Photo: Michal Klajban · CC BY-SA 4.0Saltspring Island records less crime per resident than 87% of Canadian towns
Its Safety Grade is A, on crime the police covering Saltspring Island reported from 2023 to 2025: #11 of 251 in British Columbia. Split in two, the index gives 40.3 for violence and 39 for everything else (normally 89.4 and 56). The yearly rates were 10.4 violent incidents and 13.4 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents, set against 12.0 and 30.5 in the typical town its size. What’s more, each of the 4 towns on its borders with figures records more 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. Data for crime severity, crime rate and incident counts covers the Saltspring Island detachment area.
What stands out about safety in Saltspring Island
Lighter than British Columbia’s middle
Within British Columbia, the median town comes to 83.2 on the index, against 39.1 in Saltspring Island. Towns its size ↓
Lower than many towns its size
Line up the 40 Canadian towns nearest in size by their index and Saltspring Island stands 15th, the lowest first. Towns its size ↓
Heavier on property and other crime
Violent crime scores 40.3 on Saltspring Island’s index against 89.4 for the typical Canadian town its size; non-violent crime, 39 against 56. By type ↓
Mischief: high for a town its size
Saltspring Island records 6 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 ↓
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 Saltspring Island’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: #11 of 251 in British Columbia and #262 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.
Which crimes make up Saltspring Island’s figures
Against the typical town its size, Saltspring Island runs highest on mischief (6 per 1,000 against 3.7). Theft under $5,000 and break and enter sit below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0 | 0 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 1.7 | 0.1 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 2.7 | 0.2 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 0 | 0 | — |
| Robbery | 0.3 | 0.03 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 0.3 | 0.03 | — |
| Other violent violations | 2.3 | 0.2 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 6.3 | 0.5 | 32% |
| Possession of stolen property | 1.3 | 0.1 | — |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 4.3 | 0.3 | — |
| Theft over $5,000 | 2.3 | 0.2 | — |
| Theft under $5,000 | 48 | 3.9 | 19% |
| Mischief | 74 | 6 | 15% |
| Weapons violations | 3.3 | 0.3 | — |
| Administration of justice violations | 18 | 1.4 | 56% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 14.7 | 1.2 | 61% |
| Drug violations | 11 | 0.9 | 48% |
| Impaired driving | 57.3 | 4.6 | 77% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 0.3 | 0.03 | — |
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 Saltspring Island, down 13% between 2023 and 2025
Crime Severity Index
Its heaviest year fell in the middle, 2024, at 42.5; 2025 was the lightest, at 34.7. The typical Canadian town its size went from 69.5 in 2023 to 60 in 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Saltspring Island | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 34.7 | 60 |
| 2024 | 42.5 | 67.9 |
| 2023 | 40.1 | 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 Saltspring Island, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
About 130 violent incidents a year across the police area of 12,400 residents that includes Saltspring Island, 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 170 property crimes, plus 240 other violations, a year (2023–2025 average). Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot, one incident a year at the area’s rates.
Saltspring Island comes 15th of the 40 towns nearest in size
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rothesay New Brunswick | 12,626 | 20 | 27.9 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 12 | Carignan Quebec | 12,618 | 37.1 | 58.5 | A |
| 13 | Saint-Hippolyte Quebec | 12,550 | 38 | 60.1 | A |
| 14 | Bromont Quebec | 12,413 | 38.1 | 45.9 | A |
| 15 | Saltspring Island British Columbia | 12,429 | 39.1 | 40.3 | A |
| 16 | L'Île-Perrot Quebec | 11,921 | 39.2 | 61.7 | A |
| 17 | Grey Highlands Ontario | 12,148 | 39.7 | 47.7 | A |
| 18 | Meaford Ontario | 12,652 | 42.7 | 45.3 | A− |
| … | |||||
| 25 | View Royal British Columbia | 12,795 | 54.5 | 53.9 | B |
| … | |||||
| 27 | Summerland British Columbia | 12,343 | 56.2 | 38.6 | B |
| … | |||||
| 37 | Nelson British Columbia | 12,126 | 100.4 | 98.4 | C− |
| … | |||||
| 39 | Prince Rupert British Columbia | 12,903 | 185.2 | 292.9 | D |
| 40 | Thompson Manitoba | 12,917 | 589.9 | 1,034.6 | 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 Saltspring Island in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
Crime in the places around Saltspring Island
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saltspring Island | 12,429 | 39.1 | 40.3 | A |
| North Cowichan | 34,525 | 99 | 124 | C− |
| Cowichan Bay | 3,713 | 131.7 | 149.7 | D |
| Cowichan | 2,509 | — | — | — |
| Duncan | 5,745 | 384.5 | 331.1 | D− |
| Southern Gulf Islands | 6,691 | 39.1 | 40.3 | A |
| Electoral Area E, Cowichan Valley | 4,482 | 131.7 | 149.7 | D |
Saltspring Island has the lowest index of the places around it. One nearby place has no figure apart from this one: they share a police service.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Solved cases. Weighted like the index, so solving one assault counts for more than solving a mischief; a charge laid, recommended or otherwise resolved all count.
- 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.”
- Town and surroundings together. An RCMP or OPP detachment reports one set of figures for everywhere it polices, so Saltspring Island’s are shared with its surroundings.
- Reading the number. A reading of 100 is the whole country in 2006. Half of that, 50, means half the severity per resident.
Questions about safety in Saltspring Island
Is Saltspring Island safe?
Saltspring Island measures 39.1 on the Crime Severity Index for 2023–2025, next to 66 for Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people. Per 1,000 residents a year, its police record 10.4 violent incidents and 13.4 property crimes.
What is the most common crime in Saltspring Island?
Top of the list is other Criminal Code offences (11.3 per 1,000 residents a year); mischief, at 6, and Criminal Code traffic offences, at 5.1, follow.
Is crime going up in Saltspring Island?
Over 2023–2025 the index dropped 13%, to 34.7 from 40.1.
How much of Saltspring Island’s crime do police solve?
Police cleared 35% of crime once each incident is weighted by seriousness: 58% of violent crime and 25% of the rest, against 33% for the typical Canadian town its size.
Whose figures are these?
Those of the police serving Saltspring Island together with its neighbours or the countryside around it.
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).