Photo: railfan 44 · Public domainFort St. James sees more crime per resident than 95% of Canadian towns
The grade is D, built on crime the police covering Fort St. James reported from 2023 to 2025. The local count comes to 76.0 violent incidents and 113.5 incidents of property crime per 1,000 people each year, with 12.0 and 31.2 in the typical Canadian town of 2,500+. Of the two halves, violence comes to 349.2 and other offences to 263.1, beside norms of 86.4 and 62.8. For solved cases, the weighted rate is 40%, where the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ manages 34%.
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 behind the crime severity, crime rate and incident counts figures: the Fort St James detachment area.
What stands out about safety in Fort St. James
Mischief: high for a town its size
Fort St. James records 63.6 incidents of mischief per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.2 in the typical town among Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more. By type ↓
Higher than most of British Columbia
Within British Columbia, the median town comes to 83.2 on the index, against 286 in Fort St. James. 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.
What’s behind Fort St. James’s grade
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.
The Crime Severity Index and its two halves, beside the typical figure for Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more.
Crime in Fort St. James, type by type
Against the typical town its size, Fort St. James runs highest on mischief (63.6 per 1,000 against 4.2), drug offences (11.2 per 1,000 against 0.7) and assault (44 per 1,000 against 6.7).
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0 | 0 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 5.7 | 1.4 | 35% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 7.7 | 1.9 | 91% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 2.7 | 0.7 | — |
| Robbery | 3 | 0.7 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 1.3 | 0.3 | — |
| Other violent violations | 1.7 | 0.4 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 37.7 | 9.5 | 29% |
| Possession of stolen property | 3.7 | 0.9 | — |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 10.3 | 2.6 | 17% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 2.3 | 0.6 | — |
| Theft under $5,000 | 107.3 | 27 | 39% |
| Mischief | 251.7 | 63.6 | 44% |
| Weapons violations | 7.3 | 1.9 | 68% |
| Administration of justice violations | 165.7 | 41.8 | 85% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 26 | 6.6 | 59% |
| Drug violations | 44.3 | 11.2 | 18% |
| Impaired driving | 34.3 | 8.7 | 69% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 0.3 | 0.08 | — |
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 people or more.
About 300 violent incidents a year across the police area of 4,050 residents that includes Fort St. James, 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 450 property crimes and 400 other violations a year (2023–2025 average). The grid is 1,000 residents, a coloured dot for each incident a year at these rates.
Fort St. James’s index, one year at a time
Crime Severity Index
Nothing since 2023 has matched that year’s 319.1; the lightest was 2025, at 245.8. The typical Canadian town of 2,500+ went from 70.6 in 2023 to 62.9 in 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Fort St. James | Typical town of 2,500+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 245.8 | 62.9 |
| 2024 | 293.1 | 68.5 |
| 2023 | 319.1 | 70.6 |
Statistics Canada, Crime Severity Index by police service, each year as published. Typical: the median of Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more.
The Crime Severity Index of the police covering Fort St. James, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
Crime in the places around Fort St. James
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fort St. James | 1,542 | 286 | 349.2 | D |
| Electoral Area C, Bulkley-Nechako (5 km) | 1,312 | 286 | 349.2 | D |
| Vanderhoof (50 km) | 4,545 | 126.5 | 178.5 | D |
| Electoral Area F, Bulkley-Nechako (60 km) | 3,643 | 126.5 | 178.5 | D |
| Electoral Area D, Bulkley-Nechako (63 km) | 1,772 | 116.2 | 177.5 | C− |
Each neighbour with its own figure comes in under Fort St. James. Vanderhoof, 50.4 km away, is the nearest lower one, at 126.5 to 286. Where a neighbour shares its police, it shares the figure too, and isn’t counted above.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means. No closer places have figures: these lie 5–63 km from Fort St. James.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Solved cases. A crime is cleared when police lay or recommend a charge, or solve it another way; the weighted rate counts serious crimes for more.
- How serious, not how safe. The index weighs crimes rather than counting them: a serious offence moves it far more than a minor one. Statistics Canada is plain about its limits: “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
- Few people behind the figures. With roughly 4,051 residents in its police area, a few cases swing the figures. In Statistics Canada’s words, “Data for police services or detachments with populations less than 5,000 should be used with caution.”
- Town and surroundings together. Detachment figures cover the detachment’s whole area: Fort St. James together with the countryside and smaller places it polices.
- Reading the number. Statistics Canada set the national index at 100 for 2006; every figure here is read against that.
Questions about safety in Fort St. James
Is Fort St. James safe?
A Crime Severity Index of 286 (2023–2025), set beside a median of 67.2 for Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more: that is where Fort St. James stands, with 76 violent and 113.5 property incidents per 1,000 residents a year.
What is the most common crime in Fort St. James?
Top of the list is other Criminal Code offences (78.1 per 1,000 residents a year); mischief, at 63.6, and assault, at 44, follow.
Is crime going up in Fort St. James?
No: the index fell 23%, from 319.1 in 2023 to 245.8 in 2025. With few people or missing years behind it, the change is a rough one.
How much of Fort St. James’s crime do police solve?
About 40% of crime is cleared, weighted by seriousness, with 51% of violent and 34% of other crime; the figure for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ is 34%.
Whose figures are these?
A shared service or detachment’s, reported as one for Fort St. James and everywhere else it polices.
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).