Photo: 6th Happiness · CC BY-SA 3.0Hillside reports more crime per resident than 70% of U.S. towns
On crimes reported to the FBI by Hillside’s police in 2023–2025, 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 Hillside
3 of the 3 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 3 Illinois towns on Hillside’s borders, 3 have a Safety Grade: Westchester (A), Berkeley (B+), Bellwood (C+). Neighbors ↓
A job center
Hillside has 6,967 jobs based in town for 8,140 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 Hillside’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; violent crime is the closer of the two to typical. Its violent rate (2.3) 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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Hillside’s police reported 54 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 2.3 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 | Hillside | Rest of Illinois | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 2.3 | 3.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 2.6 | 3.2 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 2.0 | 2.7 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
For every 1,000 residents, about 21 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, 2023–2025, against the rest of Illinois.
Show as a table
| Year | Hillside property | Rest of Illinois property | Hillside violent | Rest of Illinois violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 19.6 | 19.5 | 2.3 | 3.4 |
| 2024 | 19.2 | 19.8 | 2.6 | 3.2 |
| 2025 | 20.5 | 17.1 | 2.0 | 2.7 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
179 crimes reported in 2025
16 violent and 163 property, as reported to the FBI by Hillside’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
11 people died in crashes on Hillside’s roads in 2019–2023
Hillside had 9 fatal crashes in five years, in which 11 people died; 1 was a pedestrian. Most of these deaths (8 of 11) were on an Interstate passing through, so they say more about through-traffic than about the town’s own streets.
That is 27.2 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for Illinois towns of 5,000–25,000 people (6.8, 412 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.
Hillside and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hillside | C | 2.3 | 19.7 |
| Bellwood | C+ | 2.8 | 12.8 |
| Berkeley | B+ | 1.4 | 6.4 |
| Westchester | A | 0.4 | 4.0 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Illinois towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hillside | C | 2.3 | 19.7 |
| Island Lake | A | 0.4 | 4.5 |
| South Beloit | B− | 2.4 | 10.9 |
| Paris | C− | 5.2 | 14.4 |
| Silvis | D | 2.4 | 34.1 |
| Oak Brook | D− | 0.7 | 63.7 |
The five graded Illinois towns closest to Hillside’s population (8,140), 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 Hillside. 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 Hillside’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (7,970 in 2025); our figure for Hillside is 8,140 (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 Hillside
Is Hillside, IL safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Hillside reports more crime per resident than 70% of U.S. towns, a C Safety Grade and #265 of 339 in Illinois. Its police reported 2.3 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 Hillside?
2.3 violent and 19.7 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Illinois reports 3.1 and 18.8; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is crime going up or down in Hillside?
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings.
Is Hillside safer than Bellwood?
Bellwood reports less crime per resident than Hillside: Bellwood grades C+ for safety and Hillside C. Bellwood’s police reported 2.8 violent and 12.8 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Hillside?
Hillside’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Hillside”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Hillside.
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.