Photo: Sam Beebe · CC BY 2.0Kitimat has more crime per resident than 79% of Canadian towns
The index that weighs each crime by its seriousness comes to 100.8 here (2023–2025 mean), and to 66 for the typical Canadian town its size. Add to that, typical years here bring 22.9 violent incidents plus 26.2 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents, against 12.0 plus 30.5 in the typical town its size. That puts it at C− for safety, judged on crime the police covering Kitimat reported from 2023 to 2025: #200 of 251 in British Columbia.
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 Kitimat
Mischief: high for a town its size
Kitimat records 13.7 incidents of mischief per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.7 in the typical town among Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people. By type ↓
Easing since 2023
In 2023 the index in Kitimat stood at 135.1, by 2025 at 79.6. Over the same years the typical Canadian town its size went from 69.5 to 60. Year by year ↓
A higher index than most towns its size
Counting up from the lowest index, Kitimat is 34th of the 40 Canadian towns closest in population. Towns its size ↓
Over the British Columbia norm
Set among British Columbia’s towns, whose median is 83.2, Kitimat scores 100.8. 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.
Kitimat: 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: #200 of 251 in British Columbia and #1,936 of 2,572 Canadian towns.
The Crime Severity Index and its two halves, beside the typical figure for Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people.
Year by year in Kitimat: down 41%, 2023 to 2025
Crime Severity Index
Its index has not been as high since 2023 (135.1); the low point came in 2025, at 79.6. In the same years the typical Canadian town its size read 69.5 (2023), then 60 (2025).
Every year as a table
| Year | Kitimat | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 79.6 | 60 |
| 2024 | 87.6 | 67.9 |
| 2023 | 135.1 | 69.5 |
Statistics Canada, Crime Severity Index by police service, each year as published. Typical: the median of Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people.
The Crime Severity Index of the police covering Kitimat, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
What police record in Kitimat, by type
Against the typical town its size, Kitimat runs highest on mischief (13.7 per 1,000 against 3.7), sexual assault (1.6 per 1,000 against 0.8) and drug offences (1.2 per 1,000 against 0.8). 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 | 5.7 | 0.6 | 47% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 11.3 | 1.2 | 100% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 0.3 | 0.03 | — |
| Robbery | 1.3 | 0.1 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 1.3 | 0.1 | — |
| Other violent violations | 1.7 | 0.2 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 11.7 | 1.3 | 37% |
| Possession of stolen property | 1 | 0.1 | — |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 4.7 | 0.5 | — |
| Theft over $5,000 | 3.7 | 0.4 | — |
| Theft under $5,000 | 47 | 5 | 26% |
| Mischief | 128.3 | 13.7 | 44% |
| Weapons violations | 5 | 0.5 | 66% |
| Administration of justice violations | 94.7 | 10.2 | 84% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 7.7 | 0.8 | 56% |
| Drug violations | 11.7 | 1.2 | 43% |
| Impaired driving | 37.7 | 4.1 | 73% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 2 | 0.2 | — |
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 10,000 to 50,000 people.
By its index, Kitimat stands 34th of 40 towns its size
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beckwith Ontario | 10,073 | 20.5 | 25.5 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 11 | Blind Bay British Columbia | 9,984 | 40.8 | 37.4 | A− |
| … | |||||
| 16 | Electoral Area C (Puntledge - Black Creek), Comox Valley British Columbia | 9,803 | 49.5 | 61.5 | B+ |
| … | |||||
| 19 | Shawnigan British Columbia | 9,903 | 49.9 | 52.5 | B+ |
| 20 | Qualicum Beach British Columbia | 9,640 | 51.5 | 32.6 | B+ |
| … | |||||
| 31 | Temiskaming Shores Ontario | 10,144 | 78.8 | 97.1 | C |
| 32 | Taber Alberta | 10,175 | 84.8 | 74.7 | C |
| 33 | Olds Alberta | 9,653 | 85.6 | 86.2 | C |
| 34 | Kitimat British Columbia | 10,019 | 100.8 | 107.1 | C− |
| 35 | Saint-Rémi Quebec | 9,557 | 116.5 | 80.3 | C− |
| 36 | New Glasgow Nova Scotia | 10,378 | 128.5 | 146.4 | D |
| 37 | Hinton Alberta | 10,124 | 137.3 | 109.5 | D |
| … | |||||
| 40 | Wheatland County Alberta | 10,150 | 298.8 | 486.4 | 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 Kitimat in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
Kitimat’s police: about 210 violent incidents a year over 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.
And about 240 property crimes, plus 360 other violations, a year (2023–2025 average). Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot, one incident a year at the area’s rates.
Crime in the places around Kitimat
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kitimat | 10,019 | 100.8 | 107.1 | C− |
| Electoral Area E, Kitimat-Stikine (50 km) | 4,153 | 53.7 | 75.4 | B |
| Terrace (51 km) | 13,648 | 174.6 | 155 | D |
| Electoral Area C (Part 1), Kitimat-Stikine (56 km) | 3,189 | 53.7 | 75.4 | B |
Of 3 places nearby with their own figures, 2 come in under Kitimat. The nearest of them, Electoral Area E, Kitimat-Stikine (50.5 km away), scores 53.7 against 100.8.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means. The nearest places to Kitimat with figures are 50–56 km away.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- What the index measures. 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.”
- 100 is Canada in 2006. A reading of 100 is the whole country in 2006. Half of that, 50, means half the severity per resident.
- Cleared, not convicted. Police clear an incident by charging someone, recommending a charge, or closing it another way. The rate weighs serious crimes more, as the index does.
Questions about safety in Kitimat
Is Kitimat safe?
The short answer is an index of 100.8 for Kitimat (2023–2025), built from 22.9 violent incidents and 26.2 property crimes a year for every 1,000 residents. For Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, the typical index is 66.
What is the most common crime in Kitimat?
Top of the list is other Criminal Code offences (31.4 per 1,000 residents a year); mischief, at 13.7, and assault, at 9.9, follow.
Is crime going up in Kitimat?
It went down 41% between 2023 and 2025, from 135.1 to 79.6.
How much of Kitimat’s crime do police solve?
The weighted clearance rate is 35%: 55% for violent crime and 27% for non-violent. For the typical Canadian town its size it is 33%.
Whose figures are these?
Its own police: the service or contract that covers Kitimat and nowhere else.
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).