Canadian cities ranked by latest-year crime rate per 100,000 residents — the standard population-normalised metric used by Statistics Canada. Lower rate = fewer reported incidents per capita. Data is sourced from 6 Canadian cities' official open-data portals and filtered for minimum reporting coverage (see methodology).
Highest crime rates in Canada (per 100,000)
| # | City | Province | Rate / 100K | Incidents | Population |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gatineau | QC | 6,539 | 19,032 | 291,041 |
| 2 | Victoria | BC | 2,831 | 2,601 | 91,867 |
| 3 | Medicine Hat | AB | 2,381 | 1,506 | 63,260 |
| 4 | Saskatoon | SK | 2,203 | 5,863 | 266,141 |
| 5 | Lethbridge | AB | 2,193 | 2,158 | 98,406 |
| 6 | Windsor | ON | 1,659 | 3,811 | 229,660 |
Lowest crime rates in Canada (per 100,000)
| # | City | Province | Rate / 100K | Incidents | Population |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Windsor | ON | 1,659 | 3,811 | 229,660 |
| 2 | Lethbridge | AB | 2,193 | 2,158 | 98,406 |
| 3 | Saskatoon | SK | 2,203 | 5,863 | 266,141 |
| 4 | Medicine Hat | AB | 2,381 | 1,506 | 63,260 |
| 5 | Victoria | BC | 2,831 | 2,601 | 91,867 |
| 6 | Gatineau | QC | 6,539 | 19,032 | 291,041 |
Rate vs severity
A high rate per 100,000 does not automatically mean high severity — a city with many minor thefts but few violent crimes can have a high rate but a modest severity score. For severity-weighted rankings, see the Crime Severity Index explainer (homicide is weighted roughly 190 times higher than minor theft).
Rate by category
Per-category rates by city are available on individual category pages, including homicide, robbery, auto theft, break and enter, and more.
Related rankings
- Safest cities (severity-weighted)
- Most dangerous cities (severity-weighted)
- Crime Severity Index explainer
- National totals + category breakdown
Frequently asked questions
How is crime rate per 100,000 calculated?
incidents ÷ population × 100,000. It normalises for city size so a small city with 500 incidents can be compared to a large city with 50,000. Population figures we use are from the 2021 Canadian Census.
Why is a high-rate city not necessarily "dangerous"?
Crime rates include minor offences (mischief, minor theft) alongside violent crimes. A city with lots of minor theft and no violence has a high rate but low severity. See /crime-severity-index.
Canada vs USA crime rates?
CrimeMaps.ca publishes Canadian data only. For Canada vs USA comparisons consult <a href="https://www.statcan.gc.ca/en/subjects-start/crime_and_justice" rel="nofollow noopener">Statistics Canada</a> (UCR2 / Crime Severity Index) or the <a href="https://cde.ucr.cjis.gov/" rel="nofollow noopener">FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program</a>. We do not republish or re-derive cross-country comparisons here because the offence taxonomies and reporting practices differ enough that side-by-side numbers are easy to misinterpret without methodological caveats from the source agencies.