Photo: Cosmo1976 · Public domainFor violent crime, Crystal Lake beats 67% of U.S. towns per resident
Each of the 4 towns on its borders with figures records less crime per resident. Crystal Lake’s overall Safety Grade is B (#186 of 339 graded towns in Illinois): close to the middle of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025. What’s more, the local count comes to 1.0 violent crime and 10.8 incidents of property crime per 1,000 people each year, with 3.1 and 18.8 in the rest of Illinois.
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 Crystal Lake
4 of the 4 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 6 Illinois towns on Crystal Lake’s borders, 4 have a Safety Grade: Lakewood (A+), Lake in the Hills (A), Cary (A), Prairie Grove (B+). Dorr Township and Grafton Township have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025. Neighbors ↓
Among Illinois towns, closer to the middle
Illinois’ cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Crystal Lake’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 45% of the 339 Illinois towns we grade, against 59% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
A college town
Crystal Lake is home to McHenry County College, with 7,985 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 5% of residents are enrolled in college (Census). Students who live in town count as residents, so they are part of the per-resident rate. How to read it ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Crystal Lake’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 lower than in most U.S. towns; violent crime is the stronger of the two.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Crystal Lake | Rest of Illinois | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 0.9 | 3.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.0 | 3.2 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 1.1 | 2.7 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Crystal Lake’s police reported 127 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 1.0 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 Crystal Lake 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 1 violent crime, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
Reported crime is steady
Show as a table
| Year | Crystal Lake property | Rest of Illinois property | Crystal Lake violent | Rest of Illinois violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 10.5 | 19.6 | 0.9 | 3.4 |
| 2024 | 11.0 | 19.9 | 1.0 | 3.2 |
| 2025 | 10.9 | 17.1 | 1.1 | 2.7 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings. Per 1,000 residents, 2023–2025, against the rest of Illinois.
501 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.
46 violent and 455 property, as reported to the FBI by Crystal Lake’s police.
Six people died in crashes on Crystal Lake’s roads in 2019–2023
Crystal Lake had 6 fatal crashes in five years, in which six people died.
That is about what is typical for Illinois towns of 25,000–100,000 people: at their median rate (5.1 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Crystal Lake’s size would see about 10 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Crystal Lake’s own rate (3.0) 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.
Crystal Lake and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crystal Lake | B | 1.0 | 10.8 |
| Lake in the Hills | A | 0.6 | 3.2 |
| Prairie Grove | B+ | 1.2 | 6.7 |
| Lakewood | A+ | 0.2 | 2.3 |
| Cary | A | 0.5 | 4.1 |
| Dorr Township | — | — | — |
| Grafton Township | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Dorr Township and Grafton Township have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025.
Illinois towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crystal Lake | B | 1.0 | 10.8 |
| Bartlett | A | 0.4 | 3.4 |
| Buffalo Grove | A− | 0.3 | 6.1 |
| Romeoville | B | 1.4 | 9.5 |
| DeKalb | C− | 3.6 | 24.0 |
| Moline | D | 4.1 | 31.3 |
The five graded Illinois towns closest to Crystal Lake’s population (42,288), 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 Crystal Lake. 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 Crystal Lake’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (41,838 in 2025); our figure for Crystal Lake is 42,288 (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 Crystal Lake
Is Crystal Lake, IL safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Crystal Lake reports less crime per resident than 59% of U.S. towns, a B Safety Grade and #186 of 339 in Illinois. Its police reported 1.0 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 Crystal Lake?
1.0 violent and 10.8 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.
How many homicides were there in Crystal Lake in 2025?
Crystal Lake’s police reported 0 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 0.0 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is Crystal Lake safer than Lake in the Hills?
Lake in the Hills reports less crime per resident than Crystal Lake: Lake in the Hills grades A for safety and Crystal Lake B. Lake in the Hills’s police reported 0.6 violent and 3.2 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Crystal Lake?
Crystal Lake’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Crystal Lake”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Crystal Lake.
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.