Rural crime fact sheets, 2023: Alberta

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Demographic and household characteristics

In 2021, 4,431,531 people lived in Alberta. More specifically, 18% of the population lived in rural areas, while the remaining 82% resided in urban areas.^Note 

According to the latest data from the Census of Population, overall, Alberta’s rural population was slightly older than the population residing in urban areas of the province (Table 1). In 2021, 17% of rural residents were age 65 years and older, compared with 14% of urban residents.

A larger proportion of residents in rural areas (16%) than in urban areas (5%) were First Nations people, Métis or Inuit (Indigenous), with larger proportions residing in the North than in the South. Almost one-quarter (23%) of the population in the rural North was Indigenous, which was the highest proportion in the province, compared with the lowest proportion which was in the urban South (5%).

A much larger proportion of residents in urban areas than in rural areas were immigrants or members of a racialized group. The largest proportion of immigrants (26%) and racialized group members (32%) resided in the urban South. 

In 2021, a larger proportion of urban residents than rural residents aged 25 to 64 years had completed some form of postsecondary education. The lowest proportion of residents with postsecondary education resided in the rural North (51%) and the highest proportion resided in the urban South (67%). Conversely, a larger proportion of the rural population reported that their highest level of education was high school education or below (48%).

Households in urban areas had higher after-tax household incomes than those in rural areas. Similarly, rural areas of Alberta had a higher proportion of residents who met the threshold considered to be low-income,^Note  with the largest proportion of these households in the rural North (11%).

The unemployment rate was slightly higher in urban areas of the province in 2021 than in rural areas (12% versus 10%).

It is important to note that the nature and extent of crime is influenced by various demographic, social and economic characteristics. For more information, see Characteristics of police-reported crime in rural areas, 2023: Provincial fact sheets.

Characteristics of police-reported crime

In 2023, 17% of people living in Alberta were served by a police service covering a predominantly rural area.^Note 

According to police-reported data from the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Survey, in 2023, the overall rate of police-reported crime (excluding Criminal Code traffic and other federal statute violations) in rural Alberta was 11,190 incidents per 100,000 population, which was 1.5 times higher than the crime rate in urban areas (7,268 per 100,000) (Table 2).^Note  In 2023, the crime rate in rural Alberta was slightly lower than the rate recorded in 2022 (-2%) and was slightly higher (+2%) than the rate in 2018.^Note  In comparison, crime in urban areas decreased during these periods, down 5% and 11%, respectively.

The crime rate has fluctuated over the past decade, particularly in northern regions of the province (Chart 1). Conversely, crime mostly increased between 2013 and 2019 in the South, before generally beginning to decline in 2020.

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The rural North recorded the highest overall crime rate in the province in 2023 (15,809 incidents per 100,000 population), which was 80% higher than the rate in the rural South (8,779) and was a 14% increase from the rate recorded in 2018. In comparison, the overall crime rate in the urban North was 15,321 incidents per 100,000 population, similar to the rate in the rural North, but 2.2 times higher than the rate in the urban South (6,957).

Characteristics of police-reported violent crime

In 2023, the police-reported violent crime rate was 1.8 times higher in rural areas than in urban areas of Alberta (2,552 versus 1,392 incidents per 100,000 population) (Table 2). From 2018 to 2023, the rate of violent crime in rural areas increased 33%, compared with an increase of 15% in urban areas.

Police services in the rural North recorded the highest rate of violent crime. In 2023, there were 9,580 incidents of violent crime reported in the rural North, translating to a rate of 3,533 incidents per 100,000 population, which was 1.7 times higher than the rate recorded in the rural South (2,039). Although the violent crime rate was lower in urban areas of the province, the gap between the North and the South was more pronounced than in rural areas (2,792 incidents per 100,000 population in the urban North versus 1,338 in the urban South).

In 2023, violent crime accounted for around one in five incidents of all police-reported crime in both rural (21%) and urban (18%) areas.

Assaults and firearm-specific offences was the most commonly reported type of violent crime in both rural and urban areas (59%, respectively) in 2023. This group of offences accounted for 61% of violent crime in the rural North and 57% of violent crime in the rural South.

Sexual offences accounted for a similar proportion of violent crime in both rural (7%) and urban areas (9%) of Alberta, however, the rate of these offences differed. In 2023, police services in rural areas reported 46% more sexual offences incidents per 100,000 population (183) than were reported in urban areas (126). From 2018 to 2023, the rate of sexual offences was up in both rural (+37%) and urban areas (+11%).

For almost all violent offences except for robbery, rates of violent crime were higher in rural areas than in urban areas. There was a particularly large gap between rural and urban areas for the rate of incidents of uttering threats, which was 2.4 times higher in rural areas than in urban areas.

Within rural areas, rates of all violent offences were higher in the North than in the South. For example, the rate of incidents of robbery was 2.1 times higher in the rural North than in the rural South (49 versus 23 incidents per 100,000).

Violent crime rates were also generally higher in the urban North than in the urban South, and for certain types of offences, the gap was even larger than what was recorded in rural areas. For example, the largest gap between the North and the South was for uttering threats, where the rate was more than three times higher in the urban North than in the urban South (501 versus 164 incidents per 100,000 population). The rural North also reported a higher violent crime rate than the South for these types of offences; however, the gap was not as large (588 versus 334, or 1.8 times).

Characteristics of police-reported non-violent crime

In 2023, rural police services reported 52,751 incidents of property crime, translating to a rate of 6,674 incidents per 100,000 population, which was 1.5 times higher than what was reported by urban police services (4,349) (Table 2). From 2018 to 2023, the rate of property crime in rural areas remained virtually unchanged (-1%), while the rate declined 16% in urban areas over the same period.

Like violent crime, the rural North recorded the highest property crime rate in the province in 2023 (9,533 incidents per 100,000 population), which was 84% higher than the rate recorded in the rural South (5,181). This pattern was the same in urban areas of the province, with urban areas in the North recording a rate 2.2 times higher than in the South (9,307 versus 4,157 incidents per 100,000).

Property crime accounted for a similar proportion of all police-reported crime in both rural (55%) and urban (57%) areas of the province in 2023. Mischief was the most common type of property crime reported by police services in the rural North (51%), the urban North (46%) and the rural South (39%), and was the second most commonly reported type of property crime in the urban South (20%), following theft of $5,000 or under (non-motor vehicle) (40%).

In rural areas, rates were higher in the North than in the South for all property offences. For example, the rate for breaking and entering was 82% higher in the rural North (1,131) than in the rural South (622). In urban areas, rates of property crime were also higher in the North than in the South. A particularly large gap was noted for incidents of mischief, which had a rate which was 5.1 times higher in the urban North (4,327) than in the urban South (842).

In 2023, the police-reported crime rate of other Criminal Code offences, which are largely made up of administration of justice violations and disturbing the peace, was 29% higher in rural areas than in urban areas (1,965 versus 1,527 incidents per 100,000 population). From 2018 to 2023, the rate of other Criminal Code offences declined in both rural (-15%) and urban (-14%) areas.

The rate for disturbing the peace violations was much higher in rural areas than in urban areas in 2023 (three times). The urban North in particular had the highest rate of disturbing the peace violations (1,232 incidents per 100,000), which was six times higher than the rate in the urban South (205). The rate of these incidents was also higher in the rural North (839 incidents per 100,000) than in the rural South (666), although the gap was not as high (1.3 times). In contrast, the rate of administration of justice violations was lower (1.2 times) in rural areas than in urban areas. The highest rate of these offences was also in the urban North (1,660 incidents per 100,000).

Characteristics of victims of police-reported violent crime

In 2023, women and girls represented a larger proportion of victims of violent crime in rural areas (55%) than in urban areas (50%) (Table 3). In the rural North, women and girls accounted for almost 6 in 10 (56%) victims of violent crime.

The rate of women and girl victims was also higher in rural areas (2,110 victims per 100,000) than in urban areas (1,208), with 1.7 times more women and girl victims. The rate of women and girl victims was highest in the rural North, with 3,096 victims for every 100,000 women and girls, which was 1.9 times higher than the rate in the rural South (1,595). Similarly, in the urban North, the rate of women and girl victims was also 1.9 times higher than the rate in the urban South (2,260 versus 1,169).  

The violent crime rate for men and boys was also higher in rural areas than in urban areas of Alberta, with the rural North recording the highest rate (2,339 victims per 100,000 men and boys). This was 1.9 times higher than the rate of men and boy victims recorded in the rural South (1,251).

In 2023, police-reported violent crime rates were highest among victims aged 18 to 44 years in both rural (3,451 victims per 100,000 population aged 18 to 44 years) and urban areas (1,761).

Most victims of violent crime in both rural (85%) and urban areas (66%) knew the accused. Similar proportions of violent crime victims knew the person accused of committing this violence in both northern and southern rural areas (85% in the rural North and 84% in the rural South), while victims in the urban North were more likely to know the accused than victims in the urban South (74% versus 65%).

In rural areas, violence was most commonly perpetrated by someone known to the victim other than an intimate partner or non-spousal family member^Note  (31%), or by an intimate partner (30%). In urban areas, the accused was most often a stranger (34%), or someone known to the victim other than an intimate partner or non-spousal family member (30%). In rural areas, victims were much less likely to be victimized by a stranger (15%).

A higher proportion of violent crime victims were physically injured in incidents reported by rural police services (48%) than in incidents reported by urban police services (41%). Half (50%) of victims in the rural North sustained physical injuries compared to 45% in the rural South.

Characteristics of police-reported violent crime incidents

In 2023, a larger proportion of police-reported violent incidents in urban areas (24%) involved the presence of a weapon compared with rural areas (19%) (Table 4). However, when accounting for population size, the rate of violent incidents with a weapon present was higher in rural areas than in urban areas (396 incidents per 100,000 population, compared to 283 in urban areas). This difference was driven by a higher rate of incidents involving a weapon in the rural North (608 incidents per 100,000) than in the rural South (285).

A private residence was the most commonly reported location where incidents of violent crime took place in both rural (71%) and urban areas (52%). A much larger proportion of incidents occurred in a private residence in the rural South (72%) than in the urban South (51%).

In urban areas, around one-quarter of violent incidents occurred in a commercial or non-residential location both in the North and in the South (26%, respectively).

In 2023, slightly more than 3 in 10 police-reported incidents of violent crime were cleared by the laying or recommendation of charges in both rural and urban areas (32%, respectively).^Note  Of all the geographic regions, the rural North reported the highest proportion of incidents that were cleared by the laying or recommendation of charges (36%), while the rural South (29%) had the smallest proportion of such incidents.

Violent incidents in rural areas were more likely to be cleared otherwise^Note  than violent incidents in urban areas (21% versus 15%). The rural North also had the highest proportion of violent incidents that were classified as being cleared otherwise (21%), while the smallest proportion was in the urban South (14%).

Family and intimate partner violence

In 2023, rates of intimate partner violence^Note  (IPV) were highest among women and girl victims, in both rural and urban areas of Alberta (Table 5). In rural areas, the rate of IPV among women and girls (1,034 victims per 100,000 women and girls) was more than three times higher than the rate among men and boys (306), which was similar to what was recorded in urban areas (511 versus 146). Like other types of crime, rates of IPV were generally highest in rural areas of the North.

Over time, rates of police-reported IPV varied across the province. In rural areas, the rate of IPV decreased by 4% from 2013 to 2023, while in urban areas it increased by 4% during that time (Chart 2). The largest change in the rate of IPV was noted in the rural South, which decreased by 8% from 2013 and 2023.

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As with IPV, rates of family violence^Note  were higher among women and girls than men and boys. In rural areas, the rate of family violence against women and girls (883 victims per 100,000 women and girls) was 81% higher than the rate against men and boys (488) (Table 5). In urban areas, the rate of family violence against women and girls was also higher than among men and boys (413 versus 193 per 100,000), and the gap was even larger (+115%) than what was recorded in rural areas. 

Like IPV, the rate of family violence decreased in rural areas (-4%) and increased (+9%) in urban areas from 2013 to 2023 (Chart 2). However, unlike IPV, the largest change in the rate of family violence was recorded in the urban South (+10% from 2013 to 2023).

In both rural and urban areas of the province, rates of IPV and family violence were highest among people aged 18 to 44 years (including both women and girls and men and boys who were victims) (Table 5). The gap between women and girls and men and boys when it came to rates of both of these forms of violence was largest with this age group and grew smaller among older victims.

A higher proportion of victims of IPV and family violence sustained physical injuries in rural areas (52%) than in urban areas (47%).

Characteristics of accused persons

Overall, men and boys represented the largest proportion of accused persons in Alberta in 2023. Women and girls represented a slightly higher proportion of accused persons in rural areas (29%) than in urban areas of the province (28%) (Table 6). In the rural North, women and girls represented a higher proportion (30%) of accused than they did in the rural South (27%). This was also the case across all large offence categories.

When looking at total crime, rates of persons accused of crime were also higher in rural areas than in urban areas, across all age groups. Rates of crime were highest among accused persons aged 25 to 44 years, who generally make up the largest proportion of accused persons. Women and men accused aged 25 to 44 years in the rural North had the highest overall rates of crime (10,667 and 21,836 accused per 100,000 population, respectively), which were more than two times higher than the rates reported in this age category among accused women and men in the rural South (3,758 and 9,008, respectively).

The median age of accused was similar in rural and urban areas for both women and girl (33 years versus 32 years) and men and boy accused (35 years versus 34 years).

When an accused person was identified, incidents were much less likely to be cleared by charge in rural areas than in urban areas in 2023, regardless of crime type. Overall, about half (48%) of all cleared incidents in rural areas were cleared by the laying or recommendation of charges, compared with three-quarters (75%) of cleared incidents in urban areas (Table 7). The remaining cleared incidents were cleared otherwise (i.e., no charges were laid or recommended).

In rural areas specifically, there were small differences in the proportion of cleared incidents cleared by laying or recommending charges in the North or the South for violent crime and for other Criminal Code violations. However, there were larger differences for crime overall and for property crime. For instance, 22% of cleared property crime incidents in the rural North were cleared by the laying or recommendation of charges, compared with 35% in the rural South.

Incidents involving youth accused were much more likely to be cleared otherwise than incidents involving adults in both rural (65% of cleared incidents involving youth accused were cleared otherwise versus 51% of cleared incidents involving adults) and urban areas (52% versus 22%).

Tables

Table 1 Demographic and household characteristics, by rural or urban area and North or South region, Alberta, 2021

Table 2 Police-reported crime, by selected violation, rural or urban area and North or South region, Alberta, 2023

Table 3 Police-reported violent crime, by victim characteristic, rural or urban area and North or South region, Alberta, 2023

Table 4 Police-reported violent crime, by incident characteristic, rural or urban area and North or South region, Alberta, 2023

Table 5 Police-reported family violence and intimate partner violence, by victim characteristic, rural or urban area and North or South region, Alberta, 2023

Table 6 Police-reported crime, by gender and age group of accused persons, rural or urban area and North or South region, Alberta, 2023

Table 7 Police-reported crime, by age group of accused, incident clearance status, rural or urban area and North or South region, Alberta, 2023