Rankings of the safest neighbourhoods are tempting, but they change year to year and rarely match your exact street. A better approach is to research the specific area and the specific home.
Use public data
The Toronto Police Service publishes open crime data and maps by neighbourhood. Look at break-and-enter and auto-theft patterns over several years rather than a single year, and compare with nearby areas.
Visit at different times
- Walk the street in the evening and on a weekend.
- Notice lighting, visibility of front doors, and how active the street is.
- Talk to neighbours about any recent incidents.
Look at the building
In condos, ask about concierge coverage, fob management, parcel handling and recent incidents in the parking garage. In houses, look at side and rear access, laneways and lighting.
Check the home itself
- Are exterior doors solid, with deadbolts and reinforced strikes?
- Does the patio door have anti-lift protection?
- Is there a garage-to-house door with a proper lock?
- Who might still have keys?
After you move in
Rekey on move-in day and fix the weakest door first. Those two steps matter more than any ranking.
Reading the numbers without over-reading them
Public crime maps and police neighbourhood data are useful, but they show reported incidents, not risk to you. A busy commercial strip can look worse on paper than a quiet street simply because more people and businesses are there. Compare like with like: look at break-ins to homes and cars near the address you are considering, and at trends over several years rather than one bad month.
Questions for the seller, landlord or property manager
Ask how many keys or fobs exist for the unit, when the locks were last changed, whether the building has had recent break-ins, and who controls the lobby and garage doors. In a condo, ask what the building does when a fob is lost. These answers tell you as much as a statistic does.
What you can control after you move in
Whatever the neighbourhood, the easiest wins are the same: rekey on move-in, reinforce the strike, fix lighting near the door and get to know a neighbour or the superintendent. Our note on rekeying a new home covers the first job.
For a move-in rekey in Toronto, see lock rekeying.