Photo: Teemu08 · CC BY-SA 3.0Lake Bluff reports less crime per resident than 74% of U.S. towns
On crimes reported to the FBI by Lake Bluff’s police in 2023–2025, it grades B+ for safety: #119 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 Lake Bluff
1 of the 2 graded towns next door reports less crime
Of the 5 Illinois towns on Lake Bluff’s borders, 2 have a Safety Grade: Lake Forest (A−), North Chicago (B). Shields Township and Libertyville Township have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025. Knollwood is an unincorporated community (a census-designated place) with no police department of its own. Neighbors ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Lake Bluff’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
Lake Bluff’s police reported 5 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.3 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 | Lake Bluff | Rest of Illinois | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 0.0 | 3.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.4 | 3.2 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.5 | 2.7 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
For every 1,000 residents, about 11 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.
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 | Lake Bluff property | Rest of Illinois property | Lake Bluff violent | Rest of Illinois violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 8.3 | 19.5 | 0.0 | 3.4 |
| 2024 | 8.3 | 19.8 | 0.4 | 3.2 |
| 2025 | 10.5 | 17.1 | 0.5 | 2.7 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
62 crimes reported in 2025
3 violent and 59 property, as reported to the FBI by Lake Bluff’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
No one died in a crash on Lake Bluff’s roads in 2019–2023
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 Lake Bluff’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Lake Bluff’s own rate (0.0) 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.
Lake Bluff and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lake Bluff | B+ | 0.3 | 9.1 |
| Shields Township | — | — | — |
| Knollwood | — | — | — |
| North Chicago | B | 1.8 | 6.3 |
| Lake Forest | A− | 0.3 | 5.9 |
| Libertyville Township | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Shields Township and Libertyville Township have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025. Knollwood 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lake Bluff | B+ | 0.3 | 9.1 |
| Spring Grove | A | 0.3 | 3.5 |
| Wonder Lake | A | 0.3 | 4.0 |
| Du Quoin | B+ | 1.8 | 5.1 |
| Wilmington | B− | 2.2 | 8.4 |
| East Alton | C | 3.7 | 13.3 |
The five graded Illinois towns closest to Lake Bluff’s population (5,563), 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 Lake Bluff. 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 Lake Bluff’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (5,598 in 2025); our figure for Lake Bluff is 5,563 (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 Lake Bluff
Is Lake Bluff, IL safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Lake Bluff reports less crime per resident than 74% of U.S. towns, a B+ Safety Grade and #119 of 339 in Illinois. Its police reported 0.3 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 Lake Bluff?
0.3 violent and 9.1 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 Lake Bluff?
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings.
Is Lake Bluff safer than North Chicago?
North Chicago reports more crime per resident than Lake Bluff: North Chicago grades B for safety and Lake Bluff B+. North Chicago’s police reported 1.8 violent and 6.3 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Lake Bluff?
Lake Bluff’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Lake Bluff”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Lake Bluff.
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.