Property Crime per Capita in Chicago
Property crime covers theft, burglary, vehicle theft, and arson, offenses against belongings rather than people. The map below shows the property crime rate per 1,000 Chicago residents.
Safest
Highest crime
Colorblind friendly
off
C-
C |
|
Property Crime Grade |
C- |
Other Crime Grade |
C- |
$1.2 billion
Cost of Crime™ for Chicago, IL
In 2025, property crime will cost $320 per household.
On the map, green marks the parts of the Chicago area with the least property crime and red marks the most, weighted by the type and severity of each offense. Property crime is the most common category of crime, so these maps track closely with where stores, parking, and daytime foot traffic sit. The Interpreting the Crime Maps section below explains why busy commercial blocks can look worse than the neighborhoods around them.
The C- grade reflects how often theft, burglary, vehicle theft, and arson happen in the Chicago area against the average US city, where the rate is slightly higher than the norm. Chicago sits in the 38th percentile for property-crime safety, ahead of 38% of cities and behind 62%. The grade covers only the Chicago area's official city boundaries. See the table below for nearby cities.
The property crime rate in the Chicago area is 15.08 per 1,000 residents in a typical year. Residents generally point to the southwest part of the city as the safest for their belongings. Your odds of a property-crime loss range from 1 in 42 in the east neighborhoods to 1 in 109 in the southwest.
Counting total incidents instead of per-capita rates, the east parts of Chicago, IL report the most property crime, about 33,740 cases per year. The south part reports the fewest, around 5,698 per year.
The Cost of Crime™ in Chicago, IL
Property crime in Chicago is projected to cost $1,167,117,177 in 2025, about $120 per resident and $320 per household. That equals 0.2% of the median household income. All of it is measurable loss: replaced vehicles, repaired break-ins, stolen goods, and the policing and courts that respond. Because property crime leaves a repair bill rather than a lasting injury, these tangible costs make up its full economic toll. They split into:- Criminal justice system costs (law enforcement, courts, and imprisonment): 59.9%
- Direct costs to victims (damaged property, medical expenses, and lost wages): 34.4%
- Lost economic contribution from offenders (time in prison or repeat offenses): 5.7%
How Much Does Property Crime Cost in Chicago Compared to Other Cities?
| Chicago, IL: | $120 |
|---|---|
| East St. Louis, IL: | $250 |
| St. Joseph, IL: | $22 |
| Illinois: | $107 |
| USA: | $136 |
Property crime costs $120 per resident each year in Chicago, which is $16 less than the national average and $13 more than Illinois's state average. The comparison below uses cities similar to Chicago:
- In East St. Louis, IL, crime costs $250 per person, which is $130 more than in Chicago.
- In St. Joseph, IL, crime costs $22 per person, which is $98 less than in Chicago
2025 Projected Property Crime Cost by Type
The table below breaks the property-crime total into its four offenses for Chicago, with the projected cost per resident.Crime |
Cost to Chicago |
Cost per Chicago Resident |
|---|---|---|
Vehicle Theft |
$496.1 million |
$51 |
Burglary |
$148.9 million |
$15 |
Theft |
$505.6 million |
$52 |
Arson |
$16.6 million |
$2 |
Total Cost of Property Crime |
$1,167,117,177 |
$120 |
How the Property Crime Cost Is Estimated
Property crime carries no pain-and-suffering figure in this model. Its cost is the replacement and repair value of what was taken or damaged, plus the policing, courts, and lost offender productivity that follow. Stolen and damaged property has a market price, which is why this total is easier to pin down than the human cost of violent crime in Chicago, IL. All Cost of Crime figures come from scholarly research on the cost of crime. Read more about our methodology here.Interpreting the Property Crime Maps
Property crime rates are measured per resident, so places where shoppers and commuters outnumber residents read high. Stores are where shoplifting, theft, and vehicle break-ins happen, yet almost nobody lives there, so the per-capita rate climbs. How strongly this shows on the map depends on retail density; the east part of the city has more retail establishments. A red commercial strip does not mean the homes nearby are unsafe.
Parking lots and transit stops follow the same pattern: heavy daytime traffic, few residents, so per-capita property crime reads high. Major airports, of which the Chicago area has 1, are the extreme case. To judge a residential block, weigh both the per-capita rate and the total number of incidents, and note what sits nearby.
The interactive maps load faster on a strong connection. Compare high speed internet in Chicago, IL at ISP Reports.Chicago Property Crime Breakdown
The table below shows which non-violent crimes are used to calculate the Crime Grade above. All property crime rates are shown as the number of crimes per 1,000 Chicago residents in a standard year.
Crime Type |
Crime Rate |
|---|---|
Theft |
10.03 |
Vehicle Theft |
3.292 |
Burglary |
1.687 |
Arson |
0.0705 |
Total Property Crime |
15.08 (C-) |
Individual Chicago Crime Maps & Stats
Crime Maps and Rates for Nearby Cities
Compared to surrounding cities, the rate of property crime in the Chicago area is lower. The table below shows Crime Grades for cities close to the Chicago area.
Nearby City | Overall Crime Grade | Violent Crime Grade | Property Crime Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
C | C | C- | |
C | C | C | |
C | C | C | |
C | B- | C | |
D+ | D+ | D | |
F | D+ | F | |
C+ | C+ | C+ | |
C+ | B- | C+ | |
C+ | C+ | C | |
D | C- | D |
Crime Maps and Rates for City with Similar Populations
Chicago is lower versus other cities of the same size for property crime. The table below compares crime in cities with comparable overall population in the city‘s boundaries.
Similar City | Overall Crime Grade | Violent Crime Grade | Property Crime Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
D+ | D+ | D+ | |
D | D | D | |
C+ | B- | B- | |
B | C+ | C+ | |
C | C- | C- | |
C- | C | C | |
D | D | D | |
D+ | D | D | |
C | C- | C- | |
B | C | C |
Considering only the property crime rate, the Chicago area is as safe as the Illinois state average and safer than the national average.
About the Data
CrimeGrade.org provides highly detailed and accurate crime data, used by insurance companies, home security firms, and other industries. Our data is available for licensing—learn more about our USA crime data and licensing.
Crime By Zip Code Download
Our proprietary data is available for download by zip code or by state in a CSV Flat File. Please visit our download page for pricing and terms.
Download CSV
Home Security
A crime occurs on average every 1 minute in the Chicago area. Want to protect your home?
Home Security Companies in Chicago, IL
All maps and statistics above are projections, not certainties, and provided without guarantee free of charge. Verify all info before making any decisions based on the data.