Photo: Village of Oak Lawn · CC BY 2.0Oak Lawn has more property crime per resident than 66% of U.S. towns
The rate the grade counts dropped 14% from 2023 to 2025. Annual rates stand at 1.3 violent crimes and 15.6 incidents of property crime for every thousand residents, next to 3.1 and 18.8 in the rest of Illinois. Overall, Oak Lawn grades B− for safety (#214 of 339 graded towns in Illinois): close to the middle of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported in 2023–2025. None of the 4 towns next door with figures records less crime per resident.
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 Oak Lawn
Oak Lawn reports less crime than every graded town next door
Of the 8 Illinois towns on Oak Lawn’s borders, 4 have a Safety Grade: Chicago Ridge (C), Burbank (C), Alsip (C−), Chicago (D). Bridgeview, Worth Township and Stickney Township have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025. Hometown reported to the FBI for 2023 and 2024 but not 2025. Neighbors ↓
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 Oak Lawn’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Violent crime holds Oak Lawn’s grade up; property crime pulls it down. Its property rate (15.6) 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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Oak Lawn | Rest of Illinois | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1.2 | 3.8 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 1.4 | 3.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.8 | 3.2 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.7 | 2.7 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Oak Lawn’s police reported 216 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 1.3 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 per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Oak Lawn property | Rest of Illinois property | Oak Lawn violent | Rest of Illinois violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 15.3 | 20.6 | 1.2 | 3.8 |
| 2023 | 15.6 | 19.6 | 1.4 | 3.4 |
| 2024 | 17.3 | 19.9 | 1.8 | 3.2 |
| 2025 | 13.9 | 17.1 | 0.7 | 2.7 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
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.
Crime in Oak Lawn 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 1 violent crime, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
820 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.
41 violent and 779 property, as reported to the FBI by Oak Lawn’s police.
15 people died in crashes on Oak Lawn’s roads in 2019–2023
Oak Lawn had 15 fatal crashes in five years, in which 15 people died; 6 were pedestrians and 2 were cyclists.
That is 5.3 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, about the same as 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.
Oak Lawn and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oak Lawn | B− | 1.3 | 15.6 |
| Chicago Ridge | C | 2.2 | 17.3 |
| Alsip | C− | 3.0 | 29.0 |
| Bridgeview | — | — | — |
| Worth Township | — | — | — |
| Hometown | — | — | — |
| Chicago | D | 5.2 | 32.8 |
| Stickney Township | — | — | — |
| Burbank | C | 2.0 | 18.2 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Bridgeview, Worth Township and Stickney Township have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025. Hometown reported to the FBI for 2023 and 2024 but not 2025.
Illinois towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oak Lawn | B− | 1.3 | 15.6 |
| Orland Park | B+ | 0.2 | 10.1 |
| Berwyn | B+ | 1.0 | 7.8 |
| Mount Prospect | B+ | 0.8 | 8.9 |
| Des Plaines | B | 1.2 | 9.2 |
| Tinley Park | B | 1.0 | 11.6 |
The five graded Illinois towns closest to Oak Lawn’s population (56,450), 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 Oak Lawn. 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 Oak Lawn’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (56,136 in 2025); our figure for Oak Lawn is 56,450 (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 Oak Lawn
Is Oak Lawn, IL safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Oak Lawn reports more crime per resident than 55% of U.S. towns, a B− Safety Grade and #214 of 339 in Illinois. Its police reported 1.3 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 Oak Lawn?
1.3 violent and 15.6 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.
How many homicides were there in Oak Lawn in 2025?
Oak Lawn’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 Oak Lawn safer than Chicago Ridge?
Chicago Ridge reports more crime per resident than Oak Lawn: Chicago Ridge grades C for safety and Oak Lawn B−. Chicago Ridge’s police reported 2.2 violent and 17.3 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Oak Lawn?
Oak Lawn’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Oak Lawn”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Oak Lawn.
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.