Alton is a city of 25,800 in Madison County, about 20 miles north of downtown St. Louis · Updated November 2026
Is Alton, IL safe?
With an overall CrimeGrade™ of B, Alton has moderate crime by national standards. Most US neighborhoods have less: 75% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime. Property crime grades better than violent crime here, B+ against B-. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Alton run from A+ to D-, so check the map below.
B
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 629 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
25% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Alton as a whole, and 75% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Alton scores 629.
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 Alton, IL at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Alton, 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 Alton
Burglaries run high for a B-graded city. Alton has 8.6 burglaries a year per 1,000 residents; for the typical resident of a B-graded US city, the figure is 2.7.
Reported rapes run high. Alton has reported rapes at about triple the US rate: 1.2 a year per 1,000 residents, against 0.38 nationally.
The safest and least safe parts of Alton
Low crime is the norm across Alton: 58% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and 11% in areas graded D or F. Grades across Alton run from A+ to D-; 10% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
58%31%11%
A or B 58%C 31%D or F 11%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Alton, the northeast side has the least crime and the south side the most.
Is crime going up in Alton?
Since 2019, reported property crime in Alton is down 36%, while violent crime has held about steady. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 10 to 9.6 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 42 to 27 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, property crime fell 13%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
AltonUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Alton. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Alton
Violent, US
Property, Alton
Property, US
2016
-34%
+4%
+5%
+15%
2017
-39%
+4%
-5%
+12%
2018
-26%
+0%
-6%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
-18%
+4%
-18%
-8%
2021
-45%
+6%
-23%
-10%
2022
-11%
+5%
-25%
-6%
2023
-9%
+2%
-27%
-7%
2024
-7%
-4%
-36%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Alton
CrimeGrade™ estimates Alton has about 60 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 60% more than the US as a whole and 40% more than Illinois.
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 Alton is assault, about 40% 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 Alton
Alton has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Alton, 68% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often at homes: 54% of them, against 34% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (68%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Car theft
Homes (53%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Theft from cars
Homes (54%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Vandalism
Homes (65%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Robbery
Stores and businesses (31%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (61%)
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 Alton compares with nearby cities
Of the 8 cities closest to Alton, 7 have less crime. Roxana and Bethalto have the least.
Two things set Alton apart: it has 13.9% of its homes standing empty, against 7.1% nationally, and 16.5 stores and restaurants for every 1,000 residents, against 10.5 nationally. Places like that tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson, and burglary and vandalism run high here.
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson.13.9% of homesUS: 7.1%Higher than for 95% of US city residents
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.16.5 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 92% of US city residents
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. 77% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D+ (20 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 59% of US city residents
Show all 6
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.1% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 87% of US city residents
Transit serviceBuses and trains an hour at the evening rush. Places with busy transit tend to report more theft and robbery. BestNeighborhood's Transit Grade for Alton: C- (26 of 100).NoneUS: noneLower than for 84% of US city residents
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.2.4 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 72% of US city residents
BestNeighborhood, a sister site of CrimeGrade™, ranks the neighborhoods of Alton on shops, parks, home prices, getting around and more.
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 Alton
Crime costs Alton about $1,807 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 50% 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 $73 million a year, or $2,828 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$3.6 million
$139
Rape
$1.8 million
$71
Robbery
$840,000
$33
Assault
$8.0 million
$308
Burglary
$2.0 million
$77
Theft
$1.8 million
$71
Vehicle theft
$860,000
$33
Arson
$120,000
$5
Vandalism
$1.6 million
$61
Total
$21 million
$798
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 Alton 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.
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
Published research on what crime costs victims and communities
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 Alton, IL average a SchoolGrade of C-: 37% of students test proficient, against 24% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in Alton on SchoolGrade
