Is Forest Hill safe? It has some of Toronto's lowest violent crime, and break-ins fell in 2025. See what police data shows for Forest Hill North and South.
September 23, 2026
By the OZINT Security Group Intelligence Team | 9-minute read
Is Forest Hill safe? Yes. In 2025, Forest Hill South had the lowest assault rate of Toronto's 158 neighbourhoods, and Forest Hill North had the lowest robbery rate. Break and enters fell in both, though Forest Hill South's break and enter rate is still about 1.7 times the city average.
Is Forest Hill safe? By almost every measure, yes. Forest Hill is one of Toronto's finest neighbourhoods, known for its architect-designed homes, mature trees and the shops of Forest Hill Village. It is also a neighbourhood where the value inside homes attracts targeted property crime.
This guide sets out what the latest Toronto Police Service data shows for both halves of Forest Hill, why break-ins remain above the city average in Forest Hill South, how the neighbourhood is changing, and the practical steps homeowners can take now.
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Alt text: Architect-designed homes on a tree-lined street in Forest Hill, Toronto
Forest Hill is safe from serious violent crime. Neither Forest Hill South nor Forest Hill North recorded a homicide or a shooting in 2025. Forest Hill South's assault rate of 196 per 100,000 residents was the lowest in Toronto, and Forest Hill North's robbery rate of 7 per 100,000 was also the city's lowest (Toronto Police Service open data).
Property crime is where the risk concentrates, particularly in Forest Hill South, where break and enters remain well above the Toronto average despite falling for two straight years.
Toronto Police report Forest Hill as two official neighbourhoods:
The two halves have noticeably different crime profiles, so reading them together gives the clearest picture. Both counts include apartments and commercial premises as well as detached homes.
The charts below compare Forest Hill South and Forest Hill North with Toronto as a whole, using the Toronto Police Service's 2023 to 2025 data.
Key points from the data:
For a broader view of the year, see our analysis of Toronto's 2025 crime data.
The decline in 2025 is real, but it follows years of organized property crime aimed at Toronto's finest neighbourhoods. The pattern is well documented:
This is organized, targeted activity rather than random crime. We explore how these groups operate in The Organized Theft Economy.
None of these changes is a security problem in itself. But they make local awareness of what is normal on each street more valuable. For practical guidance, see our 7 things Forest Hill homeowners should know before hiring security.
Each option solves a different part of the problem. The most effective protection combines detection, verification and a fast, dedicated response.
Verification matters more than most homeowners realize. Since 2018, Toronto Police have required evidence of a crime, such as video, audio, an eyewitness or multiple alarm zones, before attending a burglar alarm. The change followed an internal review that found 97% of home alarm activations in 2016 were false (CBC News).
For a deeper comparison, read Alarm Monitoring vs. Live Patrol in Toronto and why cameras alone do not stop crime.
Toronto Police have made real progress. In 2025, the average response time to Priority 1 emergency calls fell 17.5% to 14.1 minutes, according to the Chief's 2025 Annual Report. That improvement reflects the Service's multi-year hiring plan to rebuild frontline capacity.
Even so, the gap is structural. An organized group that plans to be in and out within minutes can complete a break-in before any city-wide service can reasonably arrive. That is not a failure of police; it is the reason homeowners add private, local layers.
Proactive security focuses on the minutes before and during an incident, rather than the report afterwards. Learn more in Proactive vs. Reactive Home Security and The Anatomy of 90 Seconds.
Recent break-ins in Toronto's finest neighbourhoods have often started at the front door. Reinforced strike plates, longer hinge screws, a solid-core door and laminated or impact-resistant glass beside the entry all add time and noise to a forced entry.
Store jewellery in a bolted safe away from the primary bedroom. Keep vehicle keys and keyless fobs away from the front entry, ideally in a signal-blocking pouch.
Many Forest Hill homeowners have lived in the neighbourhood for decades, or have parents who live nearby on their own. Simple access control, a panic or duress button and live monitoring give families reassurance without changing daily routines.
Use lighting schedules, pause deliveries and arrange live monitoring while you are away. Winter travel and summer cottage season are common windows of vulnerability.
An alarm tells you something happened. Live monitoring with a dedicated local response is designed to intervene while it is happening.
For more, see the most common security mistakes high-end homeowners make.
Yes. Forest Hill has some of the lowest violent crime in Toronto: in 2025, Forest Hill South had the city's lowest assault rate and Forest Hill North the lowest robbery rate. Property crime is the main concern, particularly break and enters in Forest Hill South, according to Toronto Police Service data.
Toronto Police report Forest Hill as two official neighbourhoods: Forest Hill South (neighbourhood 101), which includes Forest Hill Village, and Forest Hill North (neighbourhood 102), north of Eglinton Avenue.
No. In 2025, break and enters fell 25% in Forest Hill South, from 53 to 40, and 21% in Forest Hill North, from 28 to 22. Forest Hill South's rate is still about 1.7 times the Toronto average.
Both have very low violent crime. Forest Hill North had a lower break and enter rate in 2025, 159 per 100,000 compared with 327 in Forest Hill South, while Forest Hill South had the lowest assault rate in Toronto.
In 2025, the Toronto Police Service's average response time to Priority 1 emergency calls was 14.1 minutes, down 17.5% from 2024, according to the Chief's 2025 Annual Report. Actual response times vary by call volume, location and time of day.
Toronto Police require verification before attending a burglar alarm, such as video or audio evidence, an eyewitness or multiple alarm zones triggering. The policy was introduced in 2018 after a review found 97% of home alarm activations were false. Panic and duress alarms still receive a response.
Look for live, verified monitoring, a defined local response time, the training background of personnel, and how the provider coordinates with police. Our guide to questions to ask a Toronto security company covers each in detail.
OZINT Security Group is a Toronto-based private security firm founded by veterans of elite Israeli security and intelligence units. Our operators are drawn from elite military, governmental and intelligence backgrounds, and every operator completes continuous, scenario-based training to the same standard used to protect heads of state. In an industry with no formal training minimums, we set our own.
OZINT provides residential and estate protection, executive and close protection, corporate security, event security, secure transportation, and investigations and intelligence for families, executives and organizations across the GTA.
Overwatch™ is OZINT's zone-based residential protection program. Instead of reacting after an alarm sounds, it combines three integrated layers that work together every night:
The difference is timing. Reactive systems document what happened. A proactive system is designed to detect, verify and respond while there is still time to change the outcome.
Learn more about Overwatch™ in Forest Hill, explore the Overwatch™ program, or book a private security consultation with our team.
