Photo: dave_7 from Lethbridge, Canada · CC BY 2.0For recorded crime, Coaldale sits in the middle of Canadian towns
Annual rates stand at 8.8 violent incidents and 30.3 incidents of property crime for every thousand residents, next to 12.9 and 31.2 in the typical town its size. Coaldale grades B for safety overall (#21 of 474 in Alberta): close to the middle of Canadian towns, on crime its police reported from 2023 to 2025. Its two neighbours with figures both record more crime per resident. The index that weighs each crime by its seriousness comes to 57.1 here (2023–2025 mean), and to 68.5 for the typical Canadian town its size.
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.
What stands out about safety in Coaldale
Below Alberta’s typical town
Set among Alberta’s towns, whose median is 110, Coaldale scores 57.1. Towns its size ↓
Down since 2023
From 64.1 in 2023 to 44.7 in 2025: that is Coaldale’s index, against 74.3 and 64.2 for the typical Canadian town its size. Year by year ↓
Mischief: high for a town its size
Coaldale records 10.4 incidents of mischief per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.9 in the typical town among Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people. By type ↓
Non-violent crime leads the index
Violent crime scores 45.1 on Coaldale’s index against 85.7 for the typical Canadian town its size; non-violent crime, 62.4 against 62.8. By type ↓
Written from Statistics Canada’s police-reported crime by police service and detachment, 2023–2025. Figures are what police recorded, not convictions.
The B for Coaldale, and how it is built
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: #21 of 474 in Alberta and #765 of 2,572 Canadian towns.
The Crime Severity Index and its two halves, beside the typical figure for Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people.
Coaldale’s index fell 30% from 2023 to 2025
Crime Severity Index
Its highest year was 2023, at 64.1, and its lowest 2025, at 44.7. Set beside it, the typical Canadian town its size went from 74.3 in 2023 to 64.2 in 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Coaldale | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 44.7 | 64.2 |
| 2024 | 62.5 | 68.8 |
| 2023 | 64.1 | 74.3 |
Statistics Canada, Crime Severity Index by police service, each year as published. Typical: the median of Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people.
The Crime Severity Index of the police covering Coaldale, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
Which crimes make up Coaldale’s figures
Against the typical town its size, Coaldale runs highest on mischief (10.4 per 1,000 against 4.9) and break and enter (3.6 per 1,000 against 2.8). Theft under $5,000 and motor vehicle theft sit below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0 | 0 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 3 | 0.3 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 1.7 | 0.2 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 1 | 0.1 | — |
| Robbery | 1.3 | 0.1 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 0.3 | 0.04 | — |
| Other violent violations | 0.3 | 0.04 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 34.3 | 3.6 | 17% |
| Possession of stolen property | 17.7 | 1.9 | 28% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 13 | 1.4 | 21% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 5 | 0.5 | 14% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 71.7 | 7.6 | 10% |
| Mischief | 98 | 10.4 | 23% |
| Weapons violations | 5 | 0.5 | 80% |
| Administration of justice violations | 48.3 | 5.1 | 88% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 6 | 0.6 | 50% |
| Drug violations | 7.3 | 0.8 | 64% |
| Impaired driving | 5.3 | 0.6 | 75% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 0 | 0 | — |
Statistics Canada’s violation groups for the whole police service or detachment, incidents a year its own. 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 2,500 to 10,000 people.
Among 40 towns its size, Coaldale places 22nd
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beckwith Ontario | 10,073 | 20.5 | 25.5 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 19 | Elizabethtown-Kitley Ontario | 9,886 | 49.6 | 50.6 | B+ |
| 20 | Shawnigan British Columbia | 9,903 | 49.9 | 52.5 | B+ |
| 21 | Qualicum Beach British Columbia | 9,640 | 51.5 | 32.6 | B+ |
| 22 | Coaldale Alberta | 9,644 | 57.1 | 45.1 | B |
| 23 | Three Rivers Prince Edward Island | 9,322 | 61.6 | 82.1 | B− |
| 24 | Antigonish County, Subdivision A Nova Scotia | 9,682 | 66.6 | 81.7 | B− |
| 25 | La Salle Manitoba | 9,215 | 67 | 72.1 | B− |
| … | |||||
| 33 | Olds Alberta | 9,653 | 85.6 | 86.2 | C |
| … | |||||
| 40 | Plympton-Wyoming Ontario | 9,548 | 333.9 | 378.3 | D− |
The 40 Canadian towns of 2,500+ people closest in population; city neighbourhoods, city totals and reserves are left out. Towns on one police service or detachment share its index.
The Canadian towns closest to Coaldale in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
About 83 violent incidents a year reached Coaldale’s police, 2023–2025
Violent incidents per 1,000 a year, 2023–2025
Property crimes per 1,000 a year, 2023–2025
Statistics Canada counts actual incidents; those police record as unfounded are listed apart and kept out of its crime rates and severity index. Each incident is filed under its most serious violation, which the survey sets partly by the maximum penalty.
And about 290 property crimes, plus 110 other violations, a year (2023–2025 average). Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot, one incident a year at the area’s rates.
Crime in the places around Coaldale
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coaldale | 9,644 | 57.1 | 45.1 | B |
| Lethbridge | 113,671 | 128.5 | 142 | D |
| Lethbridge County | 10,988 | 96 | 62 | C− |
Coaldale has the lowest index of the places around it.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Reading the number. 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.
- Solved cases. 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.
- How serious, not how safe. Statistics Canada builds the index from every crime police record, weighted by how seriously the courts treat it, and divides by the population. It adds a warning of its own: “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
Questions about safety in Coaldale
Is Coaldale safe?
Coaldale scores 57.1 on Statistics Canada’s Crime Severity Index (2023–2025 mean), where the typical figure for Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people is 68.5; per 1,000 residents a year that is 8.8 violent incidents and 30.3 property crimes.
What is the most common crime in Coaldale?
Police record mischief most, 10.4 per 1,000 residents a year, ahead of other Criminal Code offences (8.4) and theft under $5,000 (7.6).
Is crime going up in Coaldale?
No: the index fell 30%, from 64.1 in 2023 to 44.7 in 2025.
How much of Coaldale’s crime do police solve?
Weighted by seriousness, police cleared 31% of crime (52% of violent crime, 25% of the rest). The typical Canadian town its size clears 34%.
Whose figures are these?
A police service or contract that serves Coaldale alone, so the figures are the town’s.
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).