Photo: Canadian2006 · CC BY-SA 3.0Recorded crime per resident is higher in Wakaw than in 85% of Canadian towns
Split in two, the index gives 147.4 for violence and 106.6 for everything else (normally 86.4 and 62.8). On crime the police covering Wakaw reported from 2023 to 2025, it grades C− for safety. Add to that, recorded violent incidents ran at 27.9 per 1,000 residents a year and property crime at 44.9, against 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 Wakaw detachment area, not by town.
What stands out about safety in Wakaw
Mischief: high for a town its size
Wakaw records 23.6 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 ↓
Easing since 2023
In 2023 the index in Wakaw stood at 135.5, by 2025 at 113.4. Over the same years the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ went from 70.6 to 62.9. Year by year ↓
About the Saskatchewan norm
Wakaw’s index of 117.5 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.
What’s behind Wakaw’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.
Crime in Wakaw, type by type
Against the typical town its size, Wakaw runs highest on mischief (23.6 per 1,000 against 4.2), break and enter (6.8 per 1,000 against 2.5) and assault (16.6 per 1,000 against 6.7).
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0 | 0 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 5.3 | 0.9 | 57% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 3.3 | 0.5 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 2.3 | 0.4 | — |
| Robbery | 1.7 | 0.3 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 0.7 | 0.1 | — |
| Other violent violations | 1.7 | 0.3 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 41.7 | 6.8 | 7% |
| Possession of stolen property | 5.7 | 0.9 | 47% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 21.3 | 3.5 | 5% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 3.7 | 0.6 | — |
| Theft under $5,000 | 25.7 | 4.2 | 18% |
| Mischief | 143.7 | 23.6 | 34% |
| Weapons violations | 10.7 | 1.7 | 31% |
| Administration of justice violations | 78 | 12.8 | 86% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 10.3 | 1.7 | 58% |
| Drug violations | 6 | 1 | 17% |
| Impaired driving | 25.7 | 4.2 | 35% |
| 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.
In Wakaw, down 16% between 2023 and 2025
Crime Severity Index
Its index has not been as high since 2023 (135.5); the low point came in 2024, at 103.6. The comparison line, the typical Canadian town of 2,500+, runs from 70.6 in 2023 to 62.9 by 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Wakaw | Typical town of 2,500+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 113.4 | 62.9 |
| 2024 | 103.6 | 68.5 |
| 2023 | 135.5 | 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 Wakaw, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
The police area Wakaw is part of, 6,110 residents, recorded about 170 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.
And about 270 property crimes, plus 180 other violations, a year (2023–2025 average). Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot, one incident a year at the area’s rates.
Crime in the places around Wakaw
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wakaw | 1,052 | 117.5 | 147.4 | C− |
| St. Louis No. 431 (15 km) | 1,080 | 117.5 | 147.4 | C− |
| Rosthern (40 km) | 1,926 | 99.3 | 115.6 | C− |
| Birch Hills (42 km) | 1,093 | 332.1 | 425.8 | D− |
1 of the 2 neighbours with their own figures score lower than Wakaw. The nearest of them, Rosthern (40.1 km away), scores 99.3 against 117.5. One neighbour is on the same police service or detachment, so it shares the figure and isn’t compared here.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means. Distances here run 15–42 km: that is how far the nearest places with figures are from Wakaw.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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. A crime is cleared when police lay or recommend a charge, or solve it another way; the weighted rate counts serious crimes for more.
- What the index measures. 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.”
- A detachment’s area. The detachment counts crime across its whole territory, of which Wakaw is one part.
Questions about safety in Wakaw
Is Wakaw safe?
The short answer is an index of 117.5 for Wakaw (2023–2025), built from 27.9 violent incidents and 44.9 property crimes a year for every 1,000 residents. The typical figure for Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more is 67.2.
What is the most common crime in Wakaw?
The three biggest groups are mischief at 23.6, other Criminal Code offences at 23.3 and assault at 16.6, each per 1,000 residents a year.
Is crime going up in Wakaw?
The reverse: 135.5 in 2023 came down to 113.4 by 2025, 16% lower.
How much of Wakaw’s crime do police solve?
35%, by the weighted clearance rate, where the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ manages 34%. Violent crime is cleared at 58% and non-violent crime at 24%.
Whose figures are these?
A shared service or detachment’s, reported as one for Wakaw 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).