Report reveals Canadian crime rates are higher than in the United States

Crime in Canada has been on the rise for years but the problem is worse than many in the country might think. A new study from the Fraser Institute found Canada has worse crime rates than the United States. 

When comparable rates of crime for both violent and property crimes from both countries were looked at by researchers, they discovered that crime rates in Canada have surpassed several comparable crime rates in the U.S. when adjusted for population. 

“This idea that Canada is much safer than the United States is not supported by the data as rates of property and violent crime in Canada are now higher than south of the border,” explained study author Livio Di Matteo.  

Di Matteo is a senior fellow at the right-leaning public policy think tank Fraser Institute, and a portion of his work on the evolving nature of crime rates in Canada was released to the public at the end of November 2024. It contained several shocking findings. 

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Looking at data from 2014 to 2022, Di Matteo found that crime rates in Canada have not only been increasing over the years but also that many of the key crime rates tracked by both countries showed that Canadian crime was surpassing U.S. crime in some areas. 

According to the headline of a press release from the Fraser Institute on the new study, Canada’s violent crime rate is 14.0% higher than it was in the United States in 2022 while Canada’s property crime rate was 27.5% higher than its neighbor to the south. 

“From 2014 to 2022, the violent crime rate in Canada increased by 43.8 percent to 434.1 violent crimes per 100,000 people,” Di Matteo wrote in a breakdown of his work published on the Frasier Institute’s website. 

“The violent crime rate in the U.S. increased 5.3 percent over the same period to 380.7 violent crimes per 100,000 people,” Di Matteo added. The data presented by the study shows the huge increases in crime Canada has seen compared to the U.S. 

Di Matteo added that when the data was adjusted for population, property crimes like burglary, theft, and auto vehicle theft were higher in Canada than in the U.S. with 2491.0 crimes occurring in Canada per 100,000 people, a 7% increase since 2014. 

“By contrast, the property crime rate in the U.S. declined by 24.1 percent over the same period to 1954.4 crimes per 100,000 people,” Di Matteo noted. Homicides were found to be on the rise in Canada as well according to the data. 

Canada has seen a 53.4% increase in homicides since 2014. The number of homicides in the country increased to 2.3 per 100,000 people in 2022, up from just 1.5 in 2014. 

On the other hand, murders in the United States have remained higher than in Canada over the same period. In 2014, the U.S. saw 49,4 homicides per 100,000 people while in 2022 that number rose to 5.8. 

While the numbers presented may appear concerning, a press release on the new study noted crime rate stats in the U.S. are calculated differently than in Canada, and because of that, adjustments were made to the data. 

“Violent crime data in Canada differs from the United States, so adjustments were made to ensure as high a level of comparability as possible. The adjusted violent crime data includes murder, robbery, and assault with a weapon,” the press release explained. 

Despite the concerning numbers, Di Matteo did note that crime rates in Canada are still historically low, though he added that his findings did show that crime in the country is on the rise and has been since 2014. 

“Crime rates in Canada, which are still historically low, are nevertheless rising and, in some cases, are higher than in the U.S., which should concern Canadians,” Di Matteo said.