Photo: IvoShandor · CC BY-SA 3.0Ottawa reports more crime per resident than 62% of U.S. towns
On crimes reported to the FBI by Ottawa’s police in 2023–2025, it grades C+ for safety: #237 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’s behind Ottawa’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; property crime is the closer of the two to typical. 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. Its property rate (14.0) 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
Ottawa’s police reported 134 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 2.4 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 | Ottawa | Rest of Illinois | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1.8 | 3.7 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 2.9 | 3.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.9 | 3.2 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 2.5 | 2.7 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
For every 1,000 residents, about 12 property crimes reported
And about 3 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 | Ottawa property | Rest of Illinois property | Ottawa violent | Rest of Illinois violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 7.2 | 20.6 | 1.8 | 3.7 |
| 2023 | 14.9 | 19.5 | 2.9 | 3.4 |
| 2024 | 15.0 | 19.8 | 1.9 | 3.2 |
| 2025 | 12.3 | 17.1 | 2.5 | 2.7 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
277 crimes reported in 2025
46 violent and 231 property, as reported to the FBI by Ottawa’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
Eight people died in crashes on Ottawa’s roads in 2019–2023
Ottawa had 8 fatal crashes in five years, in which eight people died; 1 was a pedestrian.
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 Ottawa’s size would see about 6 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Ottawa’s own rate (8.7) 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.
Ottawa and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ottawa | C+ | 2.4 | 14.0 |
| Ottawa Township | — | — | — |
| Rutland Township | — | — | — |
| Dayton Township | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Ottawa Township, Rutland Township and Dayton Township have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025.
Illinois towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ottawa | C+ | 2.4 | 14.0 |
| Lemont | A− | 0.6 | 5.3 |
| Shorewood | A− | 0.7 | 5.9 |
| Round Lake | A− | 0.7 | 5.8 |
| Bensenville | B | 0.9 | 10.2 |
| Homewood | C | 1.8 | 23.7 |
The five graded Illinois towns closest to Ottawa’s population (18,684), 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 Ottawa. 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 Ottawa’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (18,764 in 2025); our figure for Ottawa is 18,684 (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 Ottawa
Is Ottawa, IL safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Ottawa reports more crime per resident than 62% of U.S. towns, a C+ Safety Grade and #237 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 Ottawa?
2.4 violent and 14.0 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 Ottawa?
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings.
Who polices Ottawa?
Ottawa’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Ottawa”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Ottawa.
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.