Photo: SounderBruce · CC BY-SA 4.0Elgin sits close to the middle of U.S. towns for reported crime
Overall, Elgin grades B− for safety (#205 of 339 graded towns in Illinois, and #33 of 325 U.S. cities over 100,000): close to the middle of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported to the FBI in 2023–2025.
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 Elgin
6 of the 6 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 8 Illinois towns on Elgin’s borders, 6 have a Safety Grade: Campton Hills (A+), Pingree Grove (A+), Gilberts (A+), Bartlett (A), South Elgin (B+), West Dundee (B). Dundee Township and Plato Township have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025. Neighbors ↓
Homicides: below U.S. cities overall
Elgin’s police reported 1 homicides to the FBI in 2025. Over 2023–2025 that is 3.5 per 100,000 residents a year, below the rest of Illinois (6.5) and below all U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables (5.7). Violent crime ↓
Robberies: below the rest of Illinois
24.4 robberies per 100,000 residents a year over 2023–2025 (24 reported in 2025), below the rest of Illinois (109) and below all U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables (79.4). Violent crime ↓
Against other big cities
Among the 325 U.S. cities over 100,000 we grade, Elgin reports less crime per resident than 90% (#33). Places like it ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Elgin’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Property crime holds Elgin’s grade up; violent crime pulls it down. Its violent rate (2.4) 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.
Homicides and robberies
Elgin’s police reported 1 homicides, 24 robberies and 249 violent crimes in all to the FBI in 2025. By year, against the rest of Illinois and all U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables.
Show as a table
| Year | Elgin | Rest of Illinois | U.S. cities (FBI tables) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2.7 | 10.6 | 7.7 |
| 2023 | 5.3 | 7.7 | 6.8 |
| 2024 | 4.4 | 6.8 | 5.7 |
| 2025 | 0.9 | 5.1 | 4.6 |
Homicides per 100,000 residents
Show as a table
| Year | Elgin | Rest of Illinois | U.S. cities (FBI tables) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 27.4 | 143 | 95.5 |
| 2023 | 21.3 | 140 | 90.6 |
| 2024 | 31.0 | 114 | 81.9 |
| 2025 | 20.9 | 74.8 | 66.0 |
Robberies per 100,000 residents
For every 1,000 residents, about 9 property crimes reported
And about 2 violent crimes, 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.
Reported crime is steady
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings. Per 1,000 residents, 2022–2025, against the rest of Illinois.
Show as a table
| Year | Elgin property | Rest of Illinois property | Elgin violent | Rest of Illinois violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 7.5 | 20.7 | 1.9 | 3.8 |
| 2023 | 8.8 | 19.7 | 2.2 | 3.4 |
| 2024 | 11.0 | 19.9 | 2.7 | 3.2 |
| 2025 | 9.2 | 17.2 | 2.2 | 2.7 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
1,301 crimes reported in 2025
249 violent and 1,052 property, as reported to the FBI by Elgin’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
25 people died in crashes on Elgin’s roads in 2019–2023
Elgin had 23 fatal crashes in five years, in which 25 people died; 5 were pedestrians and 3 were cyclists.
That is 4.4 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, below the median for Illinois towns of 100,000+ people (6.1, 28 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.
Elgin and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elgin | B− | 2.4 | 9.7 |
| Campton Hills | A+ | 0.0 | 0.4 |
| West Dundee | B | 1.2 | 9.1 |
| Bartlett | A | 0.4 | 3.4 |
| Pingree Grove | A+ | 0.2 | 1.3 |
| South Elgin | B+ | 1.5 | 6.1 |
| Dundee Township | — | — | — |
| Gilberts | A+ | 0.2 | 1.8 |
| Plato Township | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Dundee Township and Plato Township have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025.
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 Elgin. 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 Elgin’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (114,717 in 2025); our figure for Elgin is 115,476 (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 Elgin
Is Elgin, IL safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Elgin reports more crime per resident than 51% of U.S. towns, a B− Safety Grade and #205 of 339 in Illinois. Its police reported 2.4 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 Elgin?
2.4 violent and 9.7 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 Elgin?
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings.
How many homicides were there in Elgin in 2025?
Elgin’s police reported 1 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 0.9 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is Elgin safer than Campton Hills?
Campton Hills reports less crime per resident than Elgin: Campton Hills grades A+ for safety and Elgin B−. Campton Hills’s police reported 0.0 violent and 0.4 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Elgin?
Elgin’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Elgin”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Elgin.
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.