What the Crime Severity Index tells you
The Crime Severity Index (CSI) is Statistics Canada’s official severity-weighted measure of police-reported crime. Each offence is weighted by average Canadian court sentence length; the weighted total is divided by population and scaled so Canada 2006 = 100. Values on this page are the published 2024 index for cities StatCan releases.
In this build, Richmond (BC) has the highest overall CSI at 119.1 — about 19% above the 2006 national baseline of 100.
Searching for “crime rates by city”? CSI is the official annual composite. For fresher per-category rates (assault, theft, break-and-enter) from municipal open data, use most dangerous cities and safest cities. Mapped pin counts live on crime statistics — those are volumes, not CSI.
CSI vs CrimeMaps open-data rates
People searching “crime rates by city” often want either the official annual index or fresher municipal counts. CrimeMaps shows both — they are not interchangeable.
| Topic | StatCan CSI | Open-data rates on CrimeMaps |
|---|---|---|
| What it measures | Severity-weighted crime per capita (all UCR-style categories in the index) | Annualized incidents per 1,000 residents by published category (assault, theft, B&E, …) |
| Period | Annual official release (values on this site: 2024) | Live municipal feeds; rates use complete months (Jan–Jul 2026) |
| Who is included | CMAs / police services StatCan publishes | Cities with a live open portal and enough months to annualize |
| Update cadence | Yearly | Daily–monthly depending on the city feed |
| Best for | Comparing severity-weighted crime levels nationally | Recent category-level rates and map exploration |
Per-category rate tables: most dangerous cities · safest cities. Map volumes (not rates): crime statistics.
Top 10 by overall CSI (2024)
Highest overall CSI (2024) among cities with a published StatCan value:
- 1. Richmond (BC) — CSI 119.1
- 2. Saskatoon (SK) — CSI 117.5
- 3. Thunder Bay (ON) — CSI 113.8
- 4. Edmonton (AB) — CSI 109.3
- 5. Nanaimo (BC) — CSI 106.7
- 6. Lethbridge (AB) — CSI 105.5
- 7. Regina (SK) — CSI 104.7
- 8. Abbotsford (BC) — CSI 92.0
- 9. Surrey (BC) — CSI 86.5
- 10. Belleville (ON) — CSI 85.0
CSI is severity-weighted crime per capita (Canada 2006 = 100), not a live map count. Neighbourhood risk varies — open a city map for local detail.
CSI 2024 · StatCan official · Canada 2006 = 100 · what is CSI
Official CSI by city (2024)
| # | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Richmond ⚠ Richmond RCMP | BC | 119.1 | 54.1 | 239,584 |
| 2 | Saskatoon Saskatoon Police Service | SK | 117.5 | 159.8 | 318,067 |
| 3 | Thunder Bay ⚠ Thunder Bay Police Service | ON | 113.8 | 218.7 | 117,671 |
| 4 | Edmonton Edmonton Police Service | AB | 109.3 | 122.0 | 1,238,295 |
| 5 | Nanaimo ⚠⚠ CMA-level; Nanaimo RCMP serves most of the CMA | BC | 106.7 | — | 111,845 |
| 6 | Lethbridge CMA-level; Lethbridge Police serves most of the CMA | AB | 105.5 | — | 113,671 |
| 7 | Regina Regina Police Service | SK | 104.7 | 136.9 | 263,419 |
| 8 | Abbotsford ⚠ Abbotsford Police Service | BC | 92.0 | 98.1 | 175,358 |
| 9 | Surrey ⚠ Surrey RCMP | BC | 86.5 | 79.3 | 703,531 |
| 10 | Belleville ⚠ CMA-level; Belleville Police serves most of the CMA | ON | 85.0 | — | 62,914 |
| 11 | Vancouver CMA-level (StatCan Table 35-10-0026-01, 2024); includes multiple Metro Vancouver police services, not City of Vancouver alone | BC | 81.2 | — | 740,454 |
| 12 | Brantford Brantford Police Service | ON | 80.8 | 92.4 | 123,521 |
| 13 | Windsor Windsor Police Service | ON | 80.3 | 96.3 | 269,614 |
| 14 | CSI profile shared for Langley Township RCMP / adjacent mapped detachments. 2 municipalities · shared CSI | BC | 78.5 | 80.0 | 269,810 |
| Langley ⚠ Langley Township RCMP Member of Langley Township area | BC | 78.5 | 80.0 | 163,885 | |
| Maple Ridge ⚠ Mapped from Langley Township; adjacent RCMP detachments with similar profiles Member of Langley Township area | BC | 78.5 | 80.0 | 105,925 | |
| 15 | Montreal ⚠ Service de police de la Ville de Montréal | QC | 75.7 | 112.5 | 1,915,366 |
| 16 | Halifax Halifax Regional Police | NS | 74.2 | 94.5 | 516,822 |
| 17 | Chatham-Kent ⚠ Chatham-Kent Police Service | ON | 74.0 | 77.4 | 112,716 |
| 18 | Waterloo Region Waterloo Regional Police | ON | 72.7 | 91.4 | 711,457 |
| 19 | Victoria CMA-level; Victoria Police serves the core municipality only | BC | 71.0 | — | 103,888 |
| 20 | Toronto Toronto Police Service | ON | 68.7 | 99.8 | 3,271,830 |
| 21 | Burnaby ⚠ Burnaby RCMP | BC | 67.5 | 60.8 | 299,682 |
| 22 | Greater Sudbury ⚠ Greater Sudbury Police Service | ON | 67.1 | 108.5 | 188,504 |
| 23 | Hamilton ⚠ Hamilton Police Service | ON | 66.2 | 85.9 | 640,465 |
| 24 | London London Police Service | ON | 65.9 | 81.8 | 494,785 |
| 25 | Calgary ⚠ Calgary Police Service | AB | 63.3 | 78.5 | 1,612,834 |
| 26 | Peterborough CMA-level; Peterborough Police serves most of the CMA | ON | 61.3 | — | 97,834 |
| 27 | Gatineau CMA-level QC part; Gatineau Police serves the QC portion | QC | 61.1 | — | 306,105 |
| 28 | Niagara Region Mapped from St. Catharines-Niagara CMA | ON | 59.0 | 78.5 | 551,128 |
| 29 | Peel Regional Police serves Brampton and Mississauga — StatCan CSI is shared. 2 municipalities · shared CSI | ON | 56.4 | 80.2 | 1,542,356 |
| Brampton Peel Region amalgamated value; Brampton and Mississauga share Peel Regional Police Member of Peel Region | ON | 56.4 | 80.2 | 777,759 | |
| Mississauga Peel Region amalgamated value; Brampton and Mississauga share Peel Regional Police Member of Peel Region | ON | 56.4 | 80.2 | 764,597 | |
| 30 | Guelph Guelph Police Service | ON | 56.0 | 77.6 | 160,760 |
| 31 | Ottawa Ottawa Police Service | ON | 55.8 | 67.4 | 1,188,114 |
| 32 | Sherbrooke ⚠ CMA-level; Service de police de Sherbrooke serves most of the CMA | QC | 53.9 | — | 184,135 |
⚠ marks a frozen open-data feed or partial offence coverage. CSI values are Statistics Canada 2024 and remain valid; the marker applies only to the municipal feed.
What is the Crime Severity Index?
CSI weights each offence by its average Canadian court sentence length. A murder is weighted at over 8,000 units; a minor theft at around 37. Dividing total weighted incidents by population × 100,000 gives a single comparable number across cities of different sizes. The index is scaled so Canada in 2006 = 100 — a city with CSI 150 has 50% more severity-weighted crime per capita than the national baseline; CSI 50 means half.
Source: StatCan Table 35-10-0026-01. Data and ranking methods: methodology.
Where to find crime rates by city
CrimeMaps does not invent a second national composite score. For annualized open-data rates by category (per 1,000 residents), open:
- Most dangerous cities — highest rates + Violent CSI
- Safest cities — lowest CSI + lower open-data rates
- Crime statistics — raw mapped volume in the ~60-day window (not per-capita rates)
Frequently asked questions
What is the Crime Severity Index (CSI)?
Statistics Canada's official measure of police-reported crime severity. Each offence is weighted by average sentence length; the weighted total is divided by population and scaled so Canada 2006 = 100.
Does a high CSI mean a city is unsafe?
It measures severity-weighted reported-crime rate, not personal safety for any individual resident. Neighbourhood-level variation is large — use the city pages to see where crime concentrates.
How is this different from open-data rates on other ranking pages?
CSI is the government annual index with a fixed national taxonomy. Open-data rate tables on CrimeMaps use municipal portals (faster updates, partial categories possible) and show per-category rates rather than a composite score.
Where can I see recent per-category rates?
See /most-dangerous-cities and /safest-cities for annualized open-data rates by category.
Where did the old crime-rates page go?
It redirected here. CSI is the honest national severity ranking; category rates live on the most-dangerous and safest hubs.