Photo: Tracklan2 · CC0Recorded crime per resident is lower in Picture Butte than in 91% of Canadian towns
Its Safety Grade is A, on crime the police covering Picture Butte reported from 2023 to 2025. Year on year, 5.2 violent incidents and 15.2 incidents of property crime occur per 1,000 residents, compared with 12.0 and 31.2 in the typical Canadian town of 2,500+. Violence accounts for an index of 34 and other offences for 36.6, against usual levels of 86.4 and 62.8. Police clear 27% of crime, weighted by seriousness; the figure for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ is 34%.
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. Shared with the rest of the Picture Butte detachment area: crime severity, crime rate and incident counts.
What stands out about safety in Picture Butte
Less severe than in 2023
Picture Butte’s index went from 46.9 in 2023 to 26 in 2025; the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ moved from 70.6 to 62.9. Year by year ↓
Below Alberta’s typical town
The typical Alberta town scores 110; Picture Butte, 35.7. Towns its size ↓
Property and other crime weigh more
Picture Butte scores 34 for violence and 36.6 for other crime; the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ scores 86.4 and 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.
What’s behind Picture Butte’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.
The Crime Severity Index and its two halves, beside the typical figure for Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more.
From 2023 to 2025, Picture Butte’s index dropped 45%
Crime Severity Index
The first year, 2023, was the heaviest at 46.9, and 2025 the lightest at 26. Set beside it, the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ went from 70.6 in 2023 to 62.9 in 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Picture Butte | Typical town of 2,500+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 26 | 62.9 |
| 2024 | 34.1 | 68.5 |
| 2023 | 46.9 | 70.6 |
Statistics Canada, Crime Severity Index by police service, each year as published. Typical: the median of Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more.
The Crime Severity Index of the police covering Picture Butte, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
Crime in Picture Butte, type by type
Assault and theft under $5,000 sit below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0 | 0 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 0.7 | 0.08 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 0.3 | 0.04 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 1 | 0.1 | — |
| Robbery | 0 | 0 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 0.3 | 0.04 | — |
| Other violent violations | 0 | 0 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 24 | 2.7 | 17% |
| Possession of stolen property | 10.3 | 1.2 | 22% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 18.3 | 2.1 | 9% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 4.3 | 0.5 | — |
| Theft under $5,000 | 19 | 2.1 | 9% |
| Mischief | 39 | 4.4 | 13% |
| Weapons violations | 1 | 0.1 | — |
| Administration of justice violations | 14.7 | 1.7 | 73% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 3.7 | 0.4 | — |
| Drug violations | 2 | 0.2 | — |
| Impaired driving | 0.7 | 0.08 | — |
| 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 people or more.
The police area Picture Butte is part of, 9,030 residents, recorded about 46 violent incidents a year (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 130 a year and other violations 40 (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 Picture Butte
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Picture Butte | 2,380 | 35.7 | 34 | A |
| Lethbridge County | 10,988 | 96 | 62 | C− |
| Coalhurst | 3,244 | 35.7 | 34 | A |
The comparison skips one neighbour reported under the same police.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- What clearance means. A crime is cleared when police lay or recommend a charge, or solve it another way; the weighted rate counts serious crimes for more.
- An index, not a verdict. The index weighs crimes rather than counting them: a serious offence moves it far more than a minor one. Statistics Canada is plain about its limits: “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
- Shared with the countryside. Detachment figures cover the detachment’s whole area: Picture Butte together with the countryside and smaller places it polices.
- The index’s scale. Figures are relative to one fixed point, Canada in 2006 at 100, rather than to this year’s national number.
Questions about safety in Picture Butte
Is Picture Butte safe?
Statistics Canada puts Picture Butte at 35.7 on its Crime Severity Index over 2023–2025; Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more sit at 67.2 in the middle. Violent incidents run at 5.2 and property crimes at 15.2 per 1,000 residents a year.
What is the most common crime in Picture Butte?
Most often it is mischief: 4.4 per 1,000 residents a year. Next come other Criminal Code offences at 3.6 and break and enter at 2.7.
Is crime going up in Picture Butte?
It went down 45% between 2023 and 2025, from 46.9 to 26.
How much of Picture Butte’s crime do police solve?
About 27% of crime is cleared, weighted by seriousness, with 50% of violent and 18% of other crime; the figure for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ is 34%.
Whose figures are these?
A police service or detachment that covers Picture Butte and other places, so the figures are shared.
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).