Photo: Northwest · CC BY-SA 4.0Royal Oak is about average among Canadian towns for recorded crime
The index that weighs each crime by its seriousness comes to 70.5 here (2023–2025 mean), and to 60.3 for the typical Canadian town of 50,000+. Taking everything together, Royal Oak scores C+ (#83 of 251 in British Columbia): close to the middle of Canadian towns, measured on crime its police reported between 2023 and 2025. Year on year, 10.9 violent incidents and 35.9 incidents of property crime occur per 1,000 residents, compared with 10.8 and 25.1 in 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. Measured across the Burnaby service area: crime severity and crime rate.
What stands out about safety in Royal Oak
Police clear less here
Weighted by seriousness, 15% of crime in Royal Oak ends in a charge or is otherwise solved: 27% of violent crime and 11% of the rest. Across Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more the figure is 38%. Questions ↓
Heavier on property and other crime
Violent crime scores 64.6 on Royal Oak’s index against 75.2 for the typical Canadian town of 50,000+; non-violent crime, 73.4 against 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 grade: C+ for Royal Oak
How sure: Less sure than most, because no figure exists for Royal Oak 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.
Crime across Burnaby, 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.
In Royal Oak, down 7% between 2023 and 2025
Crime Severity Index
The index started at its highest, 74.2 in 2023, and touched its lowest in 2024, 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 | Royal Oak | 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 Royal Oak, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 50,000+.
Crime in the places around Royal Oak
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Royal Oak | 18,364 | 70.5 | 64.6 | C+ |
| Buckingham Heights | 8,794 | 70.5 | 64.6 | C+ |
| Metrotown | 36,594 | 70.5 | 64.6 | C+ |
| South Slope | 8,989 | 70.5 | 64.6 | C+ |
| Edmonds | 34,805 | 70.5 | 64.6 | C+ |
| Garden Village | 6,492 | 70.5 | 64.6 | C+ |
| Deer Lake | 8,417 | 70.5 | 64.6 | C+ |
6 nearby places have no figure apart from this one: they share a police service.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Not the neighbourhood’s own. The figures for Royal Oak are city-wide: neighbourhood counts aren’t published as open data here.
- What 100 means. A reading of 100 is the whole country in 2006. Half of that, 50, means half the severity per resident.
- The clearance rate. Police clear an incident by charging someone, recommending a charge, or closing it another way. The rate weighs serious crimes more, as the index does.
- Severity, weighed. 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.
Questions about safety in Royal Oak
Is Royal Oak safe?
A Crime Severity Index of 70.5 (2023–2025), set beside a median of 60.3 for Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more: that is where Royal Oak stands, with 10.9 violent and 35.9 property incidents per 1,000 residents a year.
What is the most common crime in Royal Oak?
Police record theft under $5,000 most, 21.3 per 1,000 residents a year, ahead of other Criminal Code offences (10.9) and assault (5.2).
Is crime going up in Royal Oak?
No: the index fell 7%, from 74.2 in 2023 to 68.7 in 2025.
How much of Royal Oak’s crime do police solve?
About 15% of crime is cleared, weighted by seriousness, with 27% of violent and 11% of other crime; the figure for the typical Canadian town of 50,000+ 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).