Photo: Randy Escalada · CC BY-SA 2.0Des Plaines reports less crime per resident than 62% of U.S. towns
On crimes reported to the FBI by Des Plaines’ police in 2023–2025, it grades B for safety: #181 of 339 graded towns in 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 Des Plaines
2 of the 5 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 8 Illinois towns on Des Plaines’ borders, 5 have a Safety Grade: Park Ridge (B+), Mount Prospect (B+), Glenview (B−), Chicago (D), Rosemont (D−). Maine Township, Elk Grove Township and Northfield 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 Des Plaines’ place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 47% of the 339 Illinois towns we grade, against 62% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
A job center
Des Plaines has 40,682 jobs based in town for 58,772 residents (Census LEHD), so some reports involve people who work or shop there rather than residents. How to read it ↓
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 Des Plaines’ 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
Des Plaines’ police reported 208 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 1.2 per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.1 in the rest of Illinois and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Show as a table
| Year | Des Plaines | Rest of Illinois | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1.2 | 3.8 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 1.3 | 3.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.2 | 3.2 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 1.1 | 2.7 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Reported crime is falling
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.
Show as a table
| Year | Des Plaines property | Rest of Illinois property | Des Plaines violent | Rest of Illinois violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 12.1 | 20.6 | 1.2 | 3.8 |
| 2023 | 8.6 | 19.6 | 1.3 | 3.4 |
| 2024 | 11.4 | 19.9 | 1.2 | 3.2 |
| 2025 | 7.8 | 17.1 | 1.1 | 2.7 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
For every 1,000 residents, about 8 property crimes reported
And about 1 violent crime, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
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.
515 crimes reported in 2025
62 violent and 453 property, as reported to the FBI by Des Plaines’ police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
21 people died in crashes on Des Plaines’s roads in 2019–2023
Des Plaines had 20 fatal crashes in five years, in which 21 people died; 5 were pedestrians and 1 was a cyclist. 3 died in crashes on an Interstate.
That is 7.1 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.
Des Plaines and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Des Plaines | B | 1.2 | 9.2 |
| Mount Prospect | B+ | 0.8 | 8.9 |
| Maine Township | — | — | — |
| Chicago | D | 5.2 | 32.8 |
| Rosemont | D− | 4.6 | 57.8 |
| Elk Grove Township | — | — | — |
| Park Ridge | B+ | 0.6 | 7.8 |
| Glenview | B− | 1.3 | 12.5 |
| Northfield Township | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Maine Township, Elk Grove Township and Northfield Township have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025.
Illinois towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Des Plaines | B | 1.2 | 9.2 |
| Wheaton | A | 0.4 | 4.9 |
| Orland Park | B+ | 0.2 | 10.1 |
| Berwyn | B+ | 1.0 | 7.8 |
| Tinley Park | B | 1.0 | 11.6 |
| Oak Lawn | B− | 1.3 | 15.6 |
The five graded Illinois towns closest to Des Plaines’ population (58,772), by grade.
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 Des Plaines. A citywide rate doesn’t show where incidents happen, and that can differ a lot from one part of the city to another.
- Visitors count too. Incidents involving people who work, shop or visit are counted against Des Plaines’ residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (58,435 in 2025); our figure for Des Plaines is 58,772 (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 Des Plaines
Is Des Plaines, IL safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Des Plaines reports less crime per resident than 62% of U.S. towns, a B Safety Grade and #181 of 339 in Illinois. Its police reported 1.2 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 Des Plaines?
1.2 violent and 9.2 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Illinois reports 3.1 and 18.9; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is crime going up or down in Des Plaines?
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings.
How many homicides were there in Des Plaines in 2025?
Des Plaines’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 Des Plaines safer than Mount Prospect?
Mount Prospect reports less crime per resident than Des Plaines: Mount Prospect grades B+ for safety and Des Plaines B. Mount Prospect’s police reported 0.8 violent and 8.9 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Des Plaines?
Des Plaines’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Des Plaines”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Des Plaines.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
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.