Photo: Ansgar Walk · CC BY-SA 2.5Recorded crime per resident is higher in Baker Lake than in 98% of Canadian towns
Against usual levels of 86.4 and 62.8, violent and non-violent offences here reach 630.9 and 278.2. That puts it at D− for safety, judged on crime the police covering Baker Lake reported from 2023 to 2025. What’s more, recorded violent incidents ran at 113.7 per 1,000 residents a year and property crime at 229.8, against 12.0 and 31.2 in the typical Canadian town of 2,500+. Police cleared 41% of incidents, weighted by seriousness, against 34% for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
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. Area behind the crime severity, crime rate and incident counts figures: the Baker Lake detachment area.
What stands out about safety in Baker Lake
Mischief: high for a town its size
Baker Lake records 200.6 incidents of mischief per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.2 in the typical town among Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more. By type ↓
Heavier on violence
Baker Lake’s index splits into violent crime, 630.9 here and 86.4 for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+, and everything else, 278.2 against 62.8. 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 Baker Lake’s D−
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.
The Crime Severity Index and its two halves, beside the typical figure for Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more.
What police record in Baker Lake, by type
Against the typical town its size, Baker Lake runs highest on mischief (200.6 per 1,000 against 4.2), assault (71.7 per 1,000 against 6.7) and sexual assault (7.1 per 1,000 against 0.8). Fraud and theft under $5,000 sit below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0.3 | 0.1 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 8.7 | 3.9 | 72% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 4.3 | 1.9 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 0.3 | 0.2 | — |
| Robbery | 0.3 | 0.1 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 1 | 0.4 | — |
| Other violent violations | 1 | 0.4 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 26.7 | 11.9 | 25% |
| Possession of stolen property | 0.7 | 0.3 | — |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 10.7 | 4.8 | 35% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 0.3 | 0.2 | — |
| Theft under $5,000 | 17.7 | 7.9 | 28% |
| Mischief | 449 | 200.6 | 22% |
| Weapons violations | 1.3 | 0.6 | — |
| Administration of justice violations | 47 | 20.9 | 62% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 9.7 | 4.3 | 34% |
| Drug violations | 2.7 | 1.2 | — |
| Impaired driving | 65.7 | 29.3 | 14% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 0.7 | 0.3 | — |
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 2,500 people or more.
2,250 residents, about 250 violent incidents a year: the police area Baker Lake belongs to, 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 510 a year and other violations 230 (2023–2025 average). Of 1,000 dots, one per resident, the coloured ones are a year’s incidents at these rates.
Baker Lake’s index year by year
Crime Severity Index
It finished on its highest reading, 409 in 2025, having been lowest in 2024 at 345.3. In the same years the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ read 70.6 (2023), then 62.9 (2025).
Every year as a table
| Year | Baker Lake | Typical town of 2,500+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 409 | 62.9 |
| 2024 | 345.3 | 68.5 |
| 2023 | 375.7 | 70.6 |
Statistics Canada, Crime Severity Index by police service, each year as published. Typical: the median of Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more.
The Crime Severity Index of the police covering Baker Lake, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Cleared, not convicted. 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.
- What the index measures. The index weighs crimes rather than counting them: a serious offence moves it far more than a minor one. Statistics Canada is plain about its limits: “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
- Read with care. About 2,250 people live in the area these figures cover; at that size one bad year shows up large. Statistics Canada says: “Data for police services or detachments with populations less than 5,000 should be used with caution.”
- A detachment’s area. An RCMP or OPP detachment reports one set of figures for everywhere it polices, so Baker Lake’s are shared with its surroundings.
- 100 is Canada in 2006. 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 Baker Lake
Is Baker Lake safe?
Averaged over 2023–2025, the Crime Severity Index for Baker Lake comes to 376.7. Per 1,000 residents a year, police logged 113.7 violent incidents and 229.8 property crimes. The middle of Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more is 67.2.
What is the most common crime in Baker Lake?
Most often it is mischief: 200.6 per 1,000 residents a year. Next come assault at 71.7 and other Criminal Code offences at 68.5.
Is crime going up in Baker Lake?
It has: 375.7 in 2023 became 409 by 2025, a rise of 9%. With few people or missing years behind it, the change is a rough one.
How much of Baker Lake’s crime do police solve?
Police solve 59% of violent crime and 26% of everything else, 41% overall once each crime is weighted by seriousness, against 34% for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
Whose figures are these?
A police service or detachment that covers Baker Lake and other places, so the figures are shared.
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).