Photo: Darren Kirby Darren Kirby · CC BY-SA 2.0Crime in Metrotown sits close to the middle of Canadian towns
On Statistics Canada’s Crime Severity Index, the 2023–2025 average is 70.5, where the typical Canadian town of 50,000+ sits at 60.3. Overall, it grades C+ for safety (#83 of 251 in British Columbia). By contrast, between 2023 and 2025 the severity figure fell, 74.2 to 68.7. For every 1,000 residents, 10.9 violent incidents and 35.9 incidents of property crime were logged a year; in the typical Canadian town of 50,000+, the figures are 10.8 and 25.1.
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 and crime rate: the Burnaby service area.
What stands out about safety in Metrotown
Below-typical clearance
Police cleared 15% of Metrotown’s crime, weighted by seriousness (27% of violent crime, 11% of the rest), against 38% across Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more. Questions ↓
Non-violent crime leads the index
Set beside the typical Canadian town of 50,000+, Metrotown’s two halves part ways: 64.6 for violence (typical 75.2) and 73.4 for the rest (typical 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.
The C+ for Metrotown, and how it is built
How sure: Less sure than most, because no figure exists for Metrotown on its own; the city’s, for its whole area, stands in.
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.
Burnaby’s crime, type by type
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.
Metrotown, year by year
Crime Severity Index
From 74.2 in 2023, its first and heaviest year, it eased to a low of 68.5 in 2024. Set beside it, the typical Canadian town of 50,000+ went from 64.3 in 2023 to 59.2 in 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Metrotown | 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 Metrotown, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 50,000+.
Crime in the places around Metrotown
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Metrotown | 36,594 | 70.5 | 64.6 | C+ |
| Garden Village | 6,492 | 70.5 | 64.6 | C+ |
| Royal Oak | 18,364 | 70.5 | 64.6 | C+ |
| South Slope | 8,989 | 70.5 | 64.6 | C+ |
| Collingwood | 18,399 | 93.4 | 99.3 | C− |
| Killarney | 32,167 | 93.4 | 99.3 | C− |
| Deer Lake | 8,417 | 70.5 | 64.6 | C+ |
Each neighbour with its own figure comes in over Metrotown. Its police also cover 4 neighbouring places, which carry the same index and are left out above.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- The clearance rate. Cleared means solved by police, charged or not; it says nothing about what courts decide.
- Severity, weighed. Each incident counts by its seriousness, judged from court sentences, and the total is set per resident. As Statistics Canada puts it, “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
- The whole city’s numbers. No open data breaks the city’s crime down by neighbourhood, so Metrotown carries the city-wide figures.
- What 100 means. 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 Metrotown
Is Metrotown safe?
Metrotown measures 70.5 on the Crime Severity Index for 2023–2025, next to 60.3 for Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more. Per 1,000 residents a year, its police record 10.9 violent incidents and 35.9 property crimes.
What is the most common crime in Metrotown?
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 Metrotown?
Over 2023–2025 the index dropped 7%, to 68.7 from 74.2.
How much of Metrotown’s crime do police solve?
Police solve 27% of violent crime and 11% of everything else, 15% overall once each crime is weighted by seriousness, against 38% for the typical Canadian town of 50,000+.
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).