Per resident, Wadena records more crime than 87% of Canadian towns
Steady over the three years, the index read 124.9 in 2023 and 129.3 in 2025. Police counts work out at 31.1 violent incidents and 45.6 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents annually; in the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ they are 12.0 and 31.2. Add to that, a Safety Grade of D follows from crime the police covering Wadena reported over the years 2023 to 2025. Split in two, the index gives 151.7 for violence and 119.4 for everything else (normally 86.4 and 62.8).
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. Not measured by town: crime severity, crime rate and incident counts (the Wadena detachment area).
What stands out about safety in Wadena
Mischief: high for a town its size
Wadena records 16.9 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 ↓
About the Saskatchewan norm
Wadena’s index of 127.9 compares with 118.6 for the typical town in Saskatchewan. 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.
The grade: D for Wadena
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.
Crime in Wadena, type by type
Against the typical town its size, Wadena runs highest on mischief (16.9 per 1,000 against 4.2), break and enter (8.4 per 1,000 against 2.5) and assault (16.3 per 1,000 against 6.7). Theft under $5,000 sits below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0 | 0 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 4 | 0.6 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 2.7 | 0.4 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 2.3 | 0.4 | — |
| Robbery | 0.7 | 0.1 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 1.3 | 0.2 | — |
| Other violent violations | 3 | 0.5 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 52.7 | 8.4 | 17% |
| Possession of stolen property | 5 | 0.8 | 66% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 19.7 | 3.1 | 27% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 3.3 | 0.5 | — |
| Theft under $5,000 | 57 | 9.1 | 17% |
| Mischief | 106.3 | 16.9 | 19% |
| Weapons violations | 8.3 | 1.3 | 45% |
| Administration of justice violations | 100.7 | 16 | 80% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 18.3 | 2.9 | 44% |
| Drug violations | 9.7 | 1.5 | 13% |
| Impaired driving | 21.7 | 3.4 | 59% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 1.3 | 0.2 | — |
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.
6,300 residents, about 200 violent incidents a year: the police area Wadena 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.
And about 290 property crimes, plus 200 other violations, a year (2023–2025 average). Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot, one incident a year at the area’s rates.
Wadena, year by year
Crime Severity Index
Its heaviest year fell in the middle, 2024, at 129.4; 2023 was the lightest, at 124.9. The typical Canadian town of 2,500+ went from 70.6 in 2023 to 62.9 in 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Wadena | Typical town of 2,500+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 129.3 | 62.9 |
| 2024 | 129.4 | 68.5 |
| 2023 | 124.9 | 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 Wadena, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
Crime in the places around Wadena
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wadena | 1,278 | 127.9 | 151.7 | D |
| Wynyard (33 km) | 1,827 | 71.6 | 51.2 | C+ |
| Foam Lake (39 km) | 1,154 | 127.9 | 151.7 | D |
| Preeceville (78 km) | 1,046 | 81.3 | 110.5 | C |
The places around Wadena all score lower on the index. The nearest of them, Wynyard (32.8 km away), scores 71.6 against 127.9. Sharing its police with one neighbour, it shares that neighbour’s figure as well, so the neighbour isn’t compared.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means. Wadena has few close neighbours with figures, so the list reaches 33–78 km out.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- What the index measures. Each incident counts by its seriousness, judged from court sentences, and the total is set per resident. As Statistics Canada puts it, “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
- A detachment’s area. Detachment figures cover the detachment’s whole area: Wadena together with the countryside and smaller places it polices.
- 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.
- Cleared, not convicted. Cleared means solved by police, charged or not; it says nothing about what courts decide.
Questions about safety in Wadena
Is Wadena safe?
Averaged over 2023–2025, the Crime Severity Index for Wadena comes to 127.9. Per 1,000 residents a year, police logged 31.1 violent incidents and 45.6 property crimes. The middle of Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more is 67.2.
What is the most common crime in Wadena?
Top of the list is other Criminal Code offences (25 per 1,000 residents a year); mischief, at 16.9, and assault, at 16.3, follow.
Is crime going up in Wadena?
Hardly at all, from 124.9 in 2023 to 129.3 in 2025.
How much of Wadena’s crime do police solve?
Police cleared 35% of crime once each incident is weighted by seriousness: 52% of violent crime and 26% of the rest, against 34% for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
Whose figures are these?
Those of the police serving Wadena together with its neighbours or the countryside around it.
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).