Photo: Iamjforlife · CC BY-SA 3.0For recorded crime, Downtown West End sits in the middle of Canadian towns
The overall Safety Grade is B− (#33 of 474 in Alberta), which means close to the middle of Canadian towns, judged on crime its police reported from 2023 to 2025. Still, its police logs show 10.6 violent incidents and 31.9 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents a year, while in the typical Canadian town of 50,000+ the numbers are 10.8 and 25.1. A Crime Severity Index of 67.2, the 2023–2025 mean, compares with 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 Downtown West End
Less severe than in 2023
Between 2023 and 2025, Downtown West End moved from 74.3 to 62.9, while 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.
What’s behind Downtown West End’s grade
How sure: A less certain grade than most: it reads the city’s overall figure, which can hide how Downtown West End itself compares.
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.
From 2023 to 2025, Downtown West End’s index dropped 15%
Crime Severity Index
2023 opened the run as its heaviest year (74.3); 2025 was the lightest, at 62.9. Set beside it, the typical Canadian town of 50,000+ went from 64.3 in 2023 to 59.2 in 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Downtown West End | 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 Downtown West End, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 50,000+.
What Calgary’s police record, 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 motor vehicle theft (3 per 1,000 against 1.7), break and enter (3.7 per 1,000 against 2.2) and theft under $5,000 (15.7 per 1,000 against 11.5). Fraud sits 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.
Crime in the places around Downtown West End
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Downtown West End | 2,796 | 67.2 | 79.4 | B− |
| Downtown Commercial Core | 9,286 | 67.2 | 79.4 | B− |
| Beltline | 26,171 | 67.2 | 79.4 | B− |
| Hillhurst | 8,435 | 67.2 | 79.4 | B− |
| Lower Mount Royal | 3,136 | 67.2 | 79.4 | B− |
| Sunnyside | 2,976 | 67.2 | 79.4 | B− |
| Sunalta | 4,151 | 67.2 | 79.4 | B− |
The comparison skips 6 neighbours reported under the same police.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- The clearance rate. The clearance rate is the share of incidents police solve, by a charge or otherwise, weighted by seriousness like the index. It isn’t a conviction rate.
- Severity, weighed. One robbery outweighs a run of minor thefts here, since every crime counts by the sentences courts give it. Statistics Canada adds: “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
- One figure for the city. Calgary publishes its community crime counts only to signed-in users, not as open data; Downtown West End carries the city-wide figures.
- What 100 means. Canada’s own index has been below its 2006 base of 100 for years, so 100 marks a fixed reference, not today’s national average.
Questions about safety in Downtown West End
Is Downtown West End safe?
Against a typical 60.3 for Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more, Downtown West End’s Crime Severity Index stands at 67.2 for 2023–2025. Its police record 10.6 violent incidents and 31.9 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year.
What is the most common crime in Downtown West End?
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 Downtown West End?
The reverse: 74.3 in 2023 came down to 62.9 by 2025, 15% lower.
How much of Downtown West End’s crime do police solve?
Police cleared 35% of crime once each incident is weighted by seriousness: 49% of violent crime and 28% of the rest, against 38% for the typical Canadian town of 50,000+.
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).