Photo: Leoboudv · CC BY-SA 3.0Crime in Surrey scores 55% higher than in the typical Canadian town its size
Its violent half comes to 75.5 and its non-violent half to 101.5, where the norm is 75.2 and 54.2. Between 2023 and 2025 the severity figure fell, 104.1 to 89.1. None of the 6 towns next door with figures records less crime per resident. Violence and property crime split as 9.7 violent incidents and 31.0 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents a year, beside 10.8 and 25.1 in the typical town its size.
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 Surrey
Drug offences: high for a town its size
Surrey records 4 incidents of drug offences per 1,000 residents a year, against 0.9 in the typical town among Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more. By type ↓
Police clear less here
The weighted clearance rate, the share of crime police solve, is 15% for Surrey (36% violent, 8% non-violent), beside 38% for Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more. Questions ↓
The non-violent half stands out
Surrey scores 75.5 for violence and 101.5 for other crime; the typical Canadian town its size scores 75.2 and 54.2. By type ↓
Close to British Columbia’s typical town
Surrey’s index of 93.6 compares with 83.2 for the typical town in British Columbia. 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 Surrey’s grade will weigh
There is no grade here yet, because Canada’s towns will be graded together once all their data has been checked.
Crime Severity Index
Violent crime index
Non-violent crime index
Typical: the median of Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more, 2023–2025 means. City neighbourhoods count, each with its city’s figure; city totals and reserves don’t.
The Crime Severity Index and its two halves, beside the typical figure for Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more.
Crime in Surrey, type by type
Against the typical town its size, Surrey runs highest on Cannabis Act offences (2.5 per 1,000 against 0.04), drug offences (4 per 1,000 against 0.9) and robbery (0.5 per 1,000 against 0.4). Sexual assault sits below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 8.7 | 0.02 | 61% |
| Sexual violations against children | 175.7 | 0.3 | 23% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 85.3 | 0.1 | 94% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 21 | 0.04 | 32% |
| Robbery | 304.7 | 0.5 | 29% |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 23 | 0.04 | 75% |
| Other violent violations | 55.3 | 0.1 | 29% |
| Breaking and entering | 1,019.7 | 2 | 9% |
| Possession of stolen property | 117 | 0.2 | 49% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 871.7 | 1.6 | 4% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 289 | 0.6 | 8% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 8,757 | 16.6 | 9% |
| Mischief | 2,447 | 4.5 | 9% |
| Weapons violations | 275 | 0.5 | 43% |
| Administration of justice violations | 888.7 | 1.6 | 75% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 306.7 | 0.6 | 30% |
| Drug violations | 1,855.7 | 4 | 11% |
| Impaired driving | 848.3 | 1.6 | 94% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 384.3 | 0.7 | 13% |
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 50,000 people or more.
Surrey, year by year
Crime Severity Index
Its heaviest year came first: 2023, at 104.1, against a low of 87.5 in 2024. The typical Canadian town its size went from 64.3 in 2023 to 59.2 in 2025.
Surrey Police Service took over from the RCMP on 29 November 2024. The figures here are the RCMP Surrey detachment’s for 2023–2025, the only full three years; the new service reports 2025 alone.
Every year as a table
| Year | Surrey | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 89.1 | 59.2 |
| 2024 | 87.5 | 59.9 |
| 2023 | 104.1 | 64.3 |
Statistics Canada, Crime Severity Index by police service, each year as published. Typical: the median of Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more.
The Crime Severity Index of the police covering Surrey, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
Police in Surrey recorded about 5,360 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.
Property crime adds about 16,500 a year and other violations 12,500 (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 Surrey
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Surrey | 703,531 | 93.6 | 75.5 | — |
| Sullivan | 42,135 | 93.6 | 75.5 | C− |
| Fleetwood | 63,957 | 93.6 | 75.5 | C− |
| Newton | 51,222 | 93.6 | 75.5 | C− |
| Panorama Ridge | 36,473 | 93.6 | 75.5 | C− |
| Surrey Centre | 16,482 | 93.6 | 75.5 | C− |
| Johnston Heights | 30,971 | 93.6 | 75.5 | C− |
Every neighbour with a figure of its own has a higher index than Surrey.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Cleared, not convicted. Cleared means solved by police, charged or not; it says nothing about what courts decide.
- What the index measures. Statistics Canada, which publishes the index, attaches a caution: “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.” The number weighs each reported crime by its seriousness before dividing by residents.
- 100 is Canada in 2006. Figures are relative to one fixed point, Canada in 2006 at 100, rather than to this year’s national number.
Questions about safety in Surrey
Is Surrey safe?
Averaged over 2023–2025, the Crime Severity Index for Surrey comes to 93.6. Per 1,000 residents a year, police logged 9.7 violent incidents and 31 property crimes. Across Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more, the median is 60.3.
What is the most common crime in Surrey?
The three biggest groups are theft under $5,000 at 16.6, other Criminal Code offences at 15.4 and fraud at 5.3, each per 1,000 residents a year.
Is crime going up in Surrey?
Down 14%: 104.1 in 2023, 89.1 in 2025.
How much of Surrey’s crime do police solve?
Police cleared 15% of crime once each incident is weighted by seriousness: 36% of violent crime and 8% of the rest, against 38% for the typical Canadian town its size.
Whose figures are these?
A police service or contract that serves Surrey alone, so the figures are the town’s.
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). 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).