Photo: Holger Steinhaus · CC BY-SA 3.0Recorded crime in Fernie is close to typical for Canadian towns
Its Crime Severity Index averaged 69.5 over 2023–2025, against 68.5 for the typical Canadian town its size. Within British Columbia, half the towns score under 83.2. Fernie grades C+ for safety overall (#80 of 251 in British Columbia): close to the middle of Canadian towns, on crime its police reported from 2023 to 2025. Per 1,000 residents a year, 12.3 violent incidents and 17.6 incidents of property crime were recorded, against 12.9 and 31.2 in the typical 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 Fernie
Visitors count, residents divide
As a visitor town, Fernie has a far bigger population on a summer weekend than in the census, and its per-resident rates carry that crowd. How to read it ↓
Easing since 2023
Fernie’s index went from 95.2 in 2023 to 63.9 in 2025; the typical Canadian town its size moved from 74.3 to 64.2. Year by year ↓
Police clear less here
Police cleared 19% of Fernie’s crime, weighted by seriousness (34% of violent crime, 15% of the rest), against 34% across Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people. Questions ↓
In the middle of towns its size
Set among the 40 Canadian towns closest to it in population, Fernie comes 22nd, counting from the lowest Crime Severity Index. 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.
Fernie: C+ for safety, and why
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: #80 of 251 in British Columbia and #1,358 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.
From 2023 to 2025, Fernie’s index dropped 33%
Crime Severity Index
Nothing since 2023 has matched that year’s 95.2; the lightest was 2024, at 49.6. Over 2023–2025, the typical Canadian town its size moved from 74.3 to 64.2.
Every year as a table
| Year | Fernie | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 63.9 | 64.2 |
| 2024 | 49.6 | 68.8 |
| 2023 | 95.2 | 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 Fernie, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
Fernie’s crime by kind
Against the typical town its size, Fernie runs highest on mischief (5.9 per 1,000 against 4.9). Break and enter 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 | 1 | 0.1 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 0 | 0 | — |
| Robbery | 0 | 0 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 0 | 0 | — |
| Other violent violations | 1 | 0.1 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 7.7 | 1.1 | 17% |
| Possession of stolen property | 1 | 0.1 | — |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 4.7 | 0.7 | — |
| Theft over $5,000 | 1 | 0.1 | — |
| Theft under $5,000 | 34 | 4.9 | 24% |
| Mischief | 41.3 | 5.9 | 25% |
| Weapons violations | 1.3 | 0.2 | — |
| Administration of justice violations | 37.7 | 5.4 | 88% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 3.3 | 0.5 | — |
| Drug violations | 3.3 | 0.5 | — |
| Impaired driving | 29 | 4.2 | 78% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 0.7 | 0.10 | — |
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.
Fernie is 22nd of 40 towns its size, lowest index first
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Trent Lakes Ontario | 7,357 | 20.6 | 24.8 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 11 | Fairwinds British Columbia | 7,125 | 44.5 | 43.2 | A− |
| … | |||||
| 15 | Electoral Area C, East Kootenay British Columbia | 7,006 | 56.2 | 70.5 | B |
| … | |||||
| 18 | Kent British Columbia | 7,093 | 65.5 | 97.8 | B− |
| 19 | Portage la Prairie Manitoba | 7,359 | 67.8 | 71.8 | B− |
| 20 | Saint-Paul Quebec | 7,208 | 68.5 | 107.8 | B− |
| 21 | Chandler Quebec | 7,323 | 69.4 | 134.9 | C+ |
| 22 | Fernie British Columbia | 7,086 | 69.5 | 65.2 | C+ |
| 23 | Val-des-Sources Quebec | 7,303 | 72.6 | 127.5 | C+ |
| 24 | Perth Ontario | 6,972 | 72.7 | 120.3 | C+ |
| 25 | La Sarre Quebec | 7,199 | 75.8 | 140 | C+ |
| … | |||||
| 36 | Hope British Columbia | 7,183 | 208.1 | 173 | D |
| … | |||||
| 40 | Algoma, Unorganized, North Part Ontario | 7,008 | 302.3 | 509 | 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 Fernie in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
About 86 violent incidents a year reached Fernie’s police, 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.
Add about 120 property crimes and 140 other violations a year (2023–2025 average). The grid is 1,000 residents, a coloured dot for each incident a year at these rates.
Crime in the places around Fernie
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fernie | 7,086 | 69.5 | 65.2 | C+ |
| Electoral Area A, East Kootenay (11 km) | 2,092 | 54.7 | 67.3 | B |
| Electoral Area B, East Kootenay (23 km) | 2,221 | 54.7 | 67.3 | B |
| Sparwood (29 km) | 4,486 | 79.7 | 121.6 | C |
Nearby, 2 of 3 places with their own figures have a lower index than Fernie. Closest is Electoral Area A, East Kootenay, 10.9 km away, at 54.7 to 69.5 here.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means. Distances here run 11–29 km: that is how far the nearest places with figures are from Fernie.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- The index’s scale. Figures are relative to one fixed point, Canada in 2006 at 100, rather than to this year’s national number.
- What clearance means. Cleared means solved by police, charged or not; it says nothing about what courts decide.
- An index, not a verdict. 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 Fernie
Is Fernie safe?
A Crime Severity Index of 69.5 (2023–2025), set beside a median of 68.5 for Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people: that is where Fernie stands, with 12.3 violent and 17.6 property incidents per 1,000 residents a year.
What is the most common crime in Fernie?
Top of the list is other Criminal Code offences (14.6 per 1,000 residents a year); mischief, at 5.9, and theft under $5,000, at 4.9, follow.
Is crime going up in Fernie?
It went down 33% between 2023 and 2025, from 95.2 to 63.9.
How much of Fernie’s crime do police solve?
19%, by the weighted clearance rate, where the typical Canadian town its size manages 34%. Violent crime is cleared at 34% and non-violent crime at 15%.
Whose figures are these?
A police service or contract that serves Fernie alone, so the figures are the town’s.
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).