How Crime Rates Vary Across Montréal Neighbourhoods (SPVM 2021)

Understanding crime in Montréal means looking beyond headlines and digging into the numbers for each neighbourhood. The Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) publishes detailed crime profiles for each poste de quartier (PDQ).

This article is fully based on data from this page: https://spvm.qc.ca/en/Fiches/Details/Crime-profiles

My goal as a data scientist is to make it easily accessible to my fellow Montrealers.

Each profile reports:

  • Total crime rate – all Criminal Code offences per 1,000 residents
  • Crimes against the person – e.g., assault, robbery, sexual offences
  • Crimes against property – e.g., break and enter, theft, mischief

Below is a synthesis of these 2021 crime profiles across many of Montréal’s PDQs, grouped into broad “bands” of crime levels. The goal is not to stigmatize neighbourhoods, but to provide a clearer, data-based picture of how crime varies across the island.

How to Read the Numbers

All rates below are per 1,000 residents, per year.

For reference, across the PDQs in this analysis, the typical total crime rate sits around 37 crimes per 1,000 residents.

  • Crimes against the person average roughly 11–12 per 1,000.
  • Crimes against property average around 19–20 per 1,000.

With that benchmark in mind, we can see which neighbourhoods sit well below, around, or well above that range.

1. Neighbourhoods with the Lowest Crime Rates

These areas show the lowest overall crime rates in the dataset, significantly below the island-wide median.

Very low crime (roughly 16–19 crimes per 1,000 residents)

  • PDQ 01 – Baie-d’Urfé, Beaconsfield, Kirkland, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Senneville

    • Total crime rate: ~16
    • Crimes against the person: ~4
    • Crimes against property: ~12

  • PDQ 04 – Dollard-des-Ormeaux

    • Total crime rate: ~16
    • Person: ~5
    • Property: ~6

  • PDQ 03 – L’Île-Bizard, Pierrefonds, Sainte-Geneviève

    • Total crime rate: ~18
    • Person: ~8
    • Property: ~9

These West Island and suburban sectors combine low levels of violence with relatively modest property crime. In simple terms, these are among the statistically safest parts of the island based on 2021 data.

2. Below-Median but Moderate Crime Levels

The following PDQs show below-average overall crime, but not as low as the group above. They are generally in the mid-20s to mid-30s per 1,000 residents.

  • PDQ 45 – Rivière-des-Prairies (~26 total; ~9 person; ~16 property)
  • PDQ 09 – Côte-Saint-Luc, Hampstead, Montréal-Ouest, NDG (~27 total; ~9 person; ~15 property)
  • PDQ 07 – Saint-Laurent (~27 total; ~8 person; ~18 property)
  • PDQ 26 – Côte-des-Neiges, Mont-Royal, Outremont (~30 total; ~9 person; ~19 property)
  • PDQ 10 – Bordeaux, Cartierville (~30 total; ~10 person; property rate moderate)
  • PDQ 05 – Dorval, L’Île-Dorval, Pointe-Claire (~31 total; ~9 person; property just over ~20)
  • PDQ 16 – Île-des-Sœurs, Verdun (~34 total; ~12 person; ~20 property)
  • PDQ 27 – Ahuntsic Ouest (~34 total; ~10 person; ~22 property)

In these neighbourhoods:

  • Violent crime is generally below or around the average, with a few pockets of concern.
  • Property crime is often what pulls the total upward, especially thefts and break-ins.

For a resident or business, these areas are still relatively safe in a city-wide context, but targeted prevention around property crime can have a measurable impact.

3. Around or Just Above the Montréal Median

The next group sits close to, or somewhat above, the median crime rate of about 37 per 1,000 residents. This is where we begin to see a mix of residential and more urban, mixed-use areas.

Roughly 35–43 crimes per 1,000 residents

  • PDQ 31 – Villeray (~35 total; ~11 person; ~21 property)
  • PDQ 42 – Saint-Léonard (~36 total; ~10 person; ~24 property)
  • PDQ 44 – Rosemont Est-Nord (~37 total; ~11 person; ~22 property)
  • PDQ 33 – Parc-Extension (~38 total; ~15 person; ~20 property)
  • PDQ 30 – Saint-Michel (~40 total; ~13 person; ~24 property)
  • PDQ 35 – La Petite-Italie, La Petite-Patrie, Outremont (3 streets) (~41 total; ~11 person; ~25 property)
  • PDQ 08 – Lachine, Saint-Pierre (~41 total; ~16 person; ~21 property)
  • PDQ 46 – Anjou (~42 total; ~12 person; ~29 property)
  • PDQ 48 – Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve (~43 total; ~15 person; ~25 property)

Here, the pattern shifts:

  • Violent crime is clearly higher in some sectors (e.g. Parc-Extension, Lachine, Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve).
  • Property crime is particularly elevated in Anjou, Petite-Italie/Petite-Patrie and Plateau-adjacent areas.

These neighbourhoods often combine dense housing, commercial activity and traffic corridors—conditions that tend to increase opportunities for both violent and property offences.

4. High-Crime Neighbourhoods

At the upper end of the distribution, certain PDQs stand out with high or very high crime rates.

Higher residential crime rates (45–60 per 1,000)

  • PDQ 39 – Montréal-Nord (~45 total; ~18 person; ~22 property)
  • PDQ 49 – Montréal-Est, Pointe-aux-Trembles (~46 total; ~17 person; ~24 property)
  • PDQ 38 – Le Plateau-Mont-Royal (~48 total; ~15 person; ~29 property)
  • PDQ 23 – Hochelaga-Maisonneuve (~58 total; person and property both elevated)

These areas combine elevated violent crime (especially in Montréal-Nord and Montréal-Est / Pointe-aux-Trembles) with above-average property crime, particularly on the Plateau and in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve.

For policymakers and community organizations, these sectors are natural priorities for targeted interventions, community programs and environmental design measures that reduce opportunities for crime.

5. The Downtown Outliers

Two PDQs stand in a category of their own:

  • PDQ 20 – Downtown West (Centre-ville Ouest, parc du Mont-Royal)
    • Total crime rate: around 93 crimes per 1,000 residents.
  • PDQ 21 – Downtown East (Centre-ville Est, Île Notre-Dame, Île Sainte-Hélène, Old Montréal)
    • Total crime rate: roughly 207 crimes per 1,000 residents.

These numbers are dramatically higher than residential areas, but they must be interpreted carefully:

  • Downtown is not just home to residents; it also hosts hundreds of thousands of workers, tourists, students and festival-goers every day.
  • Offences are concentrated around commercial strips, nightlife zones, large events and transit hubs.

In other words, crime exposure here is driven by transient population and activity density, not only by the small number of people counted as residents in these PDQs.

6. Violence vs Property: Different Crime Profiles

Looking at crime types rather than just totals reveals different profiles:

Neighbourhoods with relatively low violent crime

  • Saint-Laurent (PDQ 07), Rivière-des-Prairies (PDQ 45), Côte-des-Neiges / Mont-Royal / Outremont (PDQ 26) all sit below or near the average for crimes against the person, even when their property crime is closer to the median.

These could be described as “property-crime-heavy but not especially violent”.

Neighbourhoods with higher violent crime

  • Montréal-Nord (PDQ 39), Montréal-Est / Pointe-aux-Trembles (PDQ 49), Lachine / Saint-Pierre (PDQ 08), Parc-Extension (PDQ 33) and the Plateau (PDQ 38) show notably higher rates of crimes against the person than most other sectors.

For public safety planning, this distinction matters: strategies that work for property crime (lighting, cameras, target hardening) are not always the same as those needed to address interpersonal violence (social programs, conflict mediation, policing presence, etc.).

7. What This Means for Residents and Policymakers

A few key takeaways from the 2021 profiles:

  1. Montréal is not homogeneous. Crime levels vary significantly from one PDQ to another, even between neighbouring sectors.
  2. Some suburbs and West Island sectors show consistently low crime, both violent and property-related.
  3. Many inner-city neighbourhoods sit around the city median, with specific issues in either property crime or violence that can be targeted.
  4. A handful of residential areas and the downtown PDQs stand out for higher crime, and need sustained, tailored interventions.
  5. Type of crime matters. Simply looking at a single “total” crime rate hides important differences between neighbourhoods with mainly theft and mischief, and those with higher levels of assault or robbery.

Used carefully, these PDQ profiles can support:

  • More transparent communication with residents
  • Better resource allocation for police and community organizations
  • Evidence-based discussions about urban planning, social programs and prevention

PDQ Area Total crime rate* Crimes against the person Crimes against property
01 Baie-d’Urfé, Beaconsfield, Kirkland, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Senneville 16.3 4.1 11.5
04 Dollard-des-Ormeaux 16.3 5.3 5.6
03 L’Île-Bizard, Pierrefonds, Sainte-Geneviève 18.3 7.7 9.4
45 Rivière-des-Prairies 26.0 9.0 16.0
09 Côte-Saint-Luc, Hampstead, Montréal-Ouest, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce 27.0 9.1 15.0
07 Saint-Laurent 27.2 7.7 18.1
26 Côte-des-Neiges, Mont-Royal, Outremont 30.0 9.2 19.0
10 Bordeaux, Cartierville 30.3 9.6 —
05 Dorval, L’Île-Dorval, Pointe-Claire 31.1 9.0 20.8
16 Île-des-Sœurs, Verdun 34.0 12.0 20.0
27 Ahuntsic Ouest 34.4 10.0 22.0
31 Villeray 35.0 11.0 21.0
42 Saint-Léonard 36.0 10.0 24.0
44 Rosemont Est-Nord 37.0 11.0 22.0
33 Parc-Extension 38.0 15.0 20.0
30 Saint-Michel 40.0 13.0 23.6
35 La Petite-Italie, La Petite-Patrie, Outremont (3 rues) 41.0 11.3 25.1
08 Lachine, Saint-Pierre 41.1 16.1 21.1
46 Anjou 42.0 12.0 29.0
48 Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve 43.0 15.0 25.0
39 Montréal-Nord 45.0 18.0 22.0
49 Montréal-Est, Pointe-aux-Trembles 45.6 16.5 23.5
38 Le Plateau-Mont-Royal 48.0 15.0 29.0
23 Hochelaga-Maisonneuve 57.8 11.6 4.5
22 Centre-Sud 75.0 — —
20 Centre-ville (Ville-Marie Ouest), parc du Mont-Royal 93.0 — —
21 Centre-ville (Ville-Marie Est), Île Notre-Dame, Île Sainte-Hélène, Vieux-Montréal 207.0 — —
/by