Photo: Dennisyerger84 · CC BY-SA 3.0Chicago Heights sees more crime per resident than 98% of U.S. towns
All 6 towns next door with figures record less crime per resident. Per 1,000 residents a year, 12.6 violent crimes and 29.2 incidents of property crime were recorded, against 3.1 and 18.8 in the rest of Illinois. Counting crimes Chicago Heights’ police reported from 2023 to 2025, it grades D− for safety: #336 of 339 graded towns in Illinois. Still, the graded rate fell 22% from 2023 to 2025.
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 Chicago Heights
6 of the 6 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 6 Illinois towns on Chicago Heights’ borders, 6 have a Safety Grade: Park Forest (C+), Glenwood (C), Flossmoor (C), Steger (C), South Chicago Heights (C−), Olympia Fields (D). 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 Chicago Heights’ 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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Chicago Heights | Rest of Illinois | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 19.0 | 3.7 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 17.4 | 3.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 12.3 | 3.2 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 8.0 | 2.7 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Chicago Heights’ police reported 981 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 12.6 per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.1 in the rest of Illinois and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Chicago Heights property | Rest of Illinois property | Chicago Heights violent | Rest of Illinois violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 26.7 | 20.5 | 19.0 | 3.7 |
| 2023 | 30.6 | 19.5 | 17.4 | 3.4 |
| 2024 | 27.3 | 19.8 | 12.3 | 3.2 |
| 2025 | 29.6 | 17.1 | 8.0 | 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.
Crime in Chicago Heights 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 8 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
990 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.
211 violent and 779 property, as reported to the FBI by Chicago Heights’ police.
15 people died in crashes on Chicago Heights’s roads in 2019–2023
Chicago Heights had 15 fatal crashes in five years, in which 15 people died; 6 were pedestrians and 2 were cyclists.
That is 11.2 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for Illinois towns of 25,000–100,000 people (5.1, 150 towns).
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.
Chicago Heights and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago Heights | D− | 12.6 | 29.2 |
| Glenwood | C | 2.7 | 16.1 |
| Flossmoor | C | 0.8 | 25.1 |
| Olympia Fields | D | 1.9 | 43.7 |
| South Chicago Heights | C− | 3.4 | 26.6 |
| Park Forest | C+ | 2.9 | 13.6 |
| Steger | C | 3.0 | 18.2 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Illinois towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago Heights | D− | 12.6 | 29.2 |
| Oak Forest | A− | 0.6 | 4.6 |
| Edwardsville | A− | 0.3 | 6.1 |
| Yorkville | A− | 0.8 | 4.7 |
| Batavia | B+ | 0.7 | 8.4 |
| Granite City | D | 6.5 | 24.3 |
The five graded Illinois towns closest to Chicago Heights’ population (26,508), 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 Chicago Heights. 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 Chicago Heights’ residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (26,329 in 2025); our figure for Chicago Heights is 26,508 (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 Chicago Heights
Is Chicago Heights, IL safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Chicago Heights reports more crime per resident than 98% of U.S. towns, a D− Safety Grade and #336 of 339 in Illinois. Its police reported 12.6 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 Chicago Heights?
12.6 violent and 29.2 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.
How many homicides were there in Chicago Heights in 2025?
Chicago Heights’s police reported 4 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 15.2 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is Chicago Heights safer than Glenwood?
Glenwood reports less crime per resident than Chicago Heights: Glenwood grades C for safety and Chicago Heights D−. Glenwood’s police reported 2.7 violent and 16.1 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Chicago Heights?
Chicago Heights’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Chicago Heights”. 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 Chicago Heights.
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.