Photo: Fdesjardins · CC BY 3.0Vars records less crime per resident than almost every Canadian town
By 2025 the index had dropped to 52.2, down from 55.8 in 2023. What’s more, on the record of crime the police covering Vars reported from 2023 to 2025, it takes A+ for safety: #27 of 862 in Ontario. Property crime ran at 12.3 per 1,000 residents a year, compared with 20.6 in the typical Ottawa neighbourhood. Statistics Canada puts its Crime Severity Index at 54.7 for 2023–2025; the typical Canadian town of 50,000+ scores 60.3.
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. Measured across the Ottawa service area: crime severity and crime rate.
Vars: A+ for safety, and why
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: #27 of 862 in Ontario and #29 of 2,572 Canadian towns.
The Crime Severity Index and its two halves, beside the typical figure for Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more.
How Vars compares across Ottawa
Violent crime per 1,000 a year
Property crime per 1,000 a year
Vars records less than the typical Ottawa neighbourhood, 22nd of 103 from the lowest.
Ottawa’s neighbourhoods, lowest rate first
| # | Neighbourhood | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bridlewood - Emerald Meadows | 2 | 8.1 |
| 2 | Kinburn | 2.1 | 7.3 |
| 3 | Rideaucrest - Davidson Heights | 2.2 | 10 |
| 4 | Munster - Ashton | 2.2 | 9.4 |
| 5 | Brookside - Briarbrook - Morgans Grant | 2.3 | 12.9 |
| … | |||
| 20 | Metcalfe | 3.3 | 12 |
| 21 | Corkery | 3.3 | 7.2 |
| 22 | Vars | 3.4 | 12.3 |
| 23 | Manotick | 3.4 | 14.6 |
| 24 | Old Ottawa South | 3.4 | 17.9 |
| … | |||
| 99 | Sandy Hill | 21.1 | 77.5 |
| 100 | Waterridge Village | 22.7 | 34.6 |
| 101 | Lowertown East | 24.3 | 189.6 |
| 102 | Greenbelt (east) | 24.5 | 47.5 |
| 103 | Lowertown West | 90.7 | 353.7 |
Ottawa Police Service, Criminal Offences Open Data (Open Data Licence – Ottawa Police Service), 2023–2025, placed in the neighbourhoods and divided by their 2021 census residents. Violent: offences against the person.
Ottawa’s own neighbourhood figures, per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Which crimes make up Ottawa’s figures
These are Ottawa’s figures, for its police’s whole area: they aren’t published by neighbourhood.
Against the typical town its size, Ottawa runs highest on theft under $5,000 (16.9 per 1,000 against 11.5) and fraud (6 per 1,000 against 5). Assault and mischief sit below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 20.3 | 0.02 | 77% |
| Sexual violations against children | 112.3 | 0.10 | 54% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 182.7 | 0.2 | 97% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 98.3 | 0.09 | 33% |
| Robbery | 576 | 0.5 | 45% |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 72 | 0.06 | 72% |
| Other violent violations | 231.7 | 0.2 | 45% |
| Breaking and entering | 2,537 | 2.2 | 23% |
| Possession of stolen property | 149.7 | 0.1 | 76% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 1,875.7 | 1.6 | 9% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 421.7 | 0.4 | 10% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 19,538.7 | 16.9 | 14% |
| Mischief | 3,556.7 | 3.1 | 14% |
| Weapons violations | 238 | 0.2 | 82% |
| Administration of justice violations | 5,803 | 5 | 93% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 542.3 | 0.5 | 52% |
| Drug violations | 457 | 0.4 | 90% |
| Impaired driving | 673 | 0.6 | 98% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 31 | 0.03 | 38% |
Statistics Canada’s violation groups for the whole police service or detachment: incidents a year are its own, the town’s share is only estimated in the tiles. 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.
Vars, year by year
Crime Severity Index
Its index peaked in 2024 at 56, between two lighter years; the lowest, 2025, came in at 52.2. In the same years the typical Canadian town of 50,000+ read 64.3 (2023), then 59.2 (2025).
Every year as a table
| Year | Vars | Typical town of 50,000+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 52.2 | 59.2 |
| 2024 | 56 | 59.9 |
| 2023 | 55.8 | 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 Vars, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 50,000+.
Crime in the places around Vars
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vars | 2,767 | 54.7 | 66 | A+ |
| Navan - Sarsfield | 2,853 | 54.7 | 66 | B+ |
| Embrun | 23,655 | 26.9 | 39.7 | A+ |
| Edwards - Carlsbad Springs | 3,536 | 54.7 | 66 | B+ |
| Portobello South | 29,960 | 54.7 | 66 | A |
| Cardinal Creek | 11,676 | 54.7 | 66 | A+ |
| Chapel Hill South | 14,278 | 54.7 | 66 | A |
Sharing its police with 5 neighbours, it shares their figure as well, so they aren’t compared.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Severity, weighed. The Crime Severity Index adds up police-reported crime, each kind weighted by the sentences courts give it, so one robbery counts for more than many thefts. In Statistics Canada’s words, “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
- What 100 means. 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.
- The clearance rate. Police clear an incident by charging someone, recommending a charge, or closing it another way. The rate weighs serious crimes more, as the index does.
Questions about safety in Vars
Is Vars safe?
On Statistics Canada’s figures, Vars scores 54.7 on the Crime Severity Index for 2023–2025, with 8 violent and 30.5 property incidents per 1,000 residents a year. The middle of Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more is 60.3.
What is the most common crime in Vars?
The three biggest groups are theft under $5,000 at 16.9, fraud at 6 and other Criminal Code offences at 5.9, each per 1,000 residents a year.
Is crime going up in Vars?
No: the index fell 6%, from 55.8 in 2023 to 52.2 in 2025.
How much of Vars’s crime do police solve?
Counting serious crimes for more, 32% end in a charge or are otherwise solved (38% for the typical Canadian town of 50,000+); split up, that is 49% of violent and 23% of non-violent crime.
Whose figures are these?
Those of the police service that covers the whole city.
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) · Ottawa Police Service, Criminal Offences Open Data · 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).