Photo: Dwayne Reilander · CC BY-SA 4.0Crime in Bowness sits close to the middle of Canadian towns
Each year brought 10.6 violent incidents and 31.9 incidents of property crime for every 1,000 residents (10.8 and 25.1 in the typical Canadian town of 50,000+). Taking everything together, Bowness scores B− (#33 of 474 in Alberta): close to the middle of Canadian towns, measured on crime its police reported between 2023 and 2025. Weighted by seriousness, its crime scores 67.2 on the index for 2023–2025, beside 60.3 for the typical Canadian town of 50,000+.
Statistics Canada, police-reported crime, 2023–2025 means. The index weighs each crime by its seriousness; rates are incidents per 1,000 residents a year. Crime severity and crime rate: one figure for all of the Calgary service area.
What stands out about safety in Bowness
Down since 2023
In 2023 the index in Bowness stood at 74.3, by 2025 at 62.9. Over the same years the typical Canadian town of 50,000+ went from 64.3 to 59.2. Year by year ↓
Written from Statistics Canada’s police-reported crime by police service and detachment, 2023–2025. Figures are what police recorded, not convictions.
The grade: B− for Bowness
How sure: Less sure than most, because no figure exists for Bowness on its own; the city’s, for its whole area, stands in.
The grade weighs the Crime Severity Index and its violent half, averaged over 2023–2025, against every Canadian town and city neighbourhood of 1,000 people or more.
Its place: #33 of 474 in Alberta and #1,144 of 2,572 Canadian towns.
The Crime Severity Index and its two halves, beside the typical figure for Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more.
Calgary’s crime, type by type
These are Calgary’s figures, for its police’s whole area: they aren’t published by neighbourhood.
Against the typical town its size, Calgary runs highest on robbery (0.8 per 1,000 against 0.4), motor vehicle theft (3 per 1,000 against 1.7) and break and enter (3.7 per 1,000 against 2.2). Fraud and sexual assault sit below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 20 | 0.01 | 70% |
| Sexual violations against children | 274.7 | 0.2 | 39% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 445.3 | 0.3 | 96% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 138.3 | 0.09 | 40% |
| Robbery | 1,191.7 | 0.8 | 36% |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 128.3 | 0.08 | 75% |
| Other violent violations | 241.3 | 0.2 | 59% |
| Breaking and entering | 5,706.7 | 3.7 | 15% |
| Possession of stolen property | 620 | 0.4 | 86% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 4,568.7 | 3 | 7% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 1,197.7 | 0.8 | 6% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 24,502.7 | 15.7 | 11% |
| Mischief | 5,863 | 3.8 | 13% |
| Weapons violations | 862.7 | 0.6 | 93% |
| Administration of justice violations | 12,562 | 8.1 | 99% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 554 | 0.4 | 68% |
| Drug violations | 1,387 | 0.9 | 92% |
| Impaired driving | 106 | 0.07 | 94% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 124.3 | 0.08 | 41% |
Statistics Canada’s violation groups for the whole police service or detachment: incidents a year are its own, the town’s share is only estimated in the tiles. Cleared: incidents solved by a charge or otherwise, as a share of those reported.
Incidents per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025 means, against the typical figure for Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more.
From 2023 to 2025, Bowness’s index dropped 15%
Crime Severity Index
Its highest year was 2023, at 74.3, and its lowest 2025, at 62.9. The comparison line, the typical Canadian town of 50,000+, runs from 64.3 in 2023 to 59.2 by 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Bowness | Typical town of 50,000+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 62.9 | 59.2 |
| 2024 | 64.3 | 59.9 |
| 2023 | 74.3 | 64.3 |
Statistics Canada, Crime Severity Index by police service, each year as published. Typical: the median of Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more.
The Crime Severity Index of the police covering Bowness, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 50,000+.
Crime in the places around Bowness
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bowness | 11,548 | 67.2 | 79.4 | B− |
| Silver Springs | 9,042 | 67.2 | 79.4 | B− |
| Cougar Ridge | 7,101 | 67.2 | 79.4 | B− |
| Varsity | 12,605 | 67.2 | 79.4 | B− |
| Montgomery | 4,456 | 67.2 | 79.4 | B− |
| Coach Hill | 3,383 | 67.2 | 79.4 | B− |
| Dalhousie | 8,617 | 67.2 | 79.4 | B− |
6 neighbours are on the same police service or detachment: they share the figure and aren’t compared here.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Cleared, not convicted. A crime is cleared when police lay or recommend a charge, or solve it another way; the weighted rate counts serious crimes for more.
- What the index measures. The Crime Severity Index adds up police-reported crime, each kind weighted by the sentences courts give it, so one robbery counts for more than many thefts. In Statistics Canada’s words, “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
- The whole city’s numbers. Without open access to Calgary’s community statistics, the figures here are the city’s, not Bowness’s own.
- 100 is Canada in 2006. The index is scaled so that Canada as a whole scored 100 in its base year, 2006: a town at 50 has half that severity per resident.
Questions about safety in Bowness
Is Bowness safe?
Bowness measures 67.2 on the Crime Severity Index for 2023–2025, next to 60.3 for Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more. Per 1,000 residents a year, its police record 10.6 violent incidents and 31.9 property crimes.
What is the most common crime in Bowness?
Police record theft under $5,000 most, 15.7 per 1,000 residents a year, ahead of other Criminal Code offences (9.2) and assault (6.7).
Is crime going up in Bowness?
No: the index fell 15%, from 74.3 in 2023 to 62.9 in 2025.
How much of Bowness’s crime do police solve?
The weighted clearance rate is 35%: 49% for violent crime and 28% for non-violent. For the typical Canadian town of 50,000+ it is 38%.
Whose figures are these?
The city police’s, as reported for the whole city.
Source: Statistics Canada, police-reported crime by police service and detachment, 2023–2025 (Statistics Canada Open Licence); TownRatings calculation.
Sources: Statistics Canada, Crime severity index and weighted clearance rates, police services (tables 35-10-0186 to 0190, 0061, 0063, 0064), 2023–2025 · Statistics Canada, Incident-based crime statistics by detailed violations, police services (35-10-0178 to 0185) · Safety Grade: TownRatings calculation. Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).