Photo: The Interior · CC BY-SA 4.0Recorded crime per resident is higher in Salmon Arm than in 75% of Canadian towns
Its 3 neighbours with figures all record less crime per resident. The Safety Grade comes out at C, drawn from crime the police covering Salmon Arm reported through 2023 to 2025: #134 of 251 in British Columbia. Police cleared 17% of incidents, weighted by seriousness, against 33% for the typical Canadian town its size. Statistics Canada puts its Crime Severity Index at 92.4 for 2023–2025; the typical Canadian town its size scores 66.
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 Salmon Arm
Mischief: high for a town its size
Salmon Arm records 13.5 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 ↓
Non-violent crime leads the index
Set beside the typical Canadian town its size, Salmon Arm’s two halves part ways: 66.8 for violence (typical 89.4) and 103.5 for the rest (typical 56). By type ↓
Less severe than in 2023
Salmon Arm’s index went from 103.1 in 2023 to 77.6 in 2025; the typical Canadian town its size moved from 69.5 to 60. Year by year ↓
A higher index than most towns its size
Line up the 40 Canadian towns nearest in size by their index and Salmon Arm stands 36th, the lowest first. 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’s behind Salmon Arm’s grade
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 10,000 to 50,000 people.
Salmon Arm’s crime by kind
Against the typical town its size, Salmon Arm runs highest on mischief (13.5 per 1,000 against 3.7) and drug offences (1 per 1,000 against 0.8). Assault and sexual assault sit below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0.3 | 0.02 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 10.3 | 0.5 | 17% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 4 | 0.2 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 1 | 0.05 | — |
| Robbery | 1.7 | 0.08 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 0.7 | 0.03 | — |
| Other violent violations | 1.7 | 0.08 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 50.7 | 2.4 | 17% |
| Possession of stolen property | 15.7 | 0.7 | 45% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 48.3 | 2.3 | 8% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 12.7 | 0.6 | 8% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 259 | 12.3 | 19% |
| Mischief | 284.3 | 13.5 | 13% |
| Weapons violations | 10 | 0.5 | 17% |
| Administration of justice violations | 99.3 | 4.7 | 84% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 16 | 0.8 | 48% |
| Drug violations | 22 | 1 | 47% |
| Impaired driving | 44.3 | 2.1 | 56% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 2.7 | 0.1 | — |
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.
In Salmon Arm, down 25% between 2023 and 2025
Crime Severity Index
The first year, 2023, was the heaviest at 103.1, and 2025 the lightest at 77.6. The typical Canadian town its size went from 69.5 in 2023 to 60 in 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Salmon Arm | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 77.6 | 60 |
| 2024 | 96.7 | 67.9 |
| 2023 | 103.1 | 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 Salmon Arm, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
By its index, Salmon Arm stands 36th of 40 towns its size
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Quispamsis New Brunswick | 20,240 | 20 | 27.9 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 3 | Electoral Area A, Metro Vancouver British Columbia | 22,031 | 24.4 | 16.3 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 13 | Esquimalt British Columbia | 19,512 | 43 | 65.7 | A− |
| … | |||||
| 21 | Pitt Meadows British Columbia | 20,892 | 60.8 | 59.8 | B− |
| … | |||||
| 33 | Miramichi New Brunswick | 19,402 | 82.1 | 89.1 | C |
| 34 | Sturgeon County Alberta | 21,144 | 84.7 | 81.5 | C |
| 35 | Stony Plain Alberta | 19,662 | 88.4 | 74.6 | C |
| 36 | Salmon Arm British Columbia | 20,891 | 92.4 | 66.8 | C |
| 37 | Camrose Alberta | 20,800 | 96.3 | 96.4 | C− |
| 38 | Steinbach Manitoba | 21,671 | 96.5 | 99.5 | C− |
| 39 | Port Alberni British Columbia | 19,671 | 200.1 | 248.2 | D |
| 40 | Lloydminster (Part) Alberta | 21,267 | 211.6 | 177.2 | 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 Salmon Arm in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
About 250 violent incidents a year reached Salmon Arm’s police, 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.
Property crime adds about 780 a year and other violations 560 (2023–2025 average). Of 1,000 dots, one per resident, the coloured ones are a year’s incidents at these rates.
Crime in the places around Salmon Arm
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salmon Arm | 20,891 | 92.4 | 66.8 | C |
| Electoral Area F, North Okanagan | 4,969 | 62.6 | 70.8 | B− |
| Enderby | 3,292 | 62.6 | 70.8 | B− |
| Blind Bay | 9,984 | 40.8 | 37.4 | A− |
Every neighbour with a figure of its own has a lower index than Salmon Arm. Closest is Electoral Area F, North Okanagan, 12.7 km away, at 62.6 to 92.4 here.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- An index, not a verdict. The Crime Severity Index adds up police-reported crime, each kind weighted by the sentences courts give it, so one robbery counts for more than many thefts. In Statistics Canada’s words, “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.
- 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 Salmon Arm
Is Salmon Arm safe?
Salmon Arm scores 92.4 on Statistics Canada’s Crime Severity Index (2023–2025 mean), where the typical figure for Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people is 66; per 1,000 residents a year that is 12 violent incidents and 37.2 property crimes.
What is the most common crime in Salmon Arm?
Police record other Criminal Code offences most, 22 per 1,000 residents a year, ahead of mischief (13.5) and theft under $5,000 (12.3).
Is crime going up in Salmon Arm?
Down 25%: 103.1 in 2023, 77.6 in 2025.
How much of Salmon Arm’s crime do police solve?
Police cleared 17% of crime once each incident is weighted by seriousness: 31% of violent crime and 13% of the rest, against 33% for the typical Canadian town its size.
Whose figures are these?
They are Salmon Arm’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).