Photo: James Blake aka Webgeer at en.wikipedia · CC BY 2.0Crime per resident in Powell River runs higher than in 84% of Canadian towns
Its 3 neighbours with figures all record less crime per resident. Powell River grades C− for safety on crime the police covering Powell River reported from 2023 to 2025: #208 of 251 in British Columbia. On top of that, the yearly rates were 22.9 violent incidents and 50.0 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents, set against 12.0 and 30.5 in the typical town its size. Against usual levels of 89.4 and 56, violent and non-violent offences here reach 99.4 and 120.1.
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 Powell River
Mischief: high for a town its size
Powell River records 18.4 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 ↓
The non-violent half stands out
Powell River scores 99.4 for violence and 120.1 for other crime; the typical Canadian town its size scores 89.4 and 56. By type ↓
A higher index than most towns its size
Line up the 40 Canadian towns nearest in size by their index and Powell River stands 37th, the lowest first. Towns its size ↓
Lighter than in 2023
From 127.2 in 2023 to 98.3 in 2025: that is Powell River’s index, against 69.5 and 60 for the typical Canadian town its size. 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.
Powell River: 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: #208 of 251 in British Columbia and #2,217 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.
Crime in Powell River, type by type
Against the typical town its size, Powell River runs highest on mischief (18.4 per 1,000 against 3.7), drug offences (2.2 per 1,000 against 0.8) and break and enter (4.5 per 1,000 against 2.2). Sexual assault and motor vehicle theft sit below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0 | 0 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 10.3 | 0.7 | 36% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 5.3 | 0.4 | 100% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 0.7 | 0.05 | — |
| Robbery | 2 | 0.1 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 1.3 | 0.09 | — |
| Other violent violations | 4 | 0.3 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 66.3 | 4.5 | 21% |
| Possession of stolen property | 19.3 | 1.3 | 19% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 15.3 | 1 | 24% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 5.7 | 0.4 | 5% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 252.3 | 17 | 22% |
| Mischief | 273.3 | 18.4 | 33% |
| Weapons violations | 10 | 0.7 | 40% |
| Administration of justice violations | 91.3 | 6.1 | 82% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 29.7 | 2 | 43% |
| Drug violations | 32.7 | 2.2 | 43% |
| Impaired driving | 66 | 4.4 | 91% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 0.7 | 0.05 | — |
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.
Year by year in Powell River: down 23%, 2023 to 2025
Crime Severity Index
The index started at its highest, 127.2 in 2023, and touched its lowest in 2025, at 98.3. For the typical Canadian town its size, 2023 gave 69.5 and 2025 gave 60.
Every year as a table
| Year | Powell River | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 98.3 | 60 |
| 2024 | 114.9 | 67.9 |
| 2023 | 127.2 | 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 Powell River, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
Powell River comes 37th of the 40 towns nearest in size
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tiny Ontario | 14,195 | 27.9 | 36.4 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 32 | Whistler British Columbia | 15,090 | 83.8 | 82.3 | C |
| … | |||||
| 34 | Truro Nova Scotia | 14,652 | 95 | 104.2 | C− |
| 35 | Parksville British Columbia | 15,371 | 107.4 | 88.3 | C− |
| 36 | Pembroke Ontario | 15,479 | 112.1 | 153.4 | C− |
| 37 | Powell River British Columbia | 14,947 | 113.5 | 99.4 | C− |
| 38 | La Crète Alberta | 14,488 | 113.5 | 218.8 | C− |
| 39 | Portage la Prairie Manitoba | 14,738 | 243.3 | 285.8 | D |
| 40 | North Battleford Saskatchewan | 14,882 | 528.4 | 591.9 | 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 Powell River in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
Around 340 violent incidents a year on Powell River’s police records (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 740 property crimes and 480 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 Powell River
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Powell River | 14,947 | 113.5 | 99.4 | C− |
| Electoral Area B, qathet | 1,714 | 65.3 | 96.8 | B− |
| Electoral Area C, qathet | 2,409 | 65.3 | 96.8 | B− |
| Electoral Area D, qathet | 1,221 | 65.3 | 96.8 | B− |
Each neighbour with its own figure comes in under Powell River. Electoral Area B, qathet, 4.7 km away, is the nearest lower one, at 65.3 to 113.5.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Solved cases. A cleared case is one police consider solved. Whether anyone is convicted is a separate matter the rate doesn’t follow.
- How serious, not how safe. 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.”
- Reading the number. Figures are relative to one fixed point, Canada in 2006 at 100, rather than to this year’s national number.
Questions about safety in Powell River
Is Powell River safe?
Averaged over 2023–2025, the Crime Severity Index for Powell River comes to 113.5. Per 1,000 residents a year, police logged 22.9 violent incidents and 50 property crimes. The middle of Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people is 66.
What is the most common crime in Powell River?
The three biggest groups are other Criminal Code offences at 24.1, mischief at 18.4 and theft under $5,000 at 17, each per 1,000 residents a year.
Is crime going up in Powell River?
It went down 23% between 2023 and 2025, from 127.2 to 98.3.
How much of Powell River’s crime do police solve?
Counting serious crimes for more, 29% end in a charge or are otherwise solved (33% for the typical Canadian town its size); split up, that is 50% of violent and 23% of non-violent crime.
Whose figures are these?
Its own police: the service or contract that covers Powell River 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).