Photo: Kiwibirdman · CC BY 3.0Per resident, Willow Creek No. 26 records more crime than 75% of Canadian towns
Within Alberta, half the towns score under 110. Graded on crime the police covering Willow Creek No. 26 reported from 2023 to 2025, it scores C for safety: #211 of 474 in Alberta. What’s more, for every 1,000 residents, 13.9 violent incidents and 48.2 incidents of property crime were logged a year; in the typical town its size, the figures are 12.9 and 31.2. Statistics Canada puts its Crime Severity Index at 91.1 for 2023–2025; the typical Canadian town its size scores 68.5.
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. Crime severity, crime rate and incident counts for the Claresholm detachment area.
What stands out about safety in Willow Creek No. 26
Mischief: high for a town its size
Willow Creek No. 26 records 15.4 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 ↓
Property and other crime weigh more
Willow Creek No. 26’s index splits into violent crime, 68.1 here and 85.7 for the typical Canadian town its size, and everything else, 101 against 62.8. By type ↓
Higher than many towns its size
Of the 40 Canadian towns nearest it in size, Willow Creek No. 26 places 28th from the lowest index. Towns its size ↓
Less crime solved
For Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people the typical clearance rate is 34%; Willow Creek No. 26’s police clear 21%, 40% of violent crime and 16% of the rest. Questions ↓
Written from Statistics Canada’s police-reported crime by police service and detachment, 2023–2025. Figures are what police recorded, not convictions.
Inside Willow Creek No. 26’s C for safety
How sure: Less sure than most. No detachment reports for Willow Creek No. 26 itself, so the grade rests on the nearest one’s figures, 10 km away.
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: #211 of 474 in Alberta and #1,821 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.
What police record in Willow Creek No. 26, by type
Against the typical town its size, Willow Creek No. 26 runs highest on mischief (15.4 per 1,000 against 4.9), break and enter (6.3 per 1,000 against 2.8) and fraud (9.4 per 1,000 against 4.9). 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 | 3.7 | 0.5 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 0.3 | 0.05 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 0.7 | 0.10 | — |
| Robbery | 0 | 0 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 0.3 | 0.05 | — |
| Other violent violations | 2 | 0.3 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 42.3 | 6.3 | 11% |
| Possession of stolen property | 14.3 | 2.1 | 14% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 17.7 | 2.6 | 7% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 6.3 | 0.9 | 11% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 74 | 11 | 9% |
| Mischief | 103.7 | 15.4 | 12% |
| Weapons violations | 4.7 | 0.7 | — |
| Administration of justice violations | 17.3 | 2.6 | 68% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 8.7 | 1.3 | 31% |
| Drug violations | 4.3 | 0.6 | — |
| Impaired driving | 17 | 2.5 | 61% |
| 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.
Willow Creek No. 26 is 28th of 40 towns its size, lowest index first
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Glencoe Ontario | 6,468 | 25.7 | 29 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 18 | Stettler County No. 6 Alberta | 5,966 | 61.7 | 36.4 | B− |
| … | |||||
| 24 | Crowsnest Pass Alberta | 6,011 | 80.2 | 94.5 | C |
| 25 | Electoral Area C, Peace River British Columbia | 6,344 | 81.8 | 82.5 | C |
| 26 | Barrhead County No. 11 Alberta | 6,186 | 81.9 | 73.6 | C |
| 27 | Pictou County, Subdivision B Nova Scotia | 6,482 | 83.9 | 99.7 | C |
| 28 | Willow Creek No. 26 Alberta | 6,225 | 91.1 | 68.1 | C |
| 29 | Cumberland County, Subdivision C Nova Scotia | 6,040 | 93.1 | 86.7 | C− |
| 30 | Beaver County Alberta | 6,245 | 95.7 | 81.2 | C− |
| 31 | Port-Cartier Quebec | 6,436 | 103.9 | 209.6 | C− |
| 32 | Stettler Alberta | 6,035 | 108.4 | 89.2 | C− |
| … | |||||
| 34 | Vegreville Alberta | 6,153 | 138.4 | 107.9 | D |
| … | |||||
| 40 | St. Paul Alberta | 6,218 | 364.7 | 364.4 | 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 Willow Creek No. 26 in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
About 94 violent incidents a year in the area of the detachment nearest Willow Creek No. 26 (6,900 residents), 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 320 a year and other violations 110 (2023–2025 average). Of 1,000 dots, one per resident, the coloured ones are a year’s incidents at these rates.
In Willow Creek No. 26, up 7% between 2023 and 2025
Crime Severity Index
The middle year, 2024, was the heaviest at 99.4; 2023 was lightest, at 83.9. For the typical Canadian town its size, 2023 gave 74.3 and 2025 gave 64.2.
Every year as a table
| Year | Willow Creek No. 26 | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 90 | 64.2 |
| 2024 | 99.4 | 68.8 |
| 2023 | 83.9 | 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 Willow Creek No. 26, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
Crime in the places around Willow Creek No. 26
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Willow Creek No. 26 | 6,225 | 91.1 | 68.1 | C |
| Claresholm (10 km) | 4,242 | 91.1 | 68.1 | C |
| Fort Macleod (27 km) | 3,945 | 96.7 | 83.9 | C− |
| Nobleford (39 km) | 1,694 | 35.7 | 34 | A |
| Nanton (48 km) | 2,522 | 63.7 | 46 | B− |
Of 3 places nearby with their own figures, 2 come in under Willow Creek No. 26. Closest is Nobleford, 39.2 km away, at 35.7 to 91.1 here. One nearby place has no figure apart from this one: they share a police service.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means. Willow Creek No. 26 has few close neighbours with figures, so the list reaches 10–48 km out.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- An index, not a verdict. Statistics Canada, which publishes the index, attaches a caution: “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.” The number weighs each reported crime by its seriousness before dividing by residents.
- The index’s scale. A reading of 100 is the whole country in 2006. Half of that, 50, means half the severity per resident.
- What clearance means. The clearance rate is the share of incidents police solve, by a charge or otherwise, weighted by seriousness like the index. It isn’t a conviction rate.
Questions about safety in Willow Creek No. 26
Is Willow Creek No. 26 safe?
On Statistics Canada’s figures, Willow Creek No. 26 scores 91.1 on the Crime Severity Index for 2023–2025, with 13.9 violent and 48.2 property incidents per 1,000 residents a year. In the middle of Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people the figure is 68.5.
What is the most common crime in Willow Creek No. 26?
Most often it is mischief: 15.4 per 1,000 residents a year. Next come other Criminal Code offences at 11.5 and theft under $5,000 at 11.
Is crime going up in Willow Creek No. 26?
It has: 83.9 in 2023 became 90 by 2025, a rise of 7%.
How much of Willow Creek No. 26’s crime do police solve?
The weighted clearance rate is 21%: 40% for violent crime and 16% for non-violent. For the typical Canadian town its size it is 34%.
Whose figures are these?
Those of the police serving Willow Creek No. 26 together with its neighbours or the countryside around it.
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).