Photo: Digital Bookmobile · CC BY 2.0Violent crime per resident is lower in Palos Heights than in 83% of U.S. towns
2 of the 3 towns next door with figures record less crime per resident. Overall, it grades B+ for safety (#119 of 339 graded towns in Illinois). Add to that, the yearly rates were 0.5 violent crime and 8.0 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents, set against 3.1 and 18.8 in the rest of 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 Palos Heights
2 of the 3 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 3 Illinois towns on Palos Heights’ borders, 3 have a Safety Grade: Palos Park (A), Palos Hills (A−), Worth (B−). Neighbors ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Palos Heights’ 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
Show as a table
| Year | Palos Heights | Rest of Illinois | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 0.7 | 3.7 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 0.5 | 3.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.6 | 3.2 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.5 | 2.7 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Palos Heights’ police reported 19 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.5 per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.1 in the rest of Illinois and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Palos Heights 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.
Reported crime is steady
Show as a table
| Year | Palos Heights property | Rest of Illinois property | Palos Heights violent | Rest of Illinois violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 8.6 | 20.5 | 0.7 | 3.7 |
| 2023 | 7.1 | 19.6 | 0.5 | 3.4 |
| 2024 | 8.6 | 19.9 | 0.6 | 3.2 |
| 2025 | 8.3 | 17.1 | 0.5 | 2.7 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
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.
106 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.
6 violent and 100 property, as reported to the FBI by Palos Heights’ police.
Five people died in crashes on Palos Heights’s roads in 2019–2023
Palos Heights had 5 fatal crashes in five years, in which five people died; 3 were pedestrians.
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 Palos Heights’s size would see about 4 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Palos Heights’s own rate (8.2) 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.
Palos Heights and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Palos Heights | B+ | 0.5 | 8.0 |
| Palos Park | A | 0.0 | 4.6 |
| Worth | B− | 2.1 | 10.1 |
| Palos Hills | A− | 0.5 | 5.8 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Illinois towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Palos Heights | B+ | 0.5 | 8.0 |
| Troy | A | 0.4 | 4.2 |
| Streator | C+ | 2.0 | 16.1 |
| Herrin | C− | 3.7 | 23.1 |
| Rantoul | C− | 5.6 | 16.4 |
| Centralia | D | 7.0 | 26.0 |
The five graded Illinois towns closest to Palos Heights’ population (12,084), 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 Palos Heights. 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 Palos Heights’ residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (12,007 in 2025); our figure for Palos Heights is 12,084 (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 Palos Heights
Is Palos Heights, IL safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Palos Heights reports less crime per resident than 74% of U.S. towns, a B+ Safety Grade and #119 of 339 in Illinois. Its police reported 0.5 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 Palos Heights?
0.5 violent and 8.0 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 Palos Heights safer than Palos Park?
Palos Park reports less crime per resident than Palos Heights: Palos Park grades A for safety and Palos Heights B+. Palos Park’s police reported 0.0 violent and 4.6 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Palos Heights?
Palos Heights’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Palos Heights”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Palos Heights.
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.