Photo: Canadian2006 · CC BY-SA 3.0Crime per resident in Watrous runs lower than in 62% of Canadian towns
A Safety Grade of B follows from crime the police covering Watrous reported over the years 2023 to 2025. Weighted by seriousness, its crime scores 55 on the index for 2023–2025, beside 67.2 for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+. What’s more, for every 1,000 residents, 11.1 violent incidents and 21.4 incidents of property crime were logged a year; in the typical Canadian town of 2,500+, the figures are 12.0 and 31.2.
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: one figure for all of the Watrous detachment area.
What stands out about safety in Watrous
Lower than most of Saskatchewan
The typical Saskatchewan town scores 118.6; Watrous, 55. Towns its size ↓
Non-violent crime leads the index
Watrous scores 50.9 for violence and 57.1 for other crime; the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ scores 86.4 and 62.8. By type ↓
More severe than in 2023
Between 2023 and 2025, Watrous moved from 39.7 to 75, while the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ went from 70.6 to 62.9. Year by year ↓
Break and enter: high for a town its size
Watrous records 5.2 incidents of break and enter per 1,000 residents a year, against 2.5 in the typical town among Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more. 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 Watrous’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.
Year by year in Watrous: up 89%, 2023 to 2025
Crime Severity Index
The latest year was its heaviest: 2025, at 75, with 2023 the lightest at 39.7. 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 | Watrous | Typical town of 2,500+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 75 | 62.9 |
| 2024 | 50.2 | 68.5 |
| 2023 | 39.7 | 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 Watrous, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
Crime in Watrous, type by type
Against the typical town its size, Watrous runs highest on break and enter (5.2 per 1,000 against 2.5) and mischief (5.2 per 1,000 against 4.2). Assault and theft under $5,000 sit below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0 | 0 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 1 | 0.2 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 1 | 0.2 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 0.7 | 0.1 | — |
| Robbery | 0.3 | 0.06 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 0.3 | 0.06 | — |
| Other violent violations | 1.3 | 0.3 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 28 | 5.2 | 19% |
| Possession of stolen property | 1.3 | 0.2 | — |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 8.7 | 1.6 | 34% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 3 | 0.6 | — |
| Theft under $5,000 | 19.3 | 3.6 | 17% |
| Mischief | 28 | 5.2 | 32% |
| Weapons violations | 3.7 | 0.7 | — |
| Administration of justice violations | 22.7 | 4.2 | 78% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 5.3 | 1 | 43% |
| Drug violations | 1.7 | 0.3 | — |
| Impaired driving | 14 | 2.6 | 26% |
| 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.
Around 59 violent incidents a year in the 5,450-resident police area around Watrous, 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 110 property crimes and 62 other violations a year (2023–2025 average). The grid is 1,000 residents, a coloured dot for each incident a year at these rates.
Crime in the places around Watrous
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Watrous | 2,154 | 55 | 50.9 | B |
| Lanigan (36 km) | 1,597 | 55 | 50.9 | B |
| Davidson (58 km) | 1,164 | 89.7 | 63.8 | C |
| Humboldt (63 km) | 6,551 | 71.5 | 72.5 | C+ |
| Humboldt No. 370 (66 km) | 1,039 | 50.5 | 52.5 | B+ |
| Blucher No. 343 (72 km) | 2,239 | 54.2 | 56.3 | B |
2 of the 4 neighbours with their own figures score lower than Watrous. Just 66.4 km away, Humboldt No. 370 comes to 50.5, against 55. 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. The nearest places to Watrous with figures are 36–72 km away.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- A wider policing area. An RCMP or OPP detachment reports one set of figures for everywhere it polices, so Watrous’s are shared with its surroundings.
- What 100 means. Figures are relative to one fixed point, Canada in 2006 at 100, rather than to this year’s national number.
- The clearance rate. A cleared case is one police consider solved. Whether anyone is convicted is a separate matter the rate doesn’t follow.
- Severity, weighed. Statistics Canada, which publishes the index, attaches a caution: “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.” The number weighs each reported crime by its seriousness before dividing by residents.
Questions about safety in Watrous
Is Watrous safe?
Watrous scores 55 on Statistics Canada’s Crime Severity Index (2023–2025 mean), where the typical figure for Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more is 67.2; per 1,000 residents a year that is 11.1 violent incidents and 21.4 property crimes.
What is the most common crime in Watrous?
Most often it is other Criminal Code offences: 8.3 per 1,000 residents a year. Next come assault at 5.8 and mischief at 5.2.
Is crime going up in Watrous?
Up 89%: 39.7 in 2023, 75 in 2025.
How much of Watrous’s crime do police solve?
Police solve 82% of violent crime and 22% of everything else, 38% 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 Watrous 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).