Albany Park is a neighborhood of 27,300 residents in Chicago, about 7 miles northwest of downtown · Updated November 2026
Is Albany Park in Chicago safe?
Albany Park is among the higher-crime places in the US: an overall CrimeGrade™ of D+, with more crime than the neighborhoods where 89% of Americans live. Violent crime grades B- and property crime F. Chicago as a whole grades F. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Albany Park run from B+ to F, so check the map below.
D+
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 259 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
11% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Albany Park as a whole, and 89% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Albany Park scores 259.
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 crime than most US neighborhoods.
How to read the map: each area's color compares its crime with the people, homes and cars there, on one national scale, from green for the least crime 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 Albany Park, Chicago, IL at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Albany Park in Chicago, 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 in Albany Park
Aggravated assault is a strength. Albany Park grades B- for violent crime, but aggravated assault grades A, better than in the neighborhoods where 65% of Americans live.
Thefts from cars happen on streets and sidewalks far more often than nationally. In Chicago as a whole, 69% of reported thefts from cars happen on streets and sidewalks, against 18% nationally.
How Albany Park compares within Chicago
High crime is widespread across Albany Park: 81% of residents live in areas graded D or F, and 5% in areas graded A or B. Grades across Albany Park run from B+ to F; every part of Albany Park has more crime than the typical US neighborhood.
14%81%
A or B 5%C 14%D or F 81%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Albany Park has less crime than 74 of the 135 neighborhoods in Chicago. It covers much of the Belmont Cragin, Norwood Park, and Dunning areas.
Is crime going up in Chicago?
Reported property crime in Chicago as a whole has risen 12% since 2019. Burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts went from about 30 to 34 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 18). Property crime changed little from 2023 to 2024.
Property crime, change since 2019
ChicagoUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police departments that serve Chicago. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Property, Chicago
Property, US
2016
+6%
+15%
2017
+8%
+12%
2018
+7%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
2020
-28%
-8%
2021
-26%
-10%
2022
+3%
-6%
2023
+11%
-7%
2024
+12%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Albany Park
CrimeGrade™ estimates Albany Park has about 53 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 42% more than the US as a whole and 38% less than Chicago as a whole.
Overall crime
Violent crime
Property crime
Reported crimes a year, per 1,000 residents. These figures include simple assaults and vandalism, which the FBI's violent and property crime rates leave out.
The largest share of crime reported in Albany Park is assault, about 38% of the total. It also makes up the largest share of what crime costs here.
Each CrimeGrade™ compares a crime with what it affects: people for assaults and robbery, homes for burglary, parked cars for vehicle theft. 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 crime happens in Chicago
The Chicago Police Department polices Albany Park; these figures cover Chicago as a whole, 2022 to 2024.
In Chicago as a whole, 68% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (68%)
Night (midnight to 6 am)
Car theft
Streets and sidewalks (75%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Streets and sidewalks (69%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Streets and sidewalks (48%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Robbery
Streets and sidewalks (65%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Streets and sidewalks (51%)
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.
How Albany Park compares with nearby neighborhoods
Albany Park has more crime than 9 of its 10 nearest neighborhoods. Sauganash and North Park have the least crime nearby.
Two things set Albany Park apart: it has a Walk Grade of A (87 of 100) on BestNeighborhood, against 21 for the US as a whole, and 98% of its residents in dense blocks, against 24% nationally. Places like that tend to report more theft and assault, and they run high here.
Walk GradeBestNeighborhood's grade for getting through daily life on foot, traced along real walking routes to shops, schools and parks. Walkable places tend to report more theft and assault. 91% of residents here live in walkable areas.A (87 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 89% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.98% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 87% of residents of US city neighborhoods
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.13 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Lower than for 84% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Show all 4
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.0.2 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Lower than for 83% of residents of US city neighborhoods
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 crime costs Albany Park
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Albany Park about $1,574 a year per household, 31% more than the US figure of $1,205.
Cost of crime per resident, per year
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, which comes almost entirely from violent crime, the full cost comes to about $40 million a year, or $1,477 per resident.
How CrimeGrade™ works
A CrimeGrade™ shows how much crime an area has compared with the rest of the country, from A+ for the least crime to F for the most. Every neighborhood in the US is graded on the same scale, so a B in Albany Park means the same as a B anywhere else.
CrimeGrade™ starts from the crimes people report to police and measures each kind of crime against what it affects: people for assaults, homes for burglaries, parked cars for car thefts.
The rates on this page count crimes for every 1,000 people who live here, the way police departments report them. Albany Park is the other kind of example: few people work in, shop in or visit it, so its crime per resident looks lower than its CrimeGrade™ suggests.
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. 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.
Schools in Albany Park, Chicago, IL average a SchoolGrade of C: 41% of students test proficient, against 28% projected for schools like them. Overall, they don't meet expectations. See schools in Albany Park on SchoolGrade
