Photo: Kiyoteru Awaji · CC BY 4.0Kamloops has more crime per resident than 90% of Canadian towns
The Safety Grade comes out at D, drawn from crime the police covering Kamloops reported through 2023 to 2025: #226 of 251 in British Columbia. Police cleared 23% of incidents, weighted by seriousness, against 38% for the typical Canadian town its size. Add to that, its police logs show 24.6 violent incidents and 74.8 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents a year, while in the typical town its size the numbers are 10.8 and 25.1. Split in two, the index gives 134.8 for violence and 154.8 for everything else (normally 75.2 and 54.2).
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 Kamloops
Mischief: high for a town its size
Kamloops records 26.1 incidents of mischief per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.8 in the typical town among Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more. By type ↓
Heavier than British Columbia’s middle
Within British Columbia, the median town comes to 83.2 on the index, against 148.2 in Kamloops. Towns its size ↓
A higher index than most towns its size
Line up the 40 Canadian towns nearest in size by their index and Kamloops stands 38th, the lowest first. Towns its size ↓
Easing since 2023
Kamloops’s index went from 172.5 in 2023 to 134 in 2025; the typical Canadian town its size moved from 64.3 to 59.2. Year by year ↓
Written from Statistics Canada’s police-reported crime by police service and detachment, 2023–2025. Figures are what police recorded, not convictions.
What sits behind Kamloops’s D
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: #226 of 251 in British Columbia and #2,458 of 2,572 Canadian towns.
The Crime Severity Index and its two halves, beside the typical figure for Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more.
Kamloops’s crime by kind
Against the typical town its size, Kamloops runs highest on mischief (26.1 per 1,000 against 3.8), drug offences (3.4 per 1,000 against 0.9) and break and enter (5.8 per 1,000 against 2.2).
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 2 | 0.02 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 55.7 | 0.5 | 27% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 28.7 | 0.3 | 85% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 7.3 | 0.07 | 27% |
| Robbery | 52 | 0.5 | 33% |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 9 | 0.08 | 70% |
| Other violent violations | 25.3 | 0.2 | 29% |
| Breaking and entering | 623.7 | 5.8 | 12% |
| Possession of stolen property | 193.7 | 1.8 | 28% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 375.3 | 3.5 | 7% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 99 | 0.9 | 7% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 3,187.7 | 29.5 | 13% |
| Mischief | 2,821.3 | 26.1 | 27% |
| Weapons violations | 142 | 1.3 | 60% |
| Administration of justice violations | 379.3 | 3.5 | 64% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 199.3 | 1.8 | 39% |
| Drug violations | 364 | 3.4 | 77% |
| Impaired driving | 276.3 | 2.6 | 77% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 10.7 | 0.10 | 19% |
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 50,000 people or more.
Kamloops’s index fell 22% from 2023 to 2025
Crime Severity Index
Nothing since 2023 has matched that year’s 172.5; the lightest was 2025, at 134. The comparison line, the typical Canadian town its size, runs from 64.3 in 2023 to 59.2 by 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Kamloops | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 134 | 59.2 |
| 2024 | 138.2 | 59.9 |
| 2023 | 172.5 | 64.3 |
Statistics Canada, Crime Severity Index by police service, each year as published. Typical: the median of Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more.
The Crime Severity Index of the police covering Kamloops, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
By its index, Kamloops stands 38th of 40 towns its size
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Repentigny Quebec | 91,290 | 28.1 | 48.2 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 3 | North Vancouver British Columbia | 97,845 | 36 | 33.7 | A |
| … | |||||
| 5 | Saanich British Columbia | 126,011 | 40.5 | 49.7 | A− |
| … | |||||
| 17 | Delta British Columbia | 124,670 | 59.7 | 69.8 | B− |
| … | |||||
| 28 | Maple Ridge British Columbia | 105,925 | 87 | 97.6 | C |
| … | |||||
| 35 | Red Deer Alberta | 115,409 | 126.8 | 134.3 | D |
| 36 | Lethbridge Alberta | 113,671 | 128.5 | 142 | D |
| 37 | Chilliwack British Columbia | 105,520 | 142.2 | 158.4 | D |
| 38 | Kamloops British Columbia | 108,793 | 148.2 | 134.8 | D |
| 39 | Victoria British Columbia | 103,888 | 161.3 | 160.1 | D |
| 40 | Prince George British Columbia | 85,944 | 209.1 | 239.6 | 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 Kamloops in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
Police in Kamloops recorded about 2,650 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 8,080 property crimes and 3,400 other violations a year (2023–2025 average). The grid is 1,000 residents, a coloured dot for each incident a year at these rates.
Crime in the places around Kamloops
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kamloops | 108,793 | 148.2 | 134.8 | D |
| Kamloops 1 (5 km) | 4,362 | 93.1 | 97 | C |
| Electoral Area J (Copper Desert Country), Thompson-Nicola (21 km) | 1,958 | 85.2 | 139.9 | C |
| Electoral Area P (Rivers and the Peaks), Thompson-Nicola (24 km) | 4,540 | 80 | 77.4 | C |
Every neighbour with a figure of its own has a lower index than Kamloops. Closest is Kamloops 1, 4.6 km away, at 93.1 to 148.2 here.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means. Distances here run 5–24 km: that is how far the nearest places with figures are from Kamloops.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- An index, not a verdict. Statistics Canada builds the index from every crime police record, weighted by how seriously the courts treat it, and divides by the population. It adds a warning of its own: “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
- The index’s scale. The index is scaled so that Canada as a whole scored 100 in its base year, 2006: a town at 50 has half that severity per resident.
- What clearance means. A crime is cleared when police lay or recommend a charge, or solve it another way; the weighted rate counts serious crimes for more.
Questions about safety in Kamloops
Is Kamloops safe?
A Crime Severity Index of 148.2 (2023–2025), set beside a median of 60.3 for Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more: that is where Kamloops stands, with 24.6 violent and 74.8 property incidents per 1,000 residents a year.
What is the most common crime in Kamloops?
Top of the list is theft under $5,000 (29.5 per 1,000 residents a year); mischief, at 26.1, and other Criminal Code offences, at 23.8, follow.
Is crime going up in Kamloops?
Over 2023–2025 the index dropped 22%, to 134 from 172.5.
How much of Kamloops’s crime do police solve?
The weighted clearance rate is 23%: 33% for violent crime and 19% for non-violent. For the typical Canadian town its size it is 38%.
Whose figures are these?
They are Kamloops’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).