Photo: Ruth Hartnup from Vancouver, Canada · CC BY 2.0More crimes per resident are recorded in Whistler than in 70% of Canadian towns
Statistics Canada puts its Crime Severity Index at 83.8 for 2023–2025; the typical Canadian town its size scores 66. On top of that, its letter for safety is C, worked out from crime the police covering Whistler reported over 2023 to 2025: #126 of 251 in British Columbia. Annual rates stand at 15.4 violent incidents and 35.3 incidents of property crime for every thousand residents, next to 12.0 and 30.5 in the typical town its size. Across 2023 to 2025 the index held steady, 83.7 to 81.5.
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 Whistler
More people here than live here
Rates in Whistler are per resident, while much of the crime involves the many visitors it draws; the figures overstate what residents themselves face. How to read it ↓
Drug offences: high for a town its size
Whistler records 2.6 incidents of drug offences per 1,000 residents a year, against 0.8 in the typical town among Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people. By type ↓
Higher than many towns its size
Of the 40 Canadian towns nearest it in size, Whistler places 31st from the lowest index. Towns its size ↓
Heavier on property and other crime
Whistler’s index splits into violent crime, 82.3 here and 89.4 for the typical Canadian town its size, and everything else, 85.1 against 56. 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 sits behind Whistler’s C
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: #126 of 251 in British Columbia and #1,764 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.
What police record in Whistler, by type
Against the typical town its size, Whistler runs highest on drug offences (2.6 per 1,000 against 0.8), mischief (9.3 per 1,000 against 3.7) and sexual assault (1.5 per 1,000 against 0.8). Break and enter 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 | 4.3 | 0.3 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 8.7 | 0.6 | 92% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 0.3 | 0.02 | — |
| Robbery | 1.3 | 0.09 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 0.7 | 0.04 | — |
| Other violent violations | 3 | 0.2 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 25.7 | 1.6 | 28% |
| Possession of stolen property | 6 | 0.4 | 55% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 15 | 1 | 15% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 27 | 1.7 | 11% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 215 | 13.7 | 14% |
| Mischief | 145 | 9.3 | 37% |
| Weapons violations | 5.3 | 0.3 | 70% |
| Administration of justice violations | 18.7 | 1.2 | 76% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 19.3 | 1.2 | 57% |
| Drug violations | 40 | 2.6 | 74% |
| Impaired driving | 123.3 | 7.9 | 85% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 1 | 0.06 | — |
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.
Among 40 towns its size, Whistler places 31st
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dorchester Ontario | 15,475 | 28.2 | 19.4 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 13 | Comox British Columbia | 15,884 | 40.6 | 39.2 | A− |
| … | |||||
| 28 | Mont-Laurier Quebec | 14,598 | 73.1 | 131 | C+ |
| 29 | Beauharnois Quebec | 15,285 | 75.4 | 130.4 | C+ |
| 30 | Lachute Quebec | 15,469 | 76.4 | 122.2 | C+ |
| 31 | Whistler British Columbia | 15,090 | 83.8 | 82.3 | C |
| 32 | Grand Falls-Windsor Newfoundland and Labrador | 14,510 | 92.1 | 84.1 | C |
| 33 | Truro Nova Scotia | 14,652 | 95 | 104.2 | C− |
| 34 | Parksville British Columbia | 15,371 | 107.4 | 88.3 | C− |
| … | |||||
| 36 | Powell River British Columbia | 14,947 | 113.5 | 99.4 | C− |
| … | |||||
| 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 Whistler in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
Whistler’s police: about 240 violent incidents a year over 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 550 property crimes, plus 390 other violations, a year (2023–2025 average). Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot, one incident a year at the area’s rates.
Whistler, year by year
Crime Severity Index
Its heaviest year fell in the middle, 2024, at 86.2; 2025 was the lightest, at 81.5. For the typical Canadian town its size, 2023 gave 69.5 and 2025 gave 60.
Every year as a table
| Year | Whistler | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 81.5 | 60 |
| 2024 | 86.2 | 67.9 |
| 2023 | 83.7 | 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 Whistler, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
Crime in the places around Whistler
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whistler | 15,090 | 83.8 | 82.3 | C |
| Pemberton (26 km) | 3,620 | 53 | 61.7 | B+ |
| Electoral Area C, Squamish-Lillooet (27 km) | 2,027 | 53 | 61.7 | B+ |
| Squamish (44 km) | 28,578 | 69.7 | 62.3 | C+ |
| Electoral Area D, Squamish-Lillooet (45 km) | 1,055 | 56.2 | 48.4 | B |
Every neighbour with a figure of its own has a lower index than Whistler. Closest is Pemberton, 26.4 km away, at 53 to 83.8 here.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means. No closer places have figures: these lie 26–45 km from Whistler.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- What clearance means. The clearance rate is the share of incidents police solve, by a charge or otherwise, weighted by seriousness like the index. It isn’t a conviction rate.
- 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. Its scale starts from Canada in 2006, set at 100, so a figure above 100 means more serious crime per resident than the country had then.
Questions about safety in Whistler
Is Whistler safe?
A Crime Severity Index of 83.8 (2023–2025), set beside a median of 66 for Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people: that is where Whistler stands, with 15.4 violent and 35.3 property incidents per 1,000 residents a year.
What is the most common crime in Whistler?
Top of the list is theft under $5,000 (13.7 per 1,000 residents a year); other Criminal Code offences, at 13.7, and mischief, at 9.3, follow.
Is crime going up in Whistler?
It held about level between 2023 and 2025, 83.7 to 81.5.
How much of Whistler’s crime do police solve?
Police cleared 30% of crime once each incident is weighted by seriousness: 38% of violent crime and 27% of the rest, against 33% for the typical Canadian town its size.
Whose figures are these?
They are Whistler’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).