Recorded crime per resident is lower in Wonder Lake than in 92% of U.S. towns
A Safety Grade of A follows from crimes Wonder Lake’s police reported over the years 2023 to 2025: #30 of 339 graded towns in Illinois. Out of every 1,000 residents, 0.3 violent crime and 4.0 incidents of property crime are reported annually, against 3.1 and 18.8 in the rest of Illinois. It has less violent crime than 93% of U.S. towns, and less property crime than 85%.
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 Wonder Lake
1 of the 2 graded towns next door reports less crime
Of the 3 Illinois towns on Wonder Lake’s borders, 2 have a Safety Grade: Bull Valley (A+), McHenry (A−). Johnsburg 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 Wonder Lake’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
Show as a table
| Year | Wonder Lake | Rest of Illinois | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 0.4 | 3.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.2 | 3.2 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.2 | 2.7 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Wonder Lake’s police reported 4 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.3 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 Wonder Lake 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.
Reported crime is steady
Show as a table
| Year | Wonder Lake property | Rest of Illinois property | Wonder Lake violent | Rest of Illinois violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 3.6 | 19.5 | 0.4 | 3.4 |
| 2024 | 5.0 | 19.8 | 0.2 | 3.2 |
| 2025 | 3.3 | 17.1 | 0.2 | 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, 2023–2025, against the rest of Illinois.
20 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 19 property, as reported to the FBI by Wonder Lake’s police.
One person died in crashes on Wonder Lake’s roads in 2019–2023
Wonder Lake had 1 fatal crash in five years, in which one person died.
That is about what is typical for Illinois towns of 2,500–5,000 people: at their median rate (7.1 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Wonder Lake’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Wonder Lake’s own rate (4.7) 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.
Wonder Lake and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wonder Lake | A | 0.3 | 4.0 |
| Bull Valley | A+ | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| McHenry | A− | 0.6 | 5.5 |
| Johnsburg | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Johnsburg has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025.
Illinois towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wonder Lake | A | 0.3 | 4.0 |
| Northfield | A− | 0.2 | 8.3 |
| Lake Bluff | B+ | 0.3 | 9.1 |
| Du Quoin | B+ | 1.8 | 5.1 |
| Wilmington | B− | 2.2 | 8.4 |
| East Alton | C | 3.7 | 13.3 |
The five graded Illinois towns closest to Wonder Lake’s population (5,593), 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 Wonder Lake. 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 Wonder Lake’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (5,697 in 2025); our figure for Wonder Lake is 5,593 (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 Wonder Lake
Is Wonder Lake, IL safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Wonder Lake reports less crime per resident than 92% of U.S. towns, an A Safety Grade and #30 of 339 in Illinois. Its police reported 0.3 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 Wonder Lake?
0.3 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 Wonder Lake safer than Bull Valley?
Bull Valley reports less crime per resident than Wonder Lake: Bull Valley grades A+ for safety and Wonder Lake A. Bull Valley’s police reported 0.0 violent and 0.0 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Wonder Lake?
Wonder Lake’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Wonder Lake”. 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 Wonder Lake.
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.