The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Chicago Heights, IL
Chicago Heights is a city of 28,400 in Cook County, about 25 miles south of downtown Chicago · Updated November 2026
Is Chicago Heights, IL safe?
Crime in Chicago Heights is high, with an overall CrimeGrade™ of D+. Most US neighborhoods have far less: 89% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime than Chicago Heights. Property crime grades better than violent crime here, C+ against D. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Chicago Heights run from B+ to F, so check the map below.
D+
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 286 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
11% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Chicago Heights as a whole, and 89% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Chicago Heights scores 286.
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 Chicago Heights, IL at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Chicago Heights, 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 Chicago Heights
Simple assaults run high for a D-graded city. Chicago Heights has 27.8 simple assaults a year per 1,000 residents; for the typical resident of a D-graded US city, the figure is 10.9.
Robberies run high. Chicago Heights has robberies at more than triple the US rate: 2.4 a year per 1,000 residents, against 0.62 nationally.
The safest and least safe parts of Chicago Heights
Safety changes a lot from one part of Chicago Heights to the next: 32% of residents live in areas graded A or B, while 51% live in areas graded D or F. Grades across Chicago Heights run from B+ to F; every part of Chicago Heights has more crime than the typical US neighborhood.
32%17%51%
A or B 32%C 17%D or F 51%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Chicago Heights, the northwest side has the least crime and the center the most.
Crime rates and types in Chicago Heights
CrimeGrade™ estimates Chicago Heights has about 83 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, more than double the rate for the US as a whole and about double the rate for 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 Chicago Heights, about 43% 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.
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 Heights
Chicago Heights has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Chicago Heights, 58% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often on streets and sidewalks: 43% of them, against 18% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (58%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Car theft
Streets and sidewalks (39%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Theft from cars
Streets and sidewalks (43%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Vandalism
Homes (43%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Robbery
Streets and sidewalks (36%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (53%)
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 Chicago Heights compares with nearby cities
Of the 10 cities closest to Chicago Heights, 9 have less crime. Flossmoor and Homewood have the least.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from Chicago Heights. Beside each overall CrimeGrade™ is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer).
Compared with cities of similar size and density, Chicago Heights has more crime than 98% of them.
Empty homes, parking lots and walkability in Chicago Heights
Two things set Chicago Heights apart: it has 13.2% of its homes standing empty, against 7.1% nationally, and 3.3 parking-lot spaces per resident, against 2.0 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.13.2% of homesUS: 7.1%Higher than for 94% of US city residents
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.3.3 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 89% 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. 65% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.C- (26 of 100)US: 21Higher 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 77% of US city residents
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.8.0 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Lower than for 73% of US city residents
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.33 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Lower than for 65% of US city residents
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 Chicago Heights
Crime costs Chicago Heights about $3,350 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, more than double 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 $111 million a year, or $3,914 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$6.9 million
$245
Rape
$890,000
$31
Robbery
$2.1 million
$75
Assault
$13 million
$442
Burglary
$1.6 million
$56
Theft
$2.1 million
$73
Vehicle theft
$2.4 million
$85
Arson
$65,000
$2
Vandalism
$3.6 million
$127
Total
$32 million
$1,136
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 Chicago Heights 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 Chicago Heights, IL average a SchoolGrade of D-: 29% of students test proficient, against 13% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in Chicago Heights on SchoolGrade
