Elmwood Cemetery Gates · Photo: Andy McMurray · CC BY 2.5Reported crime per resident in Sycamore fell 26% from 2023 to 2025
Overall, Sycamore grades B+ for safety (#168 of 339 graded towns in Illinois): less crime per resident than 65% of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported to the FBI in 2023–2025.
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 Sycamore
Sycamore reports less crime than every graded town next door
Of the 2 Illinois towns on Sycamore’s borders, 1 have a Safety Grade: DeKalb (C−). Sycamore Township has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025. Neighbors ↓
Among Illinois towns, closer to the middle
Illinois’ cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Sycamore’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 50% of the 339 Illinois towns we grade, against 65% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
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 Sycamore’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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Sycamore’s police reported 48 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.9 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 | Sycamore | Rest of Illinois | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1.5 | 3.7 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 1.7 | 3.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.4 | 3.2 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.5 | 2.7 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
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 | Sycamore property | Rest of Illinois property | Sycamore violent | Rest of Illinois violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 11.8 | 20.5 | 1.5 | 3.7 |
| 2023 | 10.2 | 19.6 | 1.7 | 3.4 |
| 2024 | 10.1 | 19.9 | 0.4 | 3.2 |
| 2025 | 8.2 | 17.1 | 0.5 | 2.7 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
For every 1,000 residents, about 8 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.
166 crimes reported in 2025
9 violent and 157 property, as reported to the FBI by Sycamore’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 Sycamore’s roads in 2019–2023
Sycamore had 3 fatal crashes in five years, in which three 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 Sycamore’s size would see about 6 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Sycamore’s own rate (3.2) 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.
Sycamore and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sycamore | B+ | 0.9 | 9.5 |
| DeKalb | C− | 3.6 | 24.0 |
| Sycamore Township | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Sycamore Township has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025.
Illinois towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sycamore | B+ | 0.9 | 9.5 |
| Brookfield | A | 0.6 | 4.0 |
| Deerfield | A− | 0.3 | 7.3 |
| Ottawa | C+ | 2.4 | 14.0 |
| Homewood | C | 1.8 | 23.7 |
| Evergreen Park | D | 1.5 | 57.4 |
The five graded Illinois towns closest to Sycamore’s population (19,083), 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 Sycamore. 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 Sycamore’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (19,042 in 2025); our figure for Sycamore is 19,083 (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 Sycamore
Is Sycamore, IL safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Sycamore reports less crime per resident than 65% of U.S. towns, a B+ Safety Grade and #168 of 339 in Illinois. Its police reported 0.9 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 Sycamore?
0.9 violent and 9.5 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 Sycamore?
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings.
Is Sycamore safer than DeKalb?
DeKalb reports more crime per resident than Sycamore: DeKalb grades C− for safety and Sycamore B+. DeKalb’s police reported 3.6 violent and 24.0 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Sycamore?
Sycamore’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Sycamore”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Sycamore.
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.