Photo: Qyd · CC BY-SA 3.0More crimes per resident are recorded in Edson than in 86% of Canadian towns
Between 2023 and 2025 the severity figure rose, 111.1 to 126.9. Its violent half comes to 93.1 and its non-violent half to 135, where the norm is 85.7 and 62.8. Graded on crime the police covering Edson reported from 2023 to 2025, it scores D for safety: #429 of 474 in Alberta. Violence and property crime split as 23.6 violent incidents and 63.5 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents a year, beside 12.9 and 31.2 in the typical 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 Edson
Mischief: high for a town its size
Edson records 19.3 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
Edson scores 93.1 for violence and 135 for other crime; the typical Canadian town its size scores 85.7 and 62.8. By type ↓
A higher index than most towns its size
Counting up from the lowest index, Edson is 36th of the 40 Canadian towns closest in population. Towns its size ↓
Close to Alberta’s typical town
Set among Alberta’s towns, whose median is 110, Edson scores 122.3. Towns its size ↓
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 Edson’s grade
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: #429 of 474 in Alberta and #2,281 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.
Crime in Edson, type by type
Against the typical town its size, Edson runs highest on mischief (19.3 per 1,000 against 4.9), drug offences (2 per 1,000 against 0.7) and break and enter (7 per 1,000 against 2.8). Sexual assault sits below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0 | 0 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 1.3 | 0.2 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 3 | 0.4 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 0.3 | 0.04 | — |
| Robbery | 1.7 | 0.2 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 1 | 0.1 | — |
| Other violent violations | 2 | 0.2 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 60.3 | 7 | 24% |
| Possession of stolen property | 25.7 | 3 | 17% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 53.3 | 6.2 | 8% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 21.3 | 2.5 | 3% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 146 | 16.9 | 20% |
| Mischief | 166 | 19.3 | 19% |
| Weapons violations | 9.7 | 1.1 | 59% |
| Administration of justice violations | 87.3 | 10.1 | 74% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 10.3 | 1.2 | 39% |
| Drug violations | 17.3 | 2 | 54% |
| Impaired driving | 24.3 | 2.8 | 58% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 0.3 | 0.04 | — |
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.
By its index, Edson stands 36th of 40 towns its size
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Douro-Dummer Ontario | 8,379 | 14.9 | 13.8 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 25 | Camrose County Alberta | 8,951 | 70.5 | 76.9 | C+ |
| … | |||||
| 30 | Innisfail Alberta | 8,736 | 83.9 | 76 | C |
| … | |||||
| 33 | Drumheller Alberta | 8,439 | 101.2 | 101.9 | C− |
| 34 | Kapuskasing Ontario | 8,825 | 105.6 | 172.8 | C− |
| 35 | Trail British Columbia | 8,539 | 114.1 | 118.2 | C− |
| 36 | Edson Alberta | 8,692 | 122.3 | 93.1 | D |
| 37 | Grande Cache Alberta | 8,984 | 160.6 | 210.5 | D |
| 38 | Lac la Biche County Alberta | 8,580 | 296.3 | 359.4 | D− |
| 39 | Dauphin Manitoba | 8,587 | 305.3 | 402.1 | D− |
| 40 | Iqaluit Nunavut | 8,612 | 661.3 | 844 | 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 Edson in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
Edson, year by year
Crime Severity Index
The middle year, 2024, was the heaviest at 128.8; 2023 was lightest, at 111.1. In the same years the typical Canadian town its size read 74.3 (2023), then 64.2 (2025).
Every year as a table
| Year | Edson | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 126.9 | 64.2 |
| 2024 | 128.8 | 68.8 |
| 2023 | 111.1 | 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 Edson, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
Around 200 violent incidents a year on Edson’s police records (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.
Property crime adds about 550 a year and other violations 230 (2023–2025 average). Of 1,000 dots, one per resident, the coloured ones are a year’s incidents at these rates.
Crime in the places around Edson
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Edson | 8,692 | 122.3 | 93.1 | D |
| Yellowhead County (28 km) | 10,966 | 120 | 99.2 | D |
| Hinton (78 km) | 10,124 | 137.3 | 109.5 | D |
| Whitecourt (79 km) | 10,708 | 146.3 | 128.4 | D |
1 of the 3 neighbours with their own figures score lower than Edson. Closest is Yellowhead County, 27.5 km away, at 120 to 122.3 here.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means. The nearest places to Edson with figures are 28–79 km away.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- The index’s scale. 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.
- What clearance means. Cleared means solved by police, charged or not; it says nothing about what courts decide.
- An index, not a verdict. 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.”
Questions about safety in Edson
Is Edson safe?
On Statistics Canada’s figures, Edson scores 122.3 on the Crime Severity Index for 2023–2025, with 23.6 violent and 63.5 property incidents per 1,000 residents a year. Set that beside 68.5, the median for Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is the most common crime in Edson?
Most often it is other Criminal Code offences: 19.5 per 1,000 residents a year. Next come mischief at 19.3 and theft under $5,000 at 16.9.
Is crime going up in Edson?
It has: 111.1 in 2023 became 126.9 by 2025, a rise of 14%.
How much of Edson’s crime do police solve?
Police solve 59% of violent crime and 23% of everything else, 31% overall once each crime is weighted by seriousness, against 34% for the typical Canadian town its size.
Whose figures are these?
Its own police: the service or contract that covers Edson and nowhere else.
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).