Photo: Dennisyerger84 · CC BY-SA 3.0Crime and safety in Merrillville, IN
For a graded neighbor, the nearest is Hobart (C), 4 miles away. Merrillville’s police reported to the FBI for 2025 but not 2023 or 2024, so there is no Safety Grade: the grade needs all three years, 2023–2025. The surrounding 10 miles hold 8 graded places to compare with.
For every 1,000 residents, about 13 property crimes reported
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.
The years Merrillville’s police reported
Show as a table
| Year | Merrillville | Rest of Indiana | Merrillville | Rest of Indiana |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | not reported | 23.2 | not reported | 4.8 |
| 2023 | not reported | 22.2 | not reported | 4.9 |
| 2024 | not reported | 20.2 | not reported | 4.6 |
| 2025 | 13.1 | 15.0 | 1.1 | 3.5 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents, against the rest of Indiana. A year the department didn’t report in full is a gap, not a zero.
527 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.
41 violent and 486 property, as reported to the FBI by Merrillville’s police.
The nearest Indiana towns with a Safety Grade
| Town | Grade | Distance | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hobart | C | 4 mi | 1.3 | 21.9 |
| Crown Point | A− | 5 mi | 0.7 | 5.0 |
| Schererville | B | 7 mi | 0.9 | 12.2 |
| Griffith | B | 7 mi | 1.3 | 9.0 |
| St. John | A+ | 8 mi | 0.2 | 1.5 |
| Gary | D− | 8 mi | 12.1 | 30.5 |
Straight-line distance from the center of Merrillville. Nearby towns can differ a lot from Merrillville.
Each town’s own police figures, per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
22 people died in crashes on Merrillville’s roads in 2019–2023
Merrillville had 22 fatal crashes in five years, in which 22 people died; 3 were pedestrians and 1 was a cyclist. 4 died in crashes on an Interstate.
That is 12.1 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for Indiana towns of 25,000–100,000 people (8.1, 86 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.
Merrillville and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ross Township | — | — | — |
| Crown Point | A− | 0.7 | 5.0 |
| Hobart | C | 1.3 | 21.9 |
| Union Township | — | — | — |
| Center Township | — | — | — |
| Calumet Township | — | — | — |
| Gary | D− | 12.1 | 30.5 |
| St. John Township | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Ross Township, Union Township, Center Township, Calumet Township and St. John Township have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025.
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 Merrillville. 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 Merrillville’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (37,124 in 2025); our figure for Merrillville is 37,407 (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 Merrillville
Is Merrillville, IN safe?
There is no Safety Grade for Merrillville. The nearest Indiana towns with a grade are Hobart (C, 4 mi), Crown Point (A−, 5 mi), Schererville (B, 7 mi).
Who polices Merrillville?
Merrillville’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Merrillville”. 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 Merrillville.
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.