The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Aurora, IL
Aurora is the second-largest city in Illinois, with 182,600 residents in Kane County, about 35 miles west of downtown Chicago · Updated November 2026
Is Aurora, IL safe?
Yes. An overall CrimeGrade™ of A- means crime in Aurora is low. Most US neighborhoods have little crime too, so Aurora sits near the middle: 42% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime, and 58% in neighborhoods with less. Violent crime grades A- and property crime B+. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Aurora run from A+ to C-, so check the map below.
A-
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 793 of 1,000About as safe as the typical US neighborhoodi What this means
42% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Aurora as a whole, and 58% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Aurora scores 793.
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 Aurora, IL at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Aurora, 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 Aurora
Vehicle theft stands out among A-graded cities. For the typical resident of an A-graded US city, the figure is 0.93 car thefts a year per 1,000 residents; Aurora has 2.5.
Reported rape is the exception. Aurora grades A- for violent crime, but reported rape grades B-, worse than in the neighborhoods where 85% of Americans live.
Theft runs low. Aurora has 7.0 thefts a year per 1,000 residents, about half the US rate of 13.1.
The safest and least safe parts of Aurora
Most of Aurora grades well: 94% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and the rest in areas graded C. Grades across Aurora run from A+ to C-; 45% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
94%
A or B 94%C 6%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Aurora, the northeast side has the least crime and the center the most.
Is crime going up in Aurora?
Reported crime in Aurora has risen since 2019: violent crime is up 18% and property crime up 43%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 2.6 to 3.1 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 10 to 15 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, property crime rose 34%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
AuroraUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police agencies that serve Aurora. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Aurora
Violent, US
Property, Aurora
Property, US
2016
+20%
+4%
+40%
+15%
2017
-1%
+4%
+30%
+12%
2018
+3%
+0%
+13%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
+40%
+4%
+26%
-8%
2021
+24%
+6%
-8%
-10%
2022
+29%
+5%
-2%
-6%
2023
+19%
+2%
+7%
-7%
2024
+18%
-4%
+43%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Aurora
CrimeGrade™ estimates Aurora has about 34 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 9% less than the US as a whole and 20% less 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.
Assault is the most common crime in Aurora, about 45% of everything reported, and it also accounts for 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.
The Aurora Police Department's 2024 count of arson fell far below its usual level, a sign of a reporting break, so CrimeGrade™ used the department's earlier years instead.
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 Aurora
Aurora has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Aurora, 58% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often at homes: 42% of them, against 34% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (58%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Car theft
Homes (43%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Homes (42%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Homes (51%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Robbery
Streets and sidewalks (30%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (57%)
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 Aurora compares with nearby cities
Aurora has the most crime of its 10 nearest cities.
Two things set Aurora apart: it has 3.7% of its homes standing empty, against 7.1% nationally, and 37% of its residents in dense blocks, against 24% nationally. Places with few empty homes tend to report less burglary, vandalism and arson, yet burglary, vandalism and arson run higher here than that would suggest.
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson.3.7% of homesUS: 7.1%Lower than for 79% 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. 63% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.C- (28 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 78% of US city residents
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.37% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 74% of US city residents
Show all 6
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.100% where people liveUS: 78%Higher than for 70% of US city residents
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.9.4 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Lower than for 60% 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 Aurora: D (15 of 100).3 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 59% of US city residents
BestNeighborhood, a sister site of CrimeGrade™, ranks the neighborhoods of Aurora 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 Aurora
Crime costs Aurora about $1,037 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 14% less than the US figure of $1,205. The total is about $63 million a year.
Cost of crime per resident, per year
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, which comes almost entirely from violent crime, the full cost rises to about $150 million a year, or $819 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$2.5 million
$14
Rape
$6.1 million
$33
Robbery
$1.9 million
$11
Assault
$27 million
$148
Burglary
$4.0 million
$22
Theft
$6.5 million
$36
Vehicle theft
$7.0 million
$38
Arson
$450,000
$2
Vandalism
$7.2 million
$39
Total
$63 million
$344
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 Aurora 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 Aurora, IL average a SchoolGrade of B-: 46% of students test proficient, against 29% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in Aurora on SchoolGrade
