How many murders are there in Ottawa?
Ottawa, ON recorded 19 murders in 2025, the most recent complete year — a rate of 1.9 per 100,000 residents.
Culpable homicide reports — rare and geo-masked by most services. Ottawa residents also search for this category as homicides, killings, people killed and murder rate — all of those refer to the same police-reported offences counted on this page.
These figures cover 77 murders recorded in Ottawa between October 2021 and June 2026 — every incident Ottawa Police Service Community Safety Data Portal has published in that window. The first year is partial — incidents past the retention window are removed, so the record starts part-way through 2021 rather than on January 1.
Ottawa murders by year, 2021–2026
Ottawa murders peaked in 2025 with 19. The complete years here are 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 — those are the ones directly comparable to each other. Pick a year for its own monthly breakdown, time-of-day pattern and areas.
* Partial year — not directly comparable to the complete years above.
What time of day do murders happen in Ottawa?
Across the whole period, Ottawa murders cluster in the evening (6pm–12am) window, which accounts for 39% of them. The busiest individual hour is 9pm.
Hover a bar for the exact count in that hour.
What day of the week do murders happen in Ottawa?
Monday is the most common day for murders in Ottawa, at 18% of the total — 27% above what an even split across the week would give.
What time of year do murders peak in Ottawa?
Every year stacked together, so this is seasonality rather than a trend. October is the busiest month for murders in Ottawa with 12 across the whole period, and August is the quietest with 3.
Where do murders happen in Ottawa?
Byward Market records the most murders of any area in Ottawa, with 4 — 5% of the city total across the whole period.
Ottawa murders: common questions
How many murders are there in Ottawa?
Ottawa, ON recorded 19 murders in 2025, the most recent complete year — a rate of 1.9 per 100,000 residents. These figures cover 77 murders recorded in Ottawa between October 2021 and June 2026 — every incident Ottawa Police Service Community Safety Data Portal has published in that window.
Are murders going up or down in Ottawa?
Ottawa murders peaked in 2025 with 19. The most recent figure is 7 in 2026 so far, which covers a partial year. The complete years in this data are 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, which are the ones directly comparable to each other.
What time of day do most murders happen in Ottawa?
Most Ottawa murders happen in the evening (6pm–12am) window, which accounts for 39% of all of them. The busiest individual hour is 9pm.
Where do most murders happen in Ottawa?
Byward Market records the most murders of any area in Ottawa, with 4 (5% of the city total), followed by Overbrook - McArthur (4) and Vanier North (4).
What day of the week do most murders happen in Ottawa?
Monday is the most common day for murders in Ottawa, accounting for 18% of them — 27% above an even split across the week.
What time of year do murders peak in Ottawa?
Adding every year together, October is the busiest month for murders in Ottawa (12 across the whole period) and August is the quietest (3).
How common are murders compared to other crime in Ottawa?
Homicide makes up 0% of all crime recorded in Ottawa over this period — 77 of 167,564 incidents.
What is the murder rate in Ottawa?
Ottawa recorded 1.9 murders per 100,000 residents in 2025, based on a population of 1,017,449. Rates are only calculated for complete years, since a partial year isn't comparable.
What period does this Ottawa murder data cover?
These figures cover 77 murders recorded in Ottawa between October 2021 and June 2026 — every incident Ottawa Police Service Community Safety Data Portal has published in that window. The earliest year is partial because incidents older than the retention window are removed, so it starts part-way through the year rather than on January 1. Counts reflect what the portal published — a category a service doesn't publish is missing, which is not the same as zero.
Sourced from Ottawa Police Service Community Safety Data Portal. Counts reflect incidents the portal published and may differ from figures released elsewhere — missing is not the same as zero.