Photo: R. Sieben · CC BY 3.0Vulcan sits near the middle of Canadian towns for recorded crime
All told, Vulcan grades B− for safety: close to the middle of Canadian towns, on crime its police reported from 2023 to 2025. By contrast, a Crime Severity Index of 64.3, the 2023–2025 mean, compares with 67.2 for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+. Per 1,000 residents a year, 11.5 violent incidents and 27.7 incidents of property crime were recorded, against 12.0 and 31.2 in the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
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. Area behind the crime severity, crime rate and incident counts figures: the Vulcan detachment area.
What stands out about safety in Vulcan
Rising since 2023
In 2023 the index in Vulcan stood at 53.6, by 2025 at 69.2. Over the same years the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ went from 70.6 to 62.9. Year by year ↓
Lighter than Alberta’s middle
Vulcan’s index of 64.3 compares with 110 for the typical town in Alberta. Towns its size ↓
Property and other crime weigh more
Set beside the typical Canadian town of 2,500+, Vulcan’s two halves part ways: 54 for violence (typical 86.4) and 68.9 for the rest (typical 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.
Inside Vulcan’s B− for safety
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.
In Vulcan, up 29% between 2023 and 2025
Crime Severity Index
2024 was the peak (70.1) and 2023 the trough (53.6). For the typical Canadian town of 2,500+, 2023 gave 70.6 and 2025 gave 62.9.
Every year as a table
| Year | Vulcan | Typical town of 2,500+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 69.2 | 62.9 |
| 2024 | 70.1 | 68.5 |
| 2023 | 53.6 | 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 Vulcan, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
Vulcan’s crime by kind
Against the typical town its size, Vulcan runs highest on break and enter (4.3 per 1,000 against 2.5), fraud (7.4 per 1,000 against 5.1) and mischief (5.4 per 1,000 against 4.2). 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 | 1.3 | 0.2 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 0.7 | 0.1 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 0.3 | 0.06 | — |
| Robbery | 0 | 0 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 1 | 0.2 | — |
| Other violent violations | 2.7 | 0.4 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 27 | 4.3 | 16% |
| Possession of stolen property | 6 | 1 | 33% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 15.7 | 2.5 | 21% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 10 | 1.6 | 10% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 33 | 5.3 | 14% |
| Mischief | 33.3 | 5.4 | 10% |
| Weapons violations | 2 | 0.3 | — |
| Administration of justice violations | 13.7 | 2.2 | 68% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 9 | 1.4 | 30% |
| Drug violations | 1.7 | 0.3 | — |
| Impaired driving | 8.7 | 1.4 | 46% |
| 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 Vulcan is part of, 6,420 residents, recorded about 72 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.
Add about 170 property crimes and 63 other violations a year (2023–2025 average). The grid is 1,000 residents, a coloured dot for each incident a year at these rates.
Crime in the places around Vulcan
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vulcan | 1,922 | 64.3 | 54 | B− |
| Vulcan County (6 km) | 4,465 | 64.3 | 54 | B− |
| Nanton (37 km) | 2,522 | 63.7 | 46 | B− |
| High River (47 km) | 15,508 | 50.5 | 56.6 | B+ |
| Claresholm (48 km) | 4,242 | 91.1 | 68.1 | C |
Nearby, 2 of 3 places with their own figures have a lower index than Vulcan. The nearest of them, Nanton (36.8 km away), scores 63.7 against 64.3. Sharing its police with one neighbour, it shares that neighbour’s figure as well, so the neighbour isn’t compared.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means. The nearest places to Vulcan with figures are 6–48 km away.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Cleared, not convicted. A crime is cleared when police lay or recommend a charge, or solve it another way; the weighted rate counts serious crimes for more.
- What the index measures. 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.”
- A detachment’s area. Detachment figures cover the detachment’s whole area: Vulcan together with the countryside and smaller places it polices.
- 100 is Canada in 2006. 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.
Questions about safety in Vulcan
Is Vulcan safe?
Statistics Canada puts Vulcan at 64.3 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 11.5 and property crimes at 27.7 per 1,000 residents a year.
What is the most common crime in Vulcan?
Top of the list is fraud (7.4 per 1,000 residents a year); other Criminal Code offences, at 7.2, and mischief, at 5.4, follow.
Is crime going up in Vulcan?
Up 29%: 53.6 in 2023, 69.2 in 2025.
How much of Vulcan’s crime do police solve?
About 31% of crime is cleared, weighted by seriousness, with 64% of violent and 20% 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 Vulcan 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).