Photo: AlphaBeta135 · CC BY 4.0Property crime per resident is lower in South Elgin than in 73% of U.S. towns
On the record of crimes South Elgin’s police reported from 2023 to 2025, it takes B+ for safety: #147 of 339 graded towns in Illinois. Year on year, 1.5 violent crimes and 6.1 incidents of property crime occur per 1,000 residents, compared with 3.1 and 18.8 in the rest of Illinois. Add to that, of the 2 towns on its borders with figures, one 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 South Elgin
1 of the 2 graded towns next door reports less crime
Of the 3 Illinois towns on South Elgin’s borders, 2 have a Safety Grade: Bartlett (A), Elgin (B−). St. Charles Township has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025. Neighbors ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind South Elgin’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; property crime is the stronger of the two.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | South Elgin | Rest of Illinois | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1.0 | 3.8 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 1.2 | 3.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.9 | 3.2 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 1.2 | 2.7 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
South Elgin’s police reported 107 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 1.5 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 South Elgin 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 | South Elgin property | Rest of Illinois property | South Elgin violent | Rest of Illinois violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 5.1 | 20.6 | 1.0 | 3.8 |
| 2023 | 6.2 | 19.6 | 1.2 | 3.4 |
| 2024 | 6.7 | 19.9 | 1.9 | 3.2 |
| 2025 | 5.4 | 17.1 | 1.2 | 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.
168 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.
31 violent and 137 property, as reported to the FBI by South Elgin’s police.
Four people died in crashes on South Elgin’s roads in 2019–2023
South Elgin had 4 fatal crashes in five years, in which four people died.
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 South Elgin’s size would see about 8 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so South Elgin’s own rate (3.3) 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.
South Elgin and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Elgin | B+ | 1.5 | 6.1 |
| Elgin | B− | 2.4 | 9.7 |
| Bartlett | A | 0.4 | 3.4 |
| St. Charles Township | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. St. Charles Township has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025.
Illinois towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Elgin | B+ | 1.5 | 6.1 |
| Edwardsville | A− | 0.3 | 6.1 |
| Woodstock | A− | 0.7 | 5.5 |
| Belvidere | B+ | 1.8 | 4.8 |
| West Chicago | B+ | 1.5 | 6.2 |
| Alton | D | 9.1 | 29.4 |
The five graded Illinois towns closest to South Elgin’s population (25,656), 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 South Elgin. 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 South Elgin’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (25,198 in 2025); our figure for South Elgin is 25,656 (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 South Elgin
Is South Elgin, IL safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, South Elgin reports less crime per resident than 68% of U.S. towns, a B+ Safety Grade and #147 of 339 in Illinois. Its police reported 1.5 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 South Elgin?
1.5 violent and 6.1 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.
How many homicides were there in South Elgin in 2025?
South Elgin’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 South Elgin safer than Elgin?
Elgin reports more crime per resident than South Elgin: Elgin grades B− for safety and South Elgin B+. Elgin’s police reported 2.4 violent and 9.7 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices South Elgin?
South Elgin’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “South Elgin”. 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 South Elgin.
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.