Photo: Kiwibirdman · CC BY 3.0Per resident, Highlands records more crime than 75% of Canadian towns
All 4 towns next door with figures record less crime per resident. Highlands’s letter for safety is C, worked out from crime the police covering Highlands reported over 2023 to 2025: #134 of 251 in British Columbia. Year on year, 27.8 violent incidents and 24.2 incidents of property crime occur per 1,000 residents, compared with 12.9 and 31.2 in the typical town its size. Violence accounts for an index of 168.2 and other offences for 63.3, against usual levels of 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. Crime severity, crime rate and incident counts: the Sidney/North Saanich detachment area.
What stands out about safety in Highlands
Assault: high for a town its size
Highlands records 15.3 incidents of assault per 1,000 residents a year, against 6.7 in the typical town among Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people. By type ↓
The violent half stands out
Violent crime scores 168.2 on Highlands’s index against 85.7 for the typical Canadian town its size; non-violent crime, 63.3 against 62.8. By type ↓
Higher than many towns its size
Line up the 40 Canadian towns nearest in size by their index and Highlands stands 30th, the lowest first. Towns its size ↓
A high clearance rate
Weighted by seriousness, 44% of crime in Highlands ends in a charge or is otherwise solved: 56% of violent crime and 34% of the rest. Across Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people the figure is 34%. Questions ↓
Written from Statistics Canada’s police-reported crime by police service and detachment, 2023–2025. Figures are what police recorded, not convictions.
The C for Highlands, and how it is built
How sure: Less sure, as Highlands has no detachment of its own in Statistics Canada’s tables and is graded on the closest one’s figures, 17 km away.
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: #134 of 251 in British Columbia and #1,821 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 Highlands’s figures
Against the typical town its size, Highlands runs highest on sexual assault (3.4 per 1,000 against 0.9), drug offences (1.9 per 1,000 against 0.7) and assault (15.3 per 1,000 against 6.7). 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 | 1 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 1.3 | 0.4 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 0 | 0 | — |
| Robbery | 1 | 0.3 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 1 | 0.3 | — |
| Other violent violations | 0.7 | 0.2 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 8 | 2.1 | 41% |
| Possession of stolen property | 1.3 | 0.4 | — |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 6 | 1.6 | 12% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 1.7 | 0.4 | — |
| Theft under $5,000 | 25 | 6.6 | 7% |
| Mischief | 27.3 | 7.2 | 28% |
| Weapons violations | 2.3 | 0.6 | — |
| Administration of justice violations | 41 | 10.8 | 61% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 4.7 | 1.2 | — |
| Drug violations | 7.3 | 1.9 | 59% |
| Impaired driving | 9.7 | 2.6 | 72% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 0.3 | 0.09 | — |
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.
Among 40 towns its size, Highlands places 30th
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rivière-Beaudette Quebec | 2,806 | 39.2 | 61.7 | A |
| … | |||||
| 5 | Electoral Area I, Central Kootenay British Columbia | 2,758 | 42.4 | 50.5 | A− |
| … | |||||
| 19 | Cultus Lake British Columbia | 2,773 | 71.6 | 60.2 | C+ |
| … | |||||
| 27 | Sussex New Brunswick | 2,742 | 86 | 92.8 | C |
| 28 | Electoral Area H, Cowichan Valley British Columbia | 2,761 | 87 | 109.6 | C |
| 29 | Holyrood Newfoundland and Labrador | 2,749 | 90.3 | 68.4 | C |
| 30 | Highlands British Columbia | 2,753 | 92.7 | 168.2 | C |
| 31 | Grimshaw Alberta | 2,799 | 96 | 62 | C− |
| 32 | Rosthern No. 403 Saskatchewan | 2,791 | 99.3 | 115.6 | C− |
| 33 | Waskaganish Quebec | 2,726 | 103.6 | 197.1 | C− |
| … | |||||
| 35 | Tofino British Columbia | 2,772 | 117.4 | 205.8 | C− |
| 36 | Electoral Area E, Peace River British Columbia | 2,737 | 139.5 | 210.6 | D |
| … | |||||
| 40 | Kuujjuaq Quebec | 2,766 | 805.8 | 2,056.5 | 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 Highlands in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
The detachment nearest Highlands, 3,810 residents: around 100 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.
Add about 91 property crimes and 110 other violations a year (2023–2025 average). The grid is 1,000 residents, a coloured dot for each incident a year at these rates.
Three years of Highlands’s crime index
Crime Severity Index
Its heaviest year fell in the middle, 2024, at 112.7; 2025 was the lightest, at 77.1. The typical Canadian town its size went from 74.3 in 2023 to 64.2 in 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Highlands | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 77.1 | 64.2 |
| 2024 | 112.7 | 68.8 |
| 2023 | 88.2 | 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 Highlands, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
Crime in the places around Highlands
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Highlands | 2,753 | 92.7 | 168.2 | C |
| Central Saanich | 18,184 | 34.7 | 33.1 | A |
| Langford | 59,664 | 65.9 | 65.9 | B− |
| View Royal | 12,795 | 54.5 | 53.9 | B |
| East Saanich 2 | 1,962 | — | — | — |
| New Songhees 1A | 2,052 | — | — | — |
| Electoral Area A, Cowichan Valley | 5,156 | 49.9 | 52.5 | B+ |
The places around Highlands all score lower on the index. The nearest of them, Central Saanich (7.5 km away), scores 34.7 against 92.7.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 100 is Canada in 2006. Its scale starts from Canada in 2006, set at 100, so a figure above 100 means more serious crime per resident than the country had then.
- 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. 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.
- Small numbers. The police behind these figures serve about 3,809 people, so a handful of incidents moves every rate. Statistics Canada’s note: “Data for police services or detachments with populations less than 5,000 should be used with caution.”
Questions about safety in Highlands
Is Highlands safe?
Highlands’s Crime Severity Index is 92.7 (2023–2025 mean); its police record 27.8 violent incidents and 24.2 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year. The typical figure for Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people is 68.5.
What is the most common crime in Highlands?
The three biggest groups are other Criminal Code offences at 21.3, assault at 15.3 and mischief at 7.2, each per 1,000 residents a year.
Is crime going up in Highlands?
It went down 12% between 2023 and 2025, from 88.2 to 77.1. With few people or missing years behind it, the change is a rough one.
How much of Highlands’s crime do police solve?
About 44% of crime is cleared, weighted by seriousness, with 56% of violent and 34% of other crime; the figure for the typical Canadian town its size is 34%.
Whose figures are these?
A police service or detachment that covers Highlands and other places, so the figures are shared.
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).