Characteristics of police-reported crime in rural areas, 2023: Provincial fact sheets

Prior analysis of police-reported crime in Canada has consistently shown that, at the national level, crime rates are typically higher in rural areas of the country—that is, those outside of census metropolitan areas and census agglomerations (Cotter, 2025; Perreault, 2023; Perreault, 2019). Factors such as geographic isolation, socioeconomic disadvantage, a lack of (or limited) public transportation and sparsely distributed emergency services may partially explain these higher rates in rural, compared to urban, areas (Dawson et al., 2021; Dawson et al., 2019; DeKeseredy, 2020; Gillespie & Reckdenwald, 2017; Peterson, 2024).

Alongside the above factors, variation between rural and urban crime largely stems from differences between the southern and northern regions of the provinces (Allen & Perreault, 2015; Perreault, 2023). Crime rates in the provincial North—which encompasses the northern regions of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador—tend to be higher than in the provincial South (Allen & Perreault, 2015). Examining rural–urban and North–South together allows for a more comprehensive analysis of crime rates and trends.

The size and distribution, as well as demographic, social and economic characteristics, of the population in the North vary substantially by province. Although many northern regions are comprised of small, rural and remote communities, others include large metropolitan areas and regions of economic development. As such, there is no single, uniform experience of rural northern living across the Canadian provinces, and this diversity can influence crime rates in various ways.

Many factors can play a role in explaining rural–urban and North–South differences in crime. For example, higher levels of poverty and unemployment, and low education, combined with limited social services, have long been recognized as significant factors in influencing crime. In general, these characteristics are more present in rural areas than in urban areas, and in northern regions than in southern regions.

Indigenous Peoples represent a relatively large proportion of the population in rural areas and in the provincial North. Self-reported and police-reported data have consistently shown high rates of victimization and offending among First Nations, Métis and Inuit (Allen, 2020; Boyce, 2016; Perreault, 2022). This reality cannot be separated from the historical and ongoing impacts of colonization upon Indigenous Peoples that contribute to socioeconomic marginalization, trauma and intergenerational violence (Aguiar & Halseth, 2015; Bombay et al., 2014). In addition to factors unique to rural areas that impact crime, police services in these areas are faced with unique challenges. The geographical distance between rural communities can strain policing resources for responding to—and investigating—crime. Further, local law enforcement practices vary across the regions and may contribute to differences in addressing crime. For example, where municipal by-laws exist, less serious offences can be addressed through by-laws rather than the Criminal Code (Cotter, 2025; Perreault, 2023), and by-laws are more common in urban and southern areas of the provinces. Where municipal by-laws do not exist, more incidents—regardless of severity—are dealt with by police. As such, it may be that police services in rural areas handle crimes that would otherwise be dealt with through urban by-laws, and this geographical context can impact the amount of police-reported crime across provinces.

This series of fact sheets uses data from the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Survey to examine police-reported crime in provincial rural areas in 2023, with a focus on how crime in rural areas of the province differs from crime in urban areas. Differences between the northern and southern regions of each province are also presented, where applicable. Data from the Census of Population are provided for high-level contextual information about each province. For a broad analysis of rural crime at the national level, see Cotter, 2025.

This profile series was produced with funding support from Public Safety Canada.

Provincial fact sheets

Alberta

British Columbia

Manitoba

New Brunswick

Newfoundland and Labrador

Nova Scotia

Ontario

Prince Edward Island

Quebec

Saskatchewan

Definitions

Census metropolitan area (CMA) and census agglomeration (CA): A CMA or a CA is formed by one or more adjacent municipalities centred on a population centre (known as the core). A CMA must have a total population of at least 100,000, of which 50,000 or more must live in the core. A CA must have a core population of at least 10,000. To be included in the CMA or CA, adjacent municipalities must have a high degree of integration with the core, as measured by commuting flows derived from census data. A CMA or CA can be served by more than one police service.

Rural and urban areas: Rural police services serve a territory where most of the population lives outside a CMA or CA. While small towns that do not qualify as CAs are included in this category, the term “rural area” will be used for brevity. Urban police services serve an area where most of the population lives within a CMA or CA. Police services are classified as rural or urban based on the majority of the population they serve, rather than on the place of residence of each Canadian. Consequently, urban residents can be served by a police service classified as rural, and vice versa. In the interest of conciseness, the terms “rural” (or “rural area”) and “urban” (or “urban area”) are used to designate areas or populations based on the classification of the police services that serve them. The definitions of rural and urban in this report may differ from those used in other Statistics Canada reports.

Provincial North: The Provincial North comprises the northern regions of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, and Newfoundland and Labrador, according to the definition agreed on by the Northern Development Ministers Forum and used by the Conference Board of Canada’s Centre for the North. These northern boundaries generally reflect provincial administrative regions. For more information, see Statistics Canada (2022) and Allen & Perreault (2015).

Criminal incident: Criminal incidents include all Criminal Code and other federal statute offences reported by police services. Incidents are categorized by the most serious violation in the incident.

Crime rate: The crime rate is the sum of all Criminal Code incidents reported by the police divided by the population. The crime rate excludes Criminal Code traffic violations and other federal statute violations, such as drug offences.

Survey description

Uniform Crime Reporting Survey

The Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Survey was established in 1962 with the co-operation and assistance of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police. The UCR Survey measures criminal incidents that have been reported to federal, provincial or territorial and municipal police services in Canada.

One incident can involve multiple offences. To ensure comparability, counts presented in this article are based on the most serious offence in the incident as determined by a standard classification rule used by all police services.

The option for police to code victims and accused persons as “non-binary” in the UCR Survey was implemented in 2018. In the context of the UCR Survey, the term “non-binary” refers to a person who publicly expresses themselves as neither exclusively male nor exclusively female. Given that small counts of non-binary victims and accused persons may exist, the UCR Survey data available to the public have been recoded with these victims and accused persons distributed in the “men and boys” or “women and girls” categories based on the regional distribution of victims’ and accused persons’ gender. This recoding ensures the protection of the confidentiality and privacy of victims and accused persons.

2021 Census of Population

The Census of Population, conducted every five years, gathers demographic, social, economic and cultural information on the Canadian population. All households are asked to provide basic demographics (household membership information only), while the remainder received the long-form to provide more detailed information for all household members. For additional information about the Census of Population, see the Guide to the Census of Population, 2021 and the Dictionary, Census of Population, 2021.

Information on family structure and living with parents was collected from every household in Canada. Information on educational attainment and school attendance was used to derive the education categories used in this analysis. This information is from the 2021 Census long form questionnaire which went to 25% of the Canadian population. Data from the long-form questionnaire are weighted with adjustments for non-response to represent the full Canadian population.

The COVID-19 pandemic emerged in Canada in early 2020 and affected all steps of the 2021 Census process, from data collection to dissemination. Statistics Canada is aware that COVID-19 may have had an impact on answers to some census questions, including those on employment, education, commuting and expenditures. When providing answers to census questions, respondents were instructed to choose the responses that best reflected their situation or the situation of members of the household for the date or time period in question.

References

Aguiar, W. & Halseth, R. (2015). Aboriginal peoples and historic trauma: The processes of intergenerational transmission. National Collaborating Centre for Aboriginal Health.

Allen, M. (2020). Crime reported by police serving areas where the majority of the population is Indigenous, 2018. Juristat. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 85-002-X.

Allen, M. & Perreault, S. (2015). Police-reported crime in Canada’s Provincial North and Territories, 2013. Juristat. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 85-002-X.

Bombay, A., Matheson, K. & Anisman, H. (2014). The intergenerational effects of Indian Residential Schools: implications for the concept of historical trauma. Transcult Psychiatry, 51(3), 320-338.

Boyce, J. (2016). Victimization of Aboriginal people in Canada, 2014. Juristat. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 85-002-X.

Cotter, A. (2025). Characteristics of police-reported crime in rural areas in the Canadian provinces, 2023. Juristat. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 85-002-X.

Dawson, M., Sutton, D., Zecha, A., Boyd, C., Johnson, A., & Mitchell, A. (2021). #CallItFemicide: Understanding sex/gender-related killings of women and girls in Canada, 2020. Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability.

Dawson, M., Sutton, D., Carrigan, M., Grand’Maison, V., Bader, D., Zecha, A., & Boyd, C. (2019). #CallItFemicide: Understanding gender-related killings of women and girls in Canada 2019. Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability.

DeKeseredy, W.S. (2020). Woman abuse in rural places. London: Routledge.

Gillespie, L.K., & Reckdenwald, A. (2017). Gender equality, place, and female-victim intimate partner homicide: A county-level analysis in North Carolina. Feminist Criminology, 12(2), 171-191.

Perreault, S. (2023). Police-reported crime in rural and urban areas in the Canadian provinces, 2021. Juristat. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 85-002-X.

Perreault, S. (2022). Victimization of First Nations people, Métis and Inuit in Canada. Juristat. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 85-002-X.

Perreault, S. (2019). Police-reported crime in rural and urban areas in the Canadian provinces, 2017. Juristat. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 85-002-X.

Peterson, J. (2024). Rural Criminology. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Criminology.

Statistics Canada. (2022). Definitions, Data Sources and Methods — Statistical Classifications: North and South — Variant of Standard Geographical Classification (SGC) 2021.