Photo: Teemu08 at en.wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0West Chicago sees less property crime per resident than 73% of U.S. towns
The crimes the grade counts held steady per resident from 2023 to 2025. Counting crimes West Chicago’s police reported from 2023 to 2025, it grades B+ for safety: #147 of 339 graded towns in Illinois. Out of every 1,000 residents, 1.5 violent crimes and 6.2 incidents of property crime are reported annually, 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 West Chicago
1 of the 2 graded towns next door reports less crime
Of the 6 Illinois towns on West Chicago’s borders, 2 have a Safety Grade: Batavia (B+), St. Charles (B). Wayne reported to the FBI for 2023 and 2024 but not 2025. St. Charles Township, Geneva Township and Wayne Township have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025. Neighbors ↓
A job center
West Chicago has 16,644 jobs based in town for 25,296 residents (Census LEHD), so some reports involve people who work or shop there rather than residents. How to read it ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind West Chicago’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 | West Chicago | Rest of Illinois | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 1.2 | 3.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.8 | 3.2 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 1.4 | 2.7 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
West Chicago’s police reported 110 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 West Chicago 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.
How crime in West Chicago has moved
Show as a table
| Year | West Chicago property | Rest of Illinois property | West Chicago violent | Rest of Illinois violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 6.5 | 19.6 | 1.2 | 3.4 |
| 2024 | 6.1 | 19.9 | 1.8 | 3.2 |
| 2025 | 6.0 | 17.1 | 1.4 | 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, 2023–2025, against the rest of Illinois.
188 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.
35 violent and 153 property, as reported to the FBI by West Chicago’s police.
12 people died in crashes on West Chicago’s roads in 2019–2023
West Chicago had 12 fatal crashes in five years, in which 12 people died; 4 were pedestrians and 2 were cyclists.
That is 9.5 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for Illinois towns of 25,000–100,000 people (5.1, 150 towns).
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.
West Chicago and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| West Chicago | B+ | 1.5 | 6.2 |
| St. Charles | B | 0.9 | 10.4 |
| Wayne | — | — | — |
| St. Charles Township | — | — | — |
| Geneva Township | — | — | — |
| Batavia | B+ | 0.7 | 8.4 |
| Wayne Township | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Wayne reported to the FBI for 2023 and 2024 but not 2025. St. Charles Township, Geneva Township and Wayne Township have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025.
Illinois towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| West Chicago | B+ | 1.5 | 6.2 |
| Homer Glen | A+ | 0.2 | 2.7 |
| Woodstock | A− | 0.7 | 5.5 |
| Belvidere | B+ | 1.8 | 4.8 |
| South Elgin | B+ | 1.5 | 6.1 |
| Alton | D | 9.1 | 29.4 |
The five graded Illinois towns closest to West Chicago’s population (25,296), 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 West Chicago. 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 West Chicago’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (25,446 in 2025); our figure for West Chicago is 25,296 (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 West Chicago
Is West Chicago, IL safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, West Chicago 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 West Chicago?
1.5 violent and 6.2 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 West Chicago in 2025?
West Chicago’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 West Chicago safer than St. Charles?
St. Charles reports more crime per resident than West Chicago: St. Charles grades B for safety and West Chicago B+. St. Charles’s police reported 0.9 violent and 10.4 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices West Chicago?
West Chicago’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “West Chicago”. 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 West Chicago.
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.