,000 (2025) | Rising 8.4% — every year since 2021 | Only major crime indicator trending up |
| Robbery (2025) | 2,531 | -18.7% from 3,112 in 2024 |
| Toronto property crime vs New York | Toronto’s rate 40% higher than NYC’s | CrimeCanada.ca (2022 baseline data) |
| Moss Park crime rate (2024) | 47.2 crimes per 1,000 residents — city’s highest | Property crime + drug offences |
| Forest Hill crime rate (2024) | 2.1 crimes per 1,000 residents — city’s lowest | Minor theft only |
Source: TPS Open Data (December 2025), Narcity (February 2026), Force Security (February 2026), Kruse Law (January 2026), CrimeCanada.ca (April 2026)
The 42% cumulative drop in auto theft between 2023 and 2025 — from a crisis peak to the lowest level in four years — is the most compelling property crime story in Toronto’s recent data. The 2023 situation had become a national embarrassment: the TPS Chief describing a theft every 40 minutes, estimated losses of $790 million in vehicle value, carjackings rising 106% in early 2024 versus the same period in 2023, and federal government pressure mounting on port-of-entry enforcement and export controls. The multi-agency response worked. TPS auto-theft task forces, combined with federal legislative action targeting the organized criminal networks that export stolen vehicles overseas, produced a sustained two-year decline that the insurance industry has publicly acknowledged.
Break-and-enter has followed a parallel downward path: two consecutive years of 10%+ annual declines represent the kind of sustained trend that cannot be attributed to a single enforcement action or statistical quirk. The 20.3% cumulative two-year drop from 7,644 in 2023 to 6,092 in 2025 reflects a combination of improved home security technology adoption, community alert systems, and targeted patrols in historically high-risk areas. The University neighbourhood’s continued dominance of the B&E rate per capita — nearly four times the city average — is the standout neighbourhood-level anomaly: its low residential density relative to commercial and institutional buildings creates a vulnerability profile that citywide trends cannot adequately mask.
3. Hate Crime & Sexual Violation Statistics in Toronto 2026
HATE CRIMES — REPORTED OCCURRENCES (TORONTO, TPS)
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2022 ████████████████████████ 246
2023 ████████████████████████████ 372 (+51%)
2024 ████████████████████████████████████ 443 (+19%)
2025 ████████████████████████ Significant drop: -47% YTD mid-2025
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Most targeted: Jewish, LGBTQ+, Black, Muslim, South Asian communities
| Category | Statistic | Year / Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Hate crimes — total occurrences | 443 — up 19% from 372 in 2023 | 2024 (TPS Annual Report, Aug 2025) |
| Hate crime growth vs 2022 | Up 80% over two years (246 → 443) | Multi-year TPS data |
| Persons charged (hate offences, 2024) | 115 — up 84% from prior year | TPS 2024 Report |
| Hate-motivated criminal charges (2024) | 209 — up from 156 in 2023 | TPS 2024 Report |
| Hate crimes 2025 (YTD mid-year) | Down 47% vs same period 2024 | TPS May 2026 |
| Most targeted community | Jewish community — most frequent target | TPS 2024 |
| Other frequently targeted groups | LGBTQ+, Black, Muslim | TPS 2024 |
| South Asian hate crimes | 41 in 2024 — up from 14 in 2023 (+193%) | TPS 2024 |
| Hate crimes on TTC transit (2025) | Down 52% vs 2024 | TPS 2025 Report (May 2026) |
| Online/telecom hate crimes (2025) | ~16% of all reported occurrences | TPS 2025 Report |
| Middle East protest-related arrests (2025) | 84 arrested, 186 criminal charges | TPS 2025 Report |
| Sexual violations (2025) | 3,138 through late December | Down from 3,558 full year 2024 |
| Sexual assaults specifically (2025) | 2,574 through late December | Down from 2,820 same period 2024 |
| Sexual violations spike (2024) | 3,570 — up 35.7% from 2,630 in 2023 | TPS year-end 2024 |
Source: TPS 2024 Annual Hate Crime Statistical Report (August 2025), TPS 2025 Hate Crime Report (May 2026), CBC News (May 2025), TPS MCI Data (December 2025)
Toronto’s hate crime record over the past three years captures one of the most polarising and contested dimensions of the city’s public safety environment. The 19% increase in 2024 — bringing reported occurrences to 443 and representing an 80% rise from just two years earlier — extends a trajectory rooted in geopolitical tensions, social media amplification, and what TPS acknowledges is a persistent under-reporting gap between incidents occurring and incidents logged by police. The South Asian community’s experience is particularly striking: hate crimes targeting South Asians increased 193% in a single year, from 14 in 2023 to 41 in 2024, reflecting dynamics linked to diaspora politics and community tensions that were not present at the same intensity in prior years.
The 47% drop in hate crimes through mid-2025 is the strongest near-term signal that the 2024 peak may represent a high-water mark rather than a new baseline. The 52% decline in TTC transit hate crimes is especially significant given that the TTC had been a pressure point since 2023, when a series of high-profile violent incidents generated both public alarm and a political response — including the deployment of 80 additional TPS officers on 24-hour TTC patrols and 50 contracted security guards. That investment appears to be yielding measurable results. The shift of hate crime activity online — now accounting for approximately 16% of all reported occurrences — introduces a definitional and jurisdictional challenge that street-level policing cannot fully address.
4. Toronto Cybercrime, Fraud & Neighbourhood Patterns 2026
CYBERCRIME RATE — CANADA (PER 100,000 POPULATION)
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2018 ████████████ 92 per 100,000
2020 ████████████████████ ~140 per 100,000
2022 ████████████████████████ ~195 per 100,000
2024 ████████████████████████████ 225 per 100,000
Change 2018 → 2024: +144% despite 2024 9% annual dip
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| Metric | Statistic | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Cybercrime rate in Canada (2024) | 225 per 100,000 | Statistics Canada, July 2025 |
| Cybercrime rate in 2018 | 92 per 100,000 — earliest comparable year | Statistics Canada |
| Cybercrime rate growth (2018–2024) | +144% over six years | Statistics Canada |
| Cybercrime rate change (2024 vs 2023) | -9% — first annual decrease after years of increases | Statistics Canada, July 2025 |
| Fraud + extortion share of cybercrime (2024) | 55% of all cybercrimes nationally | Statistics Canada |
| Fraud — victims who report to police | Only ~11% | 2019 General Social Survey (most recent) |
| Extortion rate in Canada (2024) | 32 per 100,000 — 4x higher than 2014 (8 per 100,000) | Statistics Canada |
| Most targeted fraud victims in Toronto | Seniors and newcomers to Canada | CrimeCanada.ca 2024 |
| Youth-involved offences (2025 Toronto) | Up 4% from 2024 | CBLAW (September 2025) |
| Moss Park (highest neighbourhood crime rate) | 47.2 crimes per 1,000 residents | CrimeCanada.ca 2024 |
| Forest Hill (lowest neighbourhood crime rate) | 2.1 crimes per 1,000 residents | CrimeCanada.ca 2024 |
| Early 2026 incidents mapped (Jan 30–Mar 31) | 5,840 incidents across 159 neighbourhoods | crimemaps.ca (March 31, 2026) |
Source: Statistics Canada Police-Reported Crime Statistics 2024 (July 22, 2025), CrimeCanada.ca (April 2026), crimemaps.ca Toronto (March 2026), CBLAW (September 2025)
Cybercrime and fraud data provide the clearest illustration of how Toronto’s — and Canada’s — crime landscape is changing structurally rather than simply fluctuating. The national cybercrime rate of 225 per 100,000 in 2024 represents a 144% increase since 2018, the period for which Statistics Canada has comparable data. Even the 9% single-year decline in 2024 — the first drop after consecutive years of increases — barely dents that medium-term trajectory. What makes the fraud picture particularly challenging in Toronto specifically is the city’s demographic profile: as a global immigration gateway with large populations of seniors and recent newcomers, Toronto concentrates two of the demographic groups most frequently targeted by online scams, crypto fraud, and identity theft schemes. The 11% reporting rate for fraud victims — meaning only about 1 in 9 fraud incidents ever reaches police records — means the true scale of financial crime in the city is almost certainly several times what official statistics capture.
The neighbourhood-level crime map remains the most locally useful lens for Toronto residents making housing, business, and personal safety decisions. The gap between Moss Park at 47.2 crimes per 1,000 and Forest Hill at 2.1 — more than a 22-fold difference — reflects not random distribution but concentrated disadvantage: social services, transitional housing, poverty, and open drug markets consistently predict elevated crime rates in urban environments globally, and Moss Park sits squarely at that intersection. The crimemaps.ca 60-day snapshot covering January 30 to March 31, 2026 — logging 5,840 incidents across 159 neighbourhoods — confirms that assault continues to dominate early 2026 incident counts, with West Humber-Clairville and Mimico-Queensway standing out for high raw-count activity. Toronto is a city where your neighbourhood postcode is still the strongest single predictor of your personal crime exposure.
Disclaimer: The data research report we present here is based on information found from various sources. We are not liable for any financial loss, errors, or damages of any kind that may result from the use of the information herein. We acknowledge that though we try to report accurately, we cannot verify the absolute facts of everything that has been represented.
