Photo: LN? from Canada · CC BY 2.0Coldstream sees less crime per resident than three in four Canadian towns
A Safety Grade of A− follows from crime the police covering Coldstream reported over the years 2023 to 2025: #27 of 251 in British Columbia. What’s more, each year brought 7.4 violent incidents and 14.8 incidents of property crime for every 1,000 residents (12.0 and 30.5 in the typical town its size). None of the 4 towns next door with figures records less crime per resident. Coldstream’s Crime Severity Index averaged 45.1 over 2023–2025, against 66 for the typical Canadian town its size.
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.
What stands out about safety in Coldstream
Easing since 2023
Between 2023 and 2025, Coldstream moved from 66.1 to 33.8, while the typical Canadian town its size went from 69.5 to 60. Year by year ↓
Lower than most of British Columbia
Within British Columbia, the median town comes to 83.2 on the index, against 45.1 in Coldstream. Towns its size ↓
A low clearance rate
For Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people the typical clearance rate is 33%; Coldstream’s police clear 11%, 16% of violent crime and 9% of the rest. Questions ↓
Lower than many towns its size
Line up the 40 Canadian towns nearest in size by their index and Coldstream stands 15th, the lowest first. Towns its size ↓
Written from Statistics Canada’s police-reported crime by police service and detachment, 2023–2025. Figures are what police recorded, not convictions.
The A− for Coldstream, and how it is built
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: #27 of 251 in British Columbia and #415 of 2,572 Canadian towns.
The Crime Severity Index and its two halves, beside the typical figure for Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people.
In Coldstream, down 49% between 2023 and 2025
Crime Severity Index
Nothing since 2023 has matched that year’s 66.1; the lightest was 2025, at 33.8. For the typical Canadian town its size, 2023 gave 69.5 and 2025 gave 60.
Every year as a table
| Year | Coldstream | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 33.8 | 60 |
| 2024 | 35.5 | 67.9 |
| 2023 | 66.1 | 69.5 |
Statistics Canada, Crime Severity Index by police service, each year as published. Typical: the median of Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people.
The Crime Severity Index of the police covering Coldstream, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
What police record in Coldstream, by type
Assault and theft under $5,000 sit below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0.7 | 0.06 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 2.3 | 0.2 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 0.7 | 0.06 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 0 | 0 | — |
| Robbery | 0.3 | 0.03 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 0 | 0 | — |
| Other violent violations | 1.7 | 0.1 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 9.7 | 0.8 | 24% |
| Possession of stolen property | 3.7 | 0.3 | — |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 10.3 | 0.9 | 3% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 1.3 | 0.1 | — |
| Theft under $5,000 | 50.3 | 4.4 | 3% |
| Mischief | 47 | 4.1 | 8% |
| Weapons violations | 2 | 0.2 | — |
| Administration of justice violations | 10.3 | 0.9 | 51% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 8 | 0.7 | 25% |
| Drug violations | 1 | 0.09 | — |
| Impaired driving | 14.3 | 1.2 | 63% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 1.3 | 0.1 | — |
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 10,000 to 50,000 people.
Police in Coldstream recorded about 85 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.
And about 170 property crimes, plus 89 other violations, a year (2023–2025 average). Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot, one incident a year at the area’s rates.
Coldstream comes 15th of the 40 towns nearest in size
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hamilton Ontario | 11,810 | 25.7 | 30.4 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 12 | Dundalk Ontario | 11,599 | 40.6 | 49.1 | A− |
| 13 | Saint-Raymond Quebec | 11,951 | 44.5 | 72 | A− |
| 14 | Pont-Rouge Quebec | 11,339 | 44.5 | 72 | A− |
| 15 | Coldstream British Columbia | 11,380 | 45.1 | 61.9 | A− |
| 16 | Wendover Ontario | 10,896 | 46.8 | 72.6 | A− |
| 17 | Walkerton Ontario | 10,811 | 47.4 | 56.9 | B+ |
| 18 | Montmagny Quebec | 11,326 | 48.4 | 77.8 | B+ |
| … | |||||
| 37 | Sechelt British Columbia | 11,558 | 141.3 | 114.9 | D |
| … | |||||
| 40 | Williams Lake British Columbia | 11,462 | 248.9 | 248.6 | 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 Coldstream in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
Crime in the places around Coldstream
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coldstream | 11,380 | 45.1 | 61.9 | A− |
| Vernon | 49,527 | 145.1 | 141.2 | D |
| Electoral Area C, North Okanagan | 5,029 | 61.3 | 74.1 | B− |
| Electoral Area B, North Okanagan | 3,415 | 61.3 | 74.1 | B− |
| Okanagan (Part) 1 | 3,482 | — | — | — |
| Lumby | 2,257 | 53.2 | 66.4 | B+ |
Each neighbour with its own figure comes in over Coldstream.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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. Weighted like the index, so solving one assault counts for more than solving a mischief; a charge laid, recommended or otherwise resolved all count.
- 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 Coldstream
Is Coldstream safe?
Police-reported crime in Coldstream scores 45.1 on Statistics Canada’s Crime Severity Index (2023–2025 mean), with 7.4 violent incidents and 14.8 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year. In the middle of Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people the figure is 66.
What is the most common crime in Coldstream?
Most often it is other Criminal Code offences: 6 per 1,000 residents a year. Next come theft under $5,000 at 4.4 and mischief at 4.1.
Is crime going up in Coldstream?
Down 49%: 66.1 in 2023, 33.8 in 2025.
How much of Coldstream’s crime do police solve?
The weighted clearance rate is 11%: 16% for violent crime and 9% for non-violent. For the typical Canadian town its size it is 33%.
Whose figures are these?
They are Coldstream’s own: its police cover the town and no other.
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).