Photo: Farragutful · CC BY-SA 4.0Reported crime per resident in Bellwood fell 31% from 2023 to 2025
Violence and property crime split as 2.8 violent crimes and 12.8 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents a year, beside 3.1 and 18.8 in the rest of Illinois. Its letter overall is C+ (#237 of 339 graded towns in Illinois): more crime per resident than 62% of U.S. towns, from crimes its police reported through 2023 to 2025. 2 of the 4 towns next door with figures record less crime per resident.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of IL” is every other Illinois city and town in the FBI’s tables; the U.S. figure is the FBI’s national estimate as published, averaged over the three years. The FBI publishes no national homicide or robbery rate in our data, so those compare with all U.S. cities and towns in its tables.
What stands out about safety in Bellwood
2 of the 4 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 5 Illinois towns on Bellwood’s borders, 4 have a Safety Grade: Westchester (A), Berkeley (B+), Melrose Park (C), Hillside (C). Maywood has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025. Neighbors ↓
Reported crime is falling
Crime reported per resident fell from 2023 to 2025 by more than ordinary year-to-year swings, on the grade’s own score. Trend ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Bellwood’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Both violent and property crime are higher than in most U.S. towns; property crime is the closer of the two to typical. Its violent rate (2.8) is below the FBI’s national estimate (3.6) but higher than in most individual towns: the national figure is weighted by people, and the grade counts towns. Its property rate (12.8) is below the FBI’s national estimate (17.6) but higher than in most individual towns: the national figure is weighted by people, and the grade counts towns.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Bellwood property | Rest of Illinois property | Bellwood violent | Rest of Illinois violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 17.1 | 20.5 | 3.6 | 3.7 |
| 2023 | 16.0 | 19.5 | 2.8 | 3.4 |
| 2024 | 12.0 | 19.9 | 3.1 | 3.2 |
| 2025 | 10.3 | 17.1 | 2.6 | 2.7 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings. Per 1,000 residents, 2022–2025, against the rest of Illinois.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Bellwood | Rest of Illinois | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 3.6 | 3.7 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 2.8 | 3.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 3.1 | 3.2 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 2.6 | 2.7 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Bellwood’s police reported 150 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 2.8 per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.1 in the rest of Illinois and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Bellwood per 1,000 residents
Violent crime per 1,000 residents, 2025
Property crime per 1,000 residents, 2025
Crimes reported to police in 2025 per resident; one person can be the victim of more than one, and some reports involve visitors.
And about 3 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
232 crimes reported in 2025
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
47 violent and 185 property, as reported to the FBI by Bellwood’s police.
Five people died in crashes on Bellwood’s roads in 2019–2023
Bellwood had 5 fatal crashes in five years, in which five people died; 3 were pedestrians.
That is about what is typical for Illinois towns of 5,000–25,000 people: at their median rate (6.8 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Bellwood’s size would see about 6 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Bellwood’s own rate (5.5) is context, not a ranking.
Deaths are counted where the crash happened, not where the people lived: a highway through town adds through-traffic deaths, and residents’ own risk on roads elsewhere isn’t here. Town rates sit below state and U.S. rates because a third of fatal crashes happen outside any town. Road safety is described here and is not part of the Safety Grade. Source: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2019–2023.
Bellwood and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bellwood | C+ | 2.8 | 12.8 |
| Hillside | C | 2.3 | 19.7 |
| Berkeley | B+ | 1.4 | 6.4 |
| Maywood | — | — | — |
| Melrose Park | C | 2.7 | 15.3 |
| Westchester | A | 0.4 | 4.0 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Maywood has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025.
Illinois towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bellwood | C+ | 2.8 | 12.8 |
| Cary | A | 0.5 | 4.1 |
| Palos Hills | A− | 0.5 | 5.8 |
| Franklin Park | B− | 1.5 | 12.5 |
| Jacksonville | C | 2.6 | 19.8 |
| Alsip | C− | 3.0 | 29.0 |
The five graded Illinois towns closest to Bellwood’s population (18,116), by grade.
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- It’s reported crime. Only incidents reported to and recorded by police appear here. Many crimes are never reported to police.
- One number for all of Bellwood. A town-wide rate doesn’t show where incidents happen, and that can differ a lot from one part of town to another.
- Visitors count too. Incidents involving people who work, shop or visit are counted against Bellwood’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (17,990 in 2025); our figure for Bellwood is 18,116 (2025 Census estimate).
- Gaps are real gaps. A missing year means the department didn’t report a full year, not that nothing happened.
How the grade is calculated, for every town: How TownRatings grades safety →
Questions about safety in Bellwood
Is Bellwood, IL safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Bellwood reports more crime per resident than 62% of U.S. towns, a C+ Safety Grade and #237 of 339 in Illinois. Its police reported 2.8 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.1 in the rest of Illinois and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Bellwood?
2.8 violent and 12.8 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Illinois reports 3.1 and 18.8; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is Bellwood safer than Hillside?
Hillside reports more crime per resident than Bellwood: Hillside grades C for safety and Bellwood C+. Hillside’s police reported 2.3 violent and 19.7 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Bellwood?
Bellwood’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Bellwood”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Bellwood.
Crime: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program, Crime Data Explorer: offenses known to law enforcement by city, 2025, and state and national rates. Counts are crimes reported to police, not convictions. The Safety Grade is our own summary of that data, not an official rating. Road deaths: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2019–2023. This isn’t an official statement of public safety. In an emergency, call 911.