Per resident, East Alton records more violent crime than 80% of U.S. towns
Recorded violent crimes ran at 3.7 per 1,000 residents a year and property crime at 13.3, against 3.1 and 18.8 in the rest of Illinois. Overall, it grades C for safety (#265 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 East Alton
1 of the 2 graded towns next door reports less crime
Of the 4 Illinois towns on East Alton’s borders, 2 have a Safety Grade: Wood River (C), Alton (D). Wood River Township has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025. Rosewood Heights is an unincorporated community (a census-designated place) with no police department of its own. Neighbors ↓
A job center
East Alton has 3,389 jobs based in town for 5,621 residents (Census LEHD), so some reports involve people who work or shop there rather than residents. How to read it ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind East Alton’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 property rate (13.3) 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.
Crime in East Alton 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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | East Alton | Rest of Illinois | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 3.4 | 3.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 4.5 | 3.2 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 3.4 | 2.7 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
East Alton’s police reported 63 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 3.7 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 is steady
Show as a table
| Year | East Alton property | Rest of Illinois property | East Alton violent | Rest of Illinois violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 10.6 | 19.5 | 3.4 | 3.4 |
| 2024 | 16.1 | 19.8 | 4.5 | 3.2 |
| 2025 | 13.1 | 17.1 | 3.4 | 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.
92 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.
19 violent and 73 property, as reported to the FBI by East Alton’s police.
One person died in crashes on East Alton’s roads in 2019–2023
East Alton had 1 fatal crash in five years, in which one person died.
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 East Alton’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so East Alton’s own rate (3.5) 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.
East Alton and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| East Alton | C | 3.7 | 13.3 |
| Alton | D | 9.1 | 29.4 |
| Wood River Township | — | — | — |
| Rosewood Heights | — | — | — |
| Wood River | C | 2.2 | 17.2 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Wood River Township has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025. Rosewood Heights is an unincorporated community (a census-designated place) with no police department of its own.
Illinois towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| East Alton | C | 3.7 | 13.3 |
| Wonder Lake | A | 0.3 | 4.0 |
| Northfield | A− | 0.2 | 8.3 |
| Lake Bluff | B+ | 0.3 | 9.1 |
| Du Quoin | B+ | 1.8 | 5.1 |
| Wilmington | B− | 2.2 | 8.4 |
The five graded Illinois towns closest to East Alton’s population (5,621), 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 East Alton. 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 East Alton’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (5,585 in 2025); our figure for East Alton is 5,621 (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 East Alton
Is East Alton, IL safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, East Alton reports more crime per resident than 70% of U.S. towns, a C Safety Grade and #265 of 339 in Illinois. Its police reported 3.7 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 East Alton?
3.7 violent and 13.3 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 East Alton safer than Alton?
Alton reports more crime per resident than East Alton: Alton grades D for safety and East Alton C. Alton’s police reported 9.1 violent and 29.4 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices East Alton?
East Alton’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “East Alton”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Neighbors looking out for each other in East Alton.
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.