Photo: OhanaUnited Talk page · CC BY-SA 4.0Kugluktuk sees more crime per resident than almost any other Canadian town
Violence accounts for an index of 1,108.1 and other offences for 512.5, against usual levels of 86.4 and 62.8. Graded on crime the police covering Kugluktuk reported from 2023 to 2025, it scores D− for safety. Behind the grade sit 276.3 violent incidents and 422.9 incidents of property crime per 1,000 people a year, where the comparison is 12.0 and 31.2 in 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. Crime severity, crime rate and incident counts published for the Kugluktuk detachment area, not by town.
What stands out about safety in Kugluktuk
Mischief: high for a town its size
Kugluktuk records 377.7 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 ↓
Police clear more here
Police cleared 56% of Kugluktuk’s crime, weighted by seriousness (69% of violent crime, 45% of the rest), against 34% across Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more. Questions ↓
Violent crime leads the index
Set beside the typical Canadian town of 2,500+, Kugluktuk’s two halves part ways: 1,108.1 for violence (typical 86.4) and 512.5 for the rest (typical 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’s behind Kugluktuk’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.
The Crime Severity Index and its two halves, beside the typical figure for Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more.
Kugluktuk’s crime by kind
Against the typical town its size, Kugluktuk runs highest on mischief (377.7 per 1,000 against 4.2), assault (192.2 per 1,000 against 6.7) and sexual assault (10 per 1,000 against 0.8).
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0 | 0 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 10.7 | 7.1 | 53% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 7.7 | 5.1 | 100% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 1 | 0.7 | — |
| Robbery | 0 | 0 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 3 | 2 | — |
| Other violent violations | 2.3 | 1.5 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 17.7 | 11.7 | 56% |
| Possession of stolen property | 1.3 | 0.9 | — |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 3.7 | 2.4 | — |
| Theft over $5,000 | 0.3 | 0.2 | — |
| Theft under $5,000 | 31.3 | 20.9 | 32% |
| Mischief | 568.3 | 377.7 | 38% |
| Weapons violations | 2.3 | 1.6 | — |
| Administration of justice violations | 127 | 84.5 | 73% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 15.3 | 10.2 | 59% |
| Drug violations | 7.7 | 5.1 | 4% |
| Impaired driving | 49 | 32.6 | 16% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 0 | 0 | — |
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.
The police area Kugluktuk is part of, 1,530 residents, recorded about 420 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.
Add about 640 property crimes and 410 other violations a year (2023–2025 average). The grid is 1,000 residents, a coloured dot for each incident a year at these rates.
Kugluktuk’s index, one year at a time
Crime Severity Index
2025, the last year shown, came out highest at 752.4, and 2023 lowest at 560. The typical Canadian town of 2,500+ went from 70.6 in 2023 to 62.9 in 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Kugluktuk | Typical town of 2,500+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 752.4 | 62.9 |
| 2024 | 723.1 | 68.5 |
| 2023 | 560 | 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 Kugluktuk, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Few people behind the figures. The police behind these figures serve about 1,529 people, so a handful of incidents moves every rate. Statistics Canada’s note: “Data for police services or detachments with populations less than 5,000 should be used with caution.”
- Town and surroundings together. An RCMP or OPP detachment reports one set of figures for everywhere it polices, so Kugluktuk’s are shared with its surroundings.
- Reading the number. Statistics Canada set the national index at 100 for 2006; every figure here is read against that.
- Solved cases. A crime is cleared when police lay or recommend a charge, or solve it another way; the weighted rate counts serious crimes for more.
- How serious, not how safe. Police-reported incidents, each multiplied by a weight drawn from court sentences, summed and divided by the population: that is the index, and its makers attach a caution, “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
Questions about safety in Kugluktuk
Is Kugluktuk safe?
Averaged over 2023–2025, the Crime Severity Index for Kugluktuk comes to 678.5. Per 1,000 residents a year, police logged 276.3 violent incidents and 422.9 property crimes. In the middle of Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more the figure is 67.2.
What is the most common crime in Kugluktuk?
Top of the list is mischief (377.7 per 1,000 residents a year); other Criminal Code offences, at 233.8, and assault, at 192.2, follow.
Is crime going up in Kugluktuk?
Up 34%: 560 in 2023, 752.4 in 2025. A small or partial count makes this change uncertain.
How much of Kugluktuk’s crime do police solve?
56%, by the weighted clearance rate, where the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ manages 34%. Violent crime is cleared at 69% and non-violent crime at 45%.
Whose figures are these?
A shared service or detachment’s, reported as one for Kugluktuk and everywhere else it polices.
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).