The Chicago metro area, the third-largest in the US, is home to 9.37 million residents in Illinois and Indiana; Chicago itself is the largest city in Illinois · Updated November 2026
How common is property crime in the Chicago area?
Property crime in the Chicago area runs higher than in most US neighborhoods: a B+, with more property crime than the neighborhoods where 65% of Americans live. Theft makes up 47% of it. Burglary, the crime most likely to reach into a home, grades A-, and vehicle theft grades B+. The city of Chicago itself grades F for property crime.
B+
Property crime CrimeGrade™
Safety score 713 of 1,000More property crime than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
35% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more property crime than the Chicago area as a whole, and 65% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a property crime safety score of 823, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. The Chicago area scores 713.
Crime is concentrated in a small share of places, so most neighborhoods score high on the 0 to 1,000 scale. That is why a score in the 800s can still mean more property crime than most US neighborhoods.
How to read the map: each area's color compares its property crime with the homes, parked cars and people there, on one national scale, from green for the least to red for the most. Each area gets its own color, so a busy shopping center can show red while the homes beside it stay green. The interactive maps load faster on a strong connection. Compare high speed internet in Chicago, IL at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in the Chicago area, and anyone thinking about buying or renting a home there.
Business and enterprise customers: this free map shows neighborhood areas. CrimeGrade™ business reports map crime at about 66-meter detail and estimate it for one address and type of business. See business reports
What stands out about property crime in the Chicago area
Burglaries run high in Roseland, South Shore & Woodlawn. In this part of southeast Chicago, they run at more than double the rate in the rest of Chicago.
Car thefts happen on streets and sidewalks far more often than nationally. In the Chicago area, 64% of reported car thefts happen on streets and sidewalks, against 27% nationally.
Where property crime is lowest and highest in the Chicago area
Property crime changes a lot from one part of the Chicago area to the next: 66% of residents live in areas graded A or B, while 26% live in areas graded D or F. Property crime grades across the Chicago area run from A+ to F.
66%26%
A or B 66%C 8%D or F 26%
Share of residents, by the property crime CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Neighborhoods of Chicago
1West Lawn & Clearing, southwestThefts run at about half the rate in the rest of Chicago.C-360
Neighborhood areas of the city of Chicago, ranked by property crime CrimeGrade™; beside each grade is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer). Each one combines several of the smaller areas on the map.
Cities and towns in the Chicago metro area with at least 1,000 residents. Ranked by property crime CrimeGrade™; beside each grade is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer), and the other numbers are residents.
Is property crime going up in the Chicago area?
Reported property crime in the Chicago area has held about steady since 2019, within 4%. Burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts went from about 19 to 18 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 18). Property crime changed little from 2023 to 2024.
Property crime, change since 2019
Chicago areaUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police departments across the Chicago area. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Property, Chicago area
Property, US
2016
+10%
+15%
2017
+8%
+12%
2018
+5%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
2020
-14%
-8%
2021
-24%
-10%
2022
-7%
-6%
2023
-4%
-7%
2024
-4%
-15%
Property crime rates and types in the Chicago area
CrimeGrade™ estimates the Chicago area has about 26 reported property crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 11% more than the US as a whole and close to Illinois.
All property crime
Burglary
Vehicle theft
Reported crimes a year, per 1,000 residents. Property crime here includes vandalism, which the FBI's property crime rate leaves out.
Theft is the most common property crime in the Chicago area, about 47% of the total, followed by vandalism and vehicle theft.
Each CrimeGrade™ here compares a property crime with what it affects: homes for burglary and arson, parked cars for vehicle theft, people and parking for theft, homes and businesses for vandalism. Rates count crimes per 1,000 residents.
Select a crime's name to see its map above. CrimeGrade™ business reports map each crime at about 66-meter detail.
Where and when property crime happens in the Chicago area
These figures come from the reports of the police departments across the Chicago area, 2022 to 2024.
In the Chicago area, 54% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (54%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Streets and sidewalks (64%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (32%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Vandalism
Streets and sidewalks (38%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Shares of the crimes reported to police, 2022 to 2024. Reports with no time recorded are left out of the times.
Property crime in the Chicago area and nearby metro areas
The Chicago area has the most property crime of its 10 nearest metro areas.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from the Chicago area. Beside each property crime CrimeGrade™ is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer).
Compared with metro areas of similar size and density, the Chicago area has more property crime than 71% of them.
Night lighting, density and empty homes in the Chicago area
Among the traits that tend to go with property crime, one sets the Chicago area apart: it has 42% of its residents in dense blocks, against 24% nationally. Places like that tend to report more car theft, and it runs high here.
Lit at nightSatellite images show which neighborhoods are lit at night, a sign of busy streets and businesses. Brightly lit places tend to report more theft and vandalism.96% where people liveUS: 78%Higher than for 91% of Americans in metro areas
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more car theft.42% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 81% of Americans in metro areas
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary.6.0% of homesUS: 7.1%Lower than for 51% of Americans in metro areas
These traits tend to go with more or less crime; none of them causes it on its own. Sources: Census job counts and housing figures, OpenStreetMap and Overture business listings, CrimeGrade™ parking estimates, NASA night-light imagery, US Forest Service tree cover, EPA transit data and BestNeighborhood's Walk Grade.
What property crime costs the Chicago area
Property crime costs the Chicago area about $1.84 billion a year, or $197 per resident and about $511 per household: the value of what is stolen or damaged, plus the police, courts and prisons that respond.
Cost of property crime per resident, per year
How the cost breaks down
Pain and suffering add little to the cost of property crime, so this is close to its full cost.
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Burglary
$194 million
$21
Theft
$595 million
$64
Vehicle theft
$493 million
$53
Arson
$19 million
$2
Vandalism
$541 million
$58
Total
$1.84 billion
$197
How CrimeGrade™ works
The property crime CrimeGrade™ covers burglary, theft, car theft, arson and vandalism, from A+ for the least crime to F for the most, on one scale for the whole country.
It weighs each property crime against what it affects: homes for burglary and arson, parked cars for car theft, and the people and parking around stores for theft.
The rates on this page count crimes for every 1,000 people who live here, the way police departments report them.
Comparisons with US neighborhoods use the Census Bureau's block groups, small areas of about 1,400 residents, and count the people who live in each. These figures cover the whole Chicago metro area. The figures count crimes reported to police; many crimes, shoplifting above all, never are. Behind the grades, CrimeGrade™ tested 21,607 factors from 125 data families. For business owners, paid CrimeGrade™ location reports estimate crime at a single address for each type of business.
Where the numbers come from
Crime reports that police departments file with the FBI
State crime records and city crime data, where they are published
These are estimates of reported crime for whole areas, not a record of what happened on any one street. CrimeGrade™ updates them once a year and provides them free and without guarantee. Check local sources before you rely on them for a decision.
