Photo: Captainandy1310 · CC BY-SA 4.0Westchester has less crime per resident than nine in ten U.S. towns
Violent crime here is lower than in 88% of U.S. towns; property crime, lower than in 85%. Add to that, it grades A for safety on crimes Westchester’s police reported from 2023 to 2025: #39 of 339 graded towns in Illinois. Recorded violent crime ran at 0.4 per 1,000 residents a year and property crime at 4.0, 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 Westchester
Westchester reports less crime than every graded town next door
Of the 3 Illinois towns on Westchester’s borders, 2 have a Safety Grade: Bellwood (C+), Hillside (C). Broadview has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025. Neighbors ↓
A job center
Westchester has 10,275 jobs based in town for 16,300 residents (Census LEHD), so some reports involve people who work or shop there rather than residents. How to read it ↓
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 Westchester’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.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Westchester property | Rest of Illinois property | Westchester violent | Rest of Illinois violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 5.0 | 19.6 | 0.6 | 3.4 |
| 2024 | 6.2 | 19.9 | 0.6 | 3.2 |
| 2025 | 0.8 | 17.1 | 0.1 | 2.7 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings. Per 1,000 residents, 2023–2025, against the rest of Illinois.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Westchester | Rest of Illinois | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 0.6 | 3.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.6 | 3.2 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.1 | 2.7 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Westchester’s police reported 20 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.4 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 Westchester 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 fewer than 1 violent crime, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
14 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.
1 violent and 13 property, as reported to the FBI by Westchester’s police.
Two people died in crashes on Westchester’s roads in 2019–2023
Westchester had 2 fatal crashes in five years, in which two people died; 1 was a pedestrian. Most of these deaths (1 of 2) were on an Interstate passing through, so they say more about through-traffic than about the town’s own streets.
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 Westchester’s size would see about 6 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Westchester’s own rate (2.4) 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.
Westchester and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Westchester | A | 0.4 | 4.0 |
| Hillside | C | 2.3 | 19.7 |
| Bellwood | C+ | 2.8 | 12.8 |
| Broadview | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Broadview has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025.
Illinois towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Westchester | A | 0.4 | 4.0 |
| La Grange | B | 1.4 | 7.9 |
| Washington | B− | 1.1 | 14.7 |
| Mattoon | C | 4.5 | 10.9 |
| Country Club Hills | C− | 3.8 | 23.8 |
| Fairview Heights | D | 3.8 | 30.5 |
The five graded Illinois towns closest to Westchester’s population (16,300), 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 Westchester. 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 Westchester’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (16,187 in 2025); our figure for Westchester is 16,300 (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 Westchester
Is Westchester, IL safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Westchester reports less crime per resident than 90% of U.S. towns, an A Safety Grade and #39 of 339 in Illinois. Its police reported 0.4 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 Westchester?
0.4 violent and 4.0 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 Westchester safer than Hillside?
Hillside reports more crime per resident than Westchester: Hillside grades C for safety and Westchester A. Hillside’s police reported 2.3 violent and 19.7 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Westchester?
Westchester’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Westchester”. 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 Westchester.
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.