Photo: bogdanstepniak · CC BY 3.0Reported crime per resident in Wheeling fell 19% from 2023 to 2025
Overall, Wheeling grades B+ for safety (#158 of 339 graded towns in Illinois): less crime per resident than 67% 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 Wheeling
4 of the 4 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 7 Illinois towns on Wheeling’s borders, 4 have a Safety Grade: Buffalo Grove (A−), Arlington Heights (B+), Prospect Heights (B+), Northbrook (B+). Wheeling Township, Vernon Township and Northfield Township have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025. Neighbors ↓
Among Illinois towns, closer to the middle
Illinois’ cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Wheeling’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 53% of the 339 Illinois towns we grade, against 67% 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 Wheeling’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
Wheeling’s police reported 100 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 | Wheeling | Rest of Illinois | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1.7 | 3.8 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 1.1 | 3.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.6 | 3.2 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.9 | 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 | Wheeling property | Rest of Illinois property | Wheeling violent | Rest of Illinois violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 9.6 | 20.6 | 1.7 | 3.8 |
| 2023 | 9.7 | 19.6 | 1.1 | 3.4 |
| 2024 | 9.1 | 19.9 | 0.6 | 3.2 |
| 2025 | 7.8 | 17.1 | 0.9 | 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.
334 crimes reported in 2025
36 violent and 298 property, as reported to the FBI by Wheeling’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
11 people died in crashes on Wheeling’s roads in 2019–2023
Wheeling had 7 fatal crashes in five years, in which 11 people died; 2 were pedestrians and 1 was a cyclist.
That is 5.7 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, about the same as 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.
Wheeling and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wheeling | B+ | 0.9 | 8.9 |
| Buffalo Grove | A− | 0.3 | 6.1 |
| Prospect Heights | B+ | 1.2 | 6.5 |
| Arlington Heights | B+ | 0.6 | 8.5 |
| Wheeling Township | — | — | — |
| Vernon Township | — | — | — |
| Northfield Township | — | — | — |
| Northbrook | B+ | 0.2 | 10.8 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Wheeling Township, Vernon Township and Northfield Township have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025.
Illinois towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wheeling | B+ | 0.9 | 8.9 |
| Carol Stream | A− | 0.7 | 7.0 |
| Park Ridge | B+ | 0.6 | 7.8 |
| Carpentersville | B+ | 1.1 | 6.8 |
| Streamwood | B+ | 1.3 | 6.8 |
| Urbana | D | 4.9 | 25.6 |
The five graded Illinois towns closest to Wheeling’s population (38,391), 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 Wheeling. 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 Wheeling’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (38,111 in 2025); our figure for Wheeling is 38,391 (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 Wheeling
Is Wheeling, IL safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Wheeling reports less crime per resident than 67% of U.S. towns, a B+ Safety Grade and #158 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 Wheeling?
0.9 violent and 8.9 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 Wheeling?
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings.
How many homicides were there in Wheeling in 2025?
Wheeling’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 Wheeling safer than Buffalo Grove?
Buffalo Grove reports less crime per resident than Wheeling: Buffalo Grove grades A− for safety and Wheeling B+. Buffalo Grove’s police reported 0.3 violent and 6.1 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Wheeling?
Wheeling’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Wheeling”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Wheeling.
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.