Photo: AndrewEnns · CC BY-SA 3.0Per resident, Okanagan Falls records about as much crime as the typical place among Canadian towns
Police clear 24% of crime, weighted by seriousness; the figure for the typical Canadian town its size is 34%. Add to that, its letter overall is C+ (#104 of 251 in British Columbia): close to the middle of Canadian towns, from crime its police reported through 2023 to 2025. The index fell from 74.3 in 2023 to 68.8 in 2025. Neither of the two towns next door with figures records less crime per resident.
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: one figure for all of the Penticton detachment area.
What stands out about safety in Okanagan Falls
Property and other crime weigh more
Okanagan Falls scores 63.7 for violence and 75.8 for other crime; the typical Canadian town its size scores 85.7 and 62.8. By type ↓
Mischief: high for a town its size
Okanagan Falls records 8.2 incidents of mischief per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.9 in the typical town among Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people. By type ↓
In the middle of towns its size
Counting up from the lowest index, Okanagan Falls is 23rd of the 40 Canadian towns closest in population. Towns its size ↓
Close to British Columbia’s typical town
Set among British Columbia’s towns, whose median is 83.2, Okanagan Falls scores 71.9. 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 sits behind Okanagan Falls’s C+
How sure: Less sure than most. No detachment reports for Okanagan Falls itself, so the grade rests on the nearest one’s figures, 14 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: #104 of 251 in British Columbia and #1,466 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.
Crime in Okanagan Falls, type by type
Against the typical town its size, Okanagan Falls runs highest on mischief (8.2 per 1,000 against 4.9), motor vehicle theft (4.3 per 1,000 against 2.6) and fraud (5.9 per 1,000 against 4.9). Assault 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 | 2.3 | 0.2 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 2 | 0.2 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 2.3 | 0.2 | — |
| Robbery | 0.7 | 0.05 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 2 | 0.2 | — |
| Other violent violations | 0.7 | 0.05 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 30.3 | 2.4 | 12% |
| Possession of stolen property | 25.3 | 2 | 26% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 54 | 4.3 | 3% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 9.3 | 0.7 | 0% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 97.7 | 7.7 | 2% |
| Mischief | 103.3 | 8.2 | 19% |
| Weapons violations | 7.3 | 0.6 | 32% |
| Administration of justice violations | 25 | 2 | 59% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 26.7 | 2.1 | 26% |
| Drug violations | 5 | 0.4 | 60% |
| Impaired driving | 28 | 2.2 | 80% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 6 | 0.5 | 28% |
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.
Okanagan Falls, year by year
Crime Severity Index
Its index has not been as high since 2023 (74.3); the low point came in 2025, at 68.8. Set beside it, the typical Canadian town its size went from 74.3 in 2023 to 64.2 in 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Okanagan Falls | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 68.8 | 64.2 |
| 2024 | 72.6 | 68.8 |
| 2023 | 74.3 | 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 Okanagan Falls, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
By its index, Okanagan Falls stands 23rd of 40 towns its size
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lac-Etchemin Quebec | 4,089 | 30.8 | 48.9 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 8 | Electoral Area J, Central Kootenay British Columbia | 3,915 | 42.4 | 50.5 | A− |
| … | |||||
| 18 | Electoral Area E, Kitimat-Stikine British Columbia | 4,153 | 53.7 | 75.4 | B |
| … | |||||
| 20 | Callander Ontario | 4,021 | 63.1 | 107.2 | B− |
| 21 | North Norfolk Manitoba | 4,084 | 67.8 | 71.8 | B− |
| 22 | Electoral Area F, East Kootenay British Columbia | 3,893 | 71.6 | 60.2 | C+ |
| 23 | Okanagan Falls British Columbia | 4,002 | 71.9 | 63.7 | C+ |
| 24 | Danville Quebec | 3,944 | 72.6 | 127.5 | C+ |
| 25 | Colchester County, Subdivision A Nova Scotia | 3,891 | 72.9 | 100.8 | C+ |
| 26 | Pincher Creek Alberta | 3,890 | 84.5 | 85.4 | C |
| … | |||||
| 33 | Electoral Area C, Okanagan-Similkameen British Columbia | 4,103 | 113.4 | 144 | C− |
| … | |||||
| 37 | Fort Nelson British Columbia | 4,144 | 263.7 | 376.9 | D |
| … | |||||
| 40 | Swan River Manitoba | 4,048 | 435.7 | 403.3 | 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 Okanagan Falls in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
The detachment closest to Okanagan Falls, 12,400 residents, recorded about 160 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 410 property crimes and 180 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 Okanagan Falls
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Okanagan Falls | 4,002 | 71.9 | 63.7 | C+ |
| Electoral Area I, Okanagan-Similkameen | 2,372 | 71.9 | 63.7 | C+ |
| Penticton 1 | 2,147 | — | — | — |
| Penticton | 39,068 | 164 | 142.9 | D |
| Electoral Area C, Okanagan-Similkameen | 4,103 | 113.4 | 144 | C− |
The places around Okanagan Falls all score higher on the index. A neighbour policed by the same service carries the same figure, so it isn’t set against it.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- What clearance means. A cleared case is one police consider solved. Whether anyone is convicted is a separate matter the rate doesn’t follow.
- An index, not a verdict. One robbery outweighs a run of minor thefts here, since every crime counts by the sentences courts give it. Statistics Canada adds: “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
- The index’s scale. Figures are relative to one fixed point, Canada in 2006 at 100, rather than to this year’s national number.
Questions about safety in Okanagan Falls
Is Okanagan Falls safe?
Against a typical 68.5 for Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, Okanagan Falls’s Crime Severity Index stands at 71.9 for 2023–2025. Its police record 12.8 violent incidents and 32.3 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year.
What is the most common crime in Okanagan Falls?
Top of the list is other Criminal Code offences (8.9 per 1,000 residents a year); mischief, at 8.2, and theft under $5,000, at 7.7, follow.
Is crime going up in Okanagan Falls?
No: the index fell 7%, from 74.3 in 2023 to 68.8 in 2025.
How much of Okanagan Falls’s crime do police solve?
Counting serious crimes for more, 24% end in a charge or are otherwise solved (34% for the typical Canadian town its size); split up, that is 49% of violent and 15% of non-violent crime.
Whose figures are these?
A shared service or detachment’s, reported as one for Okanagan Falls 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).