Photo: Thivierr · CC BY-SA 3.0Recorded crime in University Heights is close to typical for Canadian towns
Its Crime Severity Index averaged 67.2 over 2023–2025, against 60.3 for the typical Canadian town of 50,000+. University Heights grades B− for safety overall (#33 of 474 in Alberta): close to the middle of Canadian towns, on crime its police reported from 2023 to 2025. By contrast, the yearly rates were 10.6 violent incidents and 31.9 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents, set against 10.8 and 25.1 in 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. The crime severity and crime rate numbers here cover the Calgary service area.
What stands out about safety in University Heights
Lighter than in 2023
In 2023 the index in University Heights 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.
What’s behind University Heights’s grade
How sure: Not as firm as most grades, since the figure covers the entire city rather than University Heights alone.
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.
Year by year in University Heights: down 15%, 2023 to 2025
Crime Severity Index
The index started at its highest, 74.3 in 2023, and touched its lowest in 2025, at 62.9. For the typical Canadian town of 50,000+, 2023 gave 64.3 and 2025 gave 59.2.
Every year as a table
| Year | University Heights | 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 University Heights, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 50,000+.
Which crimes make up Calgary’s figures
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 University Heights
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| University Heights | 4,031 | 67.2 | 79.4 | B− |
| Banff Trail | 4,175 | 67.2 | 79.4 | B− |
| West Hillhurst | 10,319 | 67.2 | 79.4 | B− |
| Montgomery | 4,456 | 67.2 | 79.4 | B− |
| Charleswood | 5,642 | 67.2 | 79.4 | B− |
| Wildwood | 4,177 | 67.2 | 79.4 | B− |
| Varsity | 12,605 | 67.2 | 79.4 | B− |
6 places nearby are policed together with it and reported as one, so there is nothing to compare.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 100 is Canada in 2006. 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.
- Cleared, not convicted. Police clear an incident by charging someone, recommending a charge, or closing it another way. The rate weighs serious crimes more, as the index does.
- What the index measures. Police-reported incidents, each multiplied by a weight drawn from court sentences, summed and divided by the population: that is the index, and its makers attach a caution, “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
- City-wide figures. Calgary publishes its community crime counts only to signed-in users, not as open data; University Heights carries the city-wide figures.
Questions about safety in University Heights
Is University Heights safe?
The short answer is an index of 67.2 for University Heights (2023–2025), built from 10.6 violent incidents and 31.9 property crimes a year for every 1,000 residents. Across Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more, the median is 60.3.
What is the most common crime in University Heights?
Most often it is theft under $5,000: 15.7 per 1,000 residents a year. Next come other Criminal Code offences at 9.2 and assault at 6.7.
Is crime going up in University Heights?
Over 2023–2025 the index dropped 15%, to 62.9 from 74.3.
How much of University Heights’s crime do police solve?
Counting serious crimes for more, 35% end in a charge or are otherwise solved (38% for the typical Canadian town of 50,000+); split up, that is 49% of violent and 28% of non-violent crime.
Whose figures are these?
Those of the police service that covers 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).