Safety index · Vancouver · data through September 2026
Is Downtown Vancouver safe?
Downtown records a high level of reported crime for Vancouver. Its SafeRoute safety index is 5 out of 100 — 50 points below the citywide median of 55, ranking 22nd of 22 Vancouver local areas — based on 10,163 incidents reported to the Vancouver Police within 1 km of the neighbourhood centre over the 11 months to September 2026.
DATA THROUGH SEPTEMBER 2026 · 11 MONTHS OF DATA
The 0–100 scale is calibrated to Vancouver — a typical Vancouver neighbourhood sits near 55. It ranks Downtown against other neighbourhoods here, and cannot be read against a score in another city.
Most of what's reported here is property-related — other theft alone is 50% of reports — rather than violence against strangers, though the full mix below is worth a look.
Reported incidents here skew to daytime and evening hours — only about 0% of severity-weighted reports fall overnight (midnight–6 a.m.).
Where incidents cluster
What's reported here
| Other theft | 5,060 · 50% | |
| Criminal damage & arson | 1,789 · 18% | |
| Violent crime | 847 · 8% | |
| Vehicle crime | 1,814 · 18% | |
| Burglary | 351 · 3% | |
| Other | 152 · 1% |
When it happens
Severity-weighted share of reported incidents by time of day, from police incident timestamps.
Walking in Downtown at night?
SafeRoute scores every walking route against the same official crime data on this page — and shows how much of each route runs on lit streets. Compare the routes and share your walk. Free, no account.
Get SafeRoute on the App StoreNearby areas
- West End13/100 · High risk
- Strathcona12/100 · High risk
- Fairview33/100 · Elevated
- Mount Pleasant25/100 · Elevated
- Grandview-Woodland28/100 · Elevated
Common questions
Is Downtown safe at night?
High risk overall (safety index 5/100). At night, prefer lit, busier streets — a short detour often avoids the clusters on the map above.
What is the most common crime in Downtown?
Other theft — 5,060 of 10,163 incidents (50%) reported within 1 km of the neighbourhood centre over the 11 months to September 2026.
How is the Downtown safety index calculated?
SafeRoute weights each incident reported to the Vancouver Police Department by severity (violence weighs more than shoplifting), sums the last available period within 1 km of the neighbourhood centre, and normalizes against citywide crime rates onto a 0–100 scale — higher is safer. It describes reported crime only; it is not a guarantee of safety. The scale is calibrated within Vancouver, so scores compare neighbourhoods to each other and cannot be read against another city's.