Photo: Visit-World. com Author: www.visit-world.com · CC BY-SA 3.0Gibsons has more crime per resident than 64% of Canadian towns
Its Crime Severity Index dropped from 78.5 in 2023 to 71.4 by 2025. By contrast, that puts it at C+ for safety, judged on crime the police covering Gibsons reported from 2023 to 2025: #107 of 251 in British Columbia. The yearly rates were 16.0 violent incidents and 28.7 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents, set against 12.9 and 31.2 in the typical town its size. Split in two, the index gives 94 for violence and 70.2 for everything else (normally 85.7 and 62.8).
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-wide: crime severity, crime rate and incident counts, counted over the Sunshine Coast detachment area.
What stands out about safety in Gibsons
Higher than many towns its size
Line up the 40 Canadian towns nearest in size by their index and Gibsons stands 27th, the lowest first. Towns its size ↓
About the British Columbia norm
Within British Columbia, the median town comes to 83.2 on the index, against 76.6 in Gibsons. 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 Gibsons’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.
Its place: #107 of 251 in British Columbia and #1,587 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.
Which crimes make up Gibsons’s figures
Against the typical town its size, Gibsons runs highest on mischief (7.3 per 1,000 against 4.9) and break and enter (3.6 per 1,000 against 2.8). Theft under $5,000 and motor vehicle theft sit below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0.7 | 0.03 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 8.7 | 0.4 | 31% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 7.7 | 0.3 | 100% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 4.7 | 0.2 | — |
| Robbery | 4.7 | 0.2 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 1 | 0.04 | — |
| Other violent violations | 3.3 | 0.1 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 82.7 | 3.6 | 14% |
| Possession of stolen property | 14.7 | 0.6 | 43% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 26 | 1.1 | 13% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 19.3 | 0.8 | 2% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 229 | 10 | 17% |
| Mischief | 166.7 | 7.3 | 21% |
| Weapons violations | 10 | 0.4 | 67% |
| Administration of justice violations | 76.3 | 3.3 | 57% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 32.7 | 1.4 | 31% |
| Drug violations | 20.7 | 0.9 | 47% |
| Impaired driving | 77 | 3.4 | 66% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 5.3 | 0.2 | 51% |
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.
Gibsons, year by year
Crime Severity Index
Its heaviest year fell in the middle, 2024, at 79.9; 2025 was the lightest, at 71.4. For the typical Canadian town its size, 2023 gave 74.3 and 2025 gave 64.2.
Every year as a table
| Year | Gibsons | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 71.4 | 64.2 |
| 2024 | 79.9 | 68.8 |
| 2023 | 78.5 | 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 Gibsons, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
By its index, Gibsons stands 27th of 40 towns its size
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Northern Bruce Peninsula Ontario | 5,018 | 29.3 | 46.7 | A+ |
| 2 | Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay British Columbia | 5,243 | 36.8 | 46.9 | A |
| 3 | Metchosin British Columbia | 5,207 | 40.7 | 41.3 | A− |
| … | |||||
| 5 | Cumberland British Columbia | 4,974 | 49.5 | 61.5 | B+ |
| 6 | Electoral Area A, Cowichan Valley British Columbia | 5,156 | 49.9 | 52.5 | B+ |
| … | |||||
| 24 | Saint-Germain-de-Grantham Quebec | 5,054 | 72.2 | 124.7 | C+ |
| 25 | Coverdale New Brunswick | 5,167 | 72.8 | 74.8 | C+ |
| 26 | Hearst Ontario | 5,032 | 74.2 | 97.9 | C+ |
| 27 | Gibsons British Columbia | 5,090 | 76.6 | 94 | C+ |
| 28 | Montréal-Ouest Quebec | 5,197 | 80.3 | 115.7 | C |
| 29 | Montréal-Est Quebec | 5,112 | 80.3 | 115.7 | C |
| 30 | Sussex New Brunswick | 4,994 | 86 | 92.8 | C |
| … | |||||
| 40 | Nipawin Saskatchewan | 5,033 | 182.3 | 163.9 | 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 Gibsons in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
The police area Gibsons is part of, 23,000 residents, recorded about 370 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.
Property crime adds about 660 a year and other violations 420 (2023–2025 average). Of 1,000 dots, one per resident, the coloured ones are a year’s incidents at these rates.
Crime in the places around Gibsons
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gibsons | 5,090 | 76.6 | 94 | C+ |
| Electoral Area E, Sunshine Coast | 4,279 | 76.6 | 94 | C+ |
| Electoral Area F, Sunshine Coast | 2,691 | 76.6 | 94 | C+ |
| Roberts Creek | 3,779 | 76.6 | 94 | C+ |
| Bowen Island | 4,501 | 24.4 | 16.3 | A+ |
3 neighbours are on the same police service or detachment: they share the figure and aren’t compared here.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- A detachment’s area. The detachment counts crime across its whole territory, of which Gibsons is one part.
- 100 is Canada in 2006. Canada’s own index has been below its 2006 base of 100 for years, so 100 marks a fixed reference, not today’s national average.
- Cleared, not convicted. Weighted like the index, so solving one assault counts for more than solving a mischief; a charge laid, recommended or otherwise resolved all count.
- What the index measures. 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.”
Questions about safety in Gibsons
Is Gibsons safe?
A Crime Severity Index of 76.6 (2023–2025), set beside a median of 68.5 for Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people: that is where Gibsons stands, with 16 violent and 28.7 property incidents per 1,000 residents a year.
What is the most common crime in Gibsons?
Other Criminal Code offences is the most common, at 13.1 per 1,000 residents a year, then theft under $5,000 (10) and mischief (7.3).
Is crime going up in Gibsons?
Down 9%: 78.5 in 2023, 71.4 in 2025.
How much of Gibsons’s crime do police solve?
Police cleared 27% of crime once each incident is weighted by seriousness: 42% of violent crime and 18% of the rest, against 34% for the typical Canadian town its size.
Whose figures are these?
Those of the police serving Gibsons together with its neighbours or the countryside around it.
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).