Photo: https://www.flickr.com/people/sillygwailo/ - sillygwailo / Richard Eriksson · CC BY 2.0Heights sits near the middle of Canadian towns for recorded crime
Typical years here bring 10.9 violent incidents plus 35.9 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents, against 10.8 plus 25.1 in the typical Canadian town of 50,000+. Its Crime Severity Index dropped from 74.2 in 2023 to 68.7 by 2025. The overall Safety Grade is C+ (#83 of 251 in British Columbia), which means close to the middle of Canadian towns, judged on crime its police reported from 2023 to 2025. A Crime Severity Index of 70.5, the 2023–2025 mean, compares with 60.3 for the typical Canadian town of 50,000+.
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-wide: crime severity and crime rate, counted over the Burnaby service area.
What stands out about safety in Heights
Less crime solved
The weighted clearance rate, the share of crime police solve, is 15% for Heights (27% violent, 11% non-violent), beside 38% for Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more. Questions ↓
Property and other crime weigh more
Heights scores 64.6 for violence and 73.4 for other crime; the typical Canadian town of 50,000+ scores 75.2 and 54.2. 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 Heights’s C+ for safety
How sure: Less sure than most. The grade rests on a figure for the whole city, so Heights’s own streets could sit well above or below it.
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: #83 of 251 in British Columbia and #1,398 of 2,572 Canadian towns.
The Crime Severity Index and its two halves, beside the typical figure for Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more.
Which crimes make up Burnaby’s figures
These are Burnaby’s figures, for its police’s whole area: they aren’t published by neighbourhood.
Against the typical town its size, Burnaby runs highest on theft under $5,000 (21.3 per 1,000 against 11.5), break and enter (2.8 per 1,000 against 2.2) and mischief (4.7 per 1,000 against 3.8). Sexual assault and motor vehicle theft sit below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 2.3 | 0.01 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 70.7 | 0.2 | 24% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 33.3 | 0.1 | 99% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 12 | 0.04 | 39% |
| Robbery | 121.7 | 0.4 | 24% |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 15 | 0.05 | 73% |
| Other violent violations | 31.3 | 0.1 | 22% |
| Breaking and entering | 805 | 2.8 | 12% |
| Possession of stolen property | 49.3 | 0.2 | 33% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 291.7 | 1 | 3% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 275.3 | 0.9 | 7% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 6,244.7 | 21.3 | 10% |
| Mischief | 1,370.7 | 4.7 | 9% |
| Weapons violations | 146.3 | 0.5 | 40% |
| Administration of justice violations | 323 | 1.1 | 87% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 183.7 | 0.6 | 28% |
| Drug violations | 209.7 | 0.7 | 46% |
| Impaired driving | 267.7 | 0.9 | 77% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 214.3 | 0.7 | 12% |
Statistics Canada’s violation groups for the whole police service or detachment: incidents a year are its own, the town’s share is only estimated in the tiles. 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 50,000 people or more.
Heights, year by year
Crime Severity Index
The first year, 2023, was the heaviest at 74.2, and 2024 the lightest at 68.5. In the same years the typical Canadian town of 50,000+ read 64.3 (2023), then 59.2 (2025).
Every year as a table
| Year | Heights | Typical town of 50,000+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 68.7 | 59.2 |
| 2024 | 68.5 | 59.9 |
| 2023 | 74.2 | 64.3 |
Statistics Canada, Crime Severity Index by police service, each year as published. Typical: the median of Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more.
The Crime Severity Index of the police covering Heights, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 50,000+.
Crime in the places around Heights
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heights | 22,141 | 70.5 | 64.6 | C+ |
| Brentwood | 22,170 | 70.5 | 64.6 | C+ |
| Holdom | 7,976 | 70.5 | 64.6 | C+ |
| Hastings-Sunrise | 36,072 | 93.4 | 99.3 | C− |
| Lochdale | 7,463 | 70.5 | 64.6 | C+ |
| Broadview | 8,008 | 70.5 | 64.6 | C+ |
| Burrard Inlet 3 | 2,820 | — | — | — |
Sharing its police with 4 neighbours, it shares their figure as well, so they aren’t compared.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- City-wide figures. Its city publishes no open neighbourhood crime figures, so every figure for Heights is the city police’s, for the whole city.
- What 100 means. Statistics Canada set the national index at 100 for 2006; every figure here is read against that.
- The clearance rate. A cleared case is one police consider solved. Whether anyone is convicted is a separate matter the rate doesn’t follow.
- Severity, weighed. Police-reported incidents, each multiplied by a weight drawn from court sentences, summed and divided by the population: that is the index, and its makers attach a caution, “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
Questions about safety in Heights
Is Heights safe?
Against a typical 60.3 for Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more, Heights’s Crime Severity Index stands at 70.5 for 2023–2025. Its police record 10.9 violent incidents and 35.9 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year.
What is the most common crime in Heights?
The three biggest groups are theft under $5,000 at 21.3, other Criminal Code offences at 10.9 and assault at 5.2, each per 1,000 residents a year.
Is crime going up in Heights?
Over 2023–2025 the index dropped 7%, to 68.7 from 74.2.
How much of Heights’s crime do police solve?
The weighted clearance rate is 15%: 27% for violent crime and 11% for non-violent. For the typical Canadian town of 50,000+ it is 38%.
Whose figures are these?
The city police’s, as reported for the whole city.
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).