Photo: Jauerback · CC BY-SA 3.0Oswego reports less crime per resident than 82% of U.S. towns
On crimes reported to the FBI by Oswego’s police in 2023–2025, it grades A− for safety: #71 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 Oswego
Oswego reports less crime than every graded town next door
Of the 4 Illinois towns on Oswego’s borders, 3 have a Safety Grade: Yorkville (A−), Montgomery (B), Aurora (C+). Boulder Hill is an unincorporated community (a census-designated place) with no police department of its own. 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 Oswego’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.
Reported crime is falling
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.
Show as a table
| Year | Oswego property | Rest of Illinois property | Oswego violent | Rest of Illinois violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 5.2 | 20.6 | 0.9 | 3.8 |
| 2023 | 6.4 | 19.6 | 0.7 | 3.4 |
| 2024 | 5.5 | 19.9 | 0.3 | 3.2 |
| 2025 | 4.2 | 17.1 | 0.7 | 2.7 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Violent crime, by year and by type
Oswego’s police reported 68 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.6 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 | Oswego | Rest of Illinois | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 0.9 | 3.8 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 0.7 | 3.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.3 | 3.2 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.7 | 2.7 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
For every 1,000 residents, about 4 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.
196 crimes reported in 2025
28 violent and 168 property, as reported to the FBI by Oswego’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
Three people died in crashes on Oswego’s roads in 2019–2023
Oswego had 3 fatal crashes in five years, in which three people died; 1 was a pedestrian.
That is fewer than is typical for Illinois towns of 25,000–100,000 people: at their median rate (5.1 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Oswego’s size would see about 9 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Oswego’s own rate (1.6) 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.
Oswego and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oswego | A− | 0.6 | 5.3 |
| Boulder Hill | — | — | — |
| Montgomery | B | 1.2 | 9.4 |
| Aurora | C+ | 2.7 | 11.4 |
| Yorkville | A− | 0.8 | 4.7 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Boulder Hill 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oswego | A− | 0.6 | 5.3 |
| Bartlett | A | 0.4 | 3.4 |
| Carol Stream | A− | 0.7 | 7.0 |
| Belleville | C− | 4.8 | 17.2 |
| DeKalb | C− | 3.6 | 24.0 |
| Urbana | D | 4.9 | 25.6 |
The five graded Illinois towns closest to Oswego’s population (39,948), 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 Oswego. 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 Oswego’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (39,860 in 2025); our figure for Oswego is 39,948 (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 Oswego
Is Oswego, IL safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Oswego reports less crime per resident than 82% of U.S. towns, an A− Safety Grade and #71 of 339 in Illinois. Its police reported 0.6 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 Oswego?
0.6 violent and 5.3 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Illinois reports 3.1 and 18.9; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is crime going up or down in Oswego?
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings.
How many homicides were there in Oswego in 2025?
Oswego’s police reported 1 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 2.5 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is Oswego safer than Montgomery?
Montgomery reports more crime per resident than Oswego: Montgomery grades B for safety and Oswego A−. Montgomery’s police reported 1.2 violent and 9.4 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Oswego?
Oswego’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Oswego”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Oswego.
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.