Clearing is a neighborhood of 23,600 residents in Chicago, about 10 miles southwest of downtown · Updated November 2026
Is Clearing in Chicago safe?
Crime in Clearing is moderate, with an overall CrimeGrade™ of B-. Most US neighborhoods have little crime: 77% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime than Clearing. Violent crime grades better than property crime here, A- against C-. Chicago as a whole grades F. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Clearing run from B+ to D, so check the map below.
B-
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 602 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
23% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Clearing as a whole, and 77% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Clearing scores 602.
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 Clearing, Chicago, IL at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Clearing 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 Clearing
Aggravated assaults are less common than the crime level suggests. Crime overall in Clearing runs 47% above the US rate, but aggravated assaults run at a small fraction of that rate: 0.48 a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.6 nationally.
Car thefts run high for a B-graded neighborhood. Clearing has 6.6 car thefts a year per 1,000 residents; for the typical resident of a B-graded US neighborhood, the figure is 3.3.
How Clearing compares within Chicago
Low crime is the norm across Clearing: 58% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and 6% in areas graded D or F. Grades across Clearing run from B+ to D; every part of Clearing has more crime than the typical US neighborhood.
58%36%
A or B 58%C 36%D or F 6%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Clearing has less crime than 120 of the 135 neighborhoods in Chicago. It covers much of the West Lawn and Clearing 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 Clearing
CrimeGrade™ estimates Clearing has about 55 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 47% more than the US as a whole and 35% 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.
Assault is the most common crime in Clearing, about 33% 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
The Chicago Police Department polices Clearing; these figures cover Chicago as a whole, 2022 to 2024.
In Chicago as a whole, 68% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often on streets and sidewalks: 69% of them, against 18% 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 Clearing compares with nearby neighborhoods
Clearing has less crime than 9 of its 10 nearest neighborhoods; only Garfield Ridge has less.
Empty homes, tree cover and walkability in Clearing
Two things set Clearing apart: it has 3.9% of its homes standing empty, against 7.1% nationally, and tree cover over 4% of the land where people live, against 21% nationally. Places with few empty homes tend to report less burglary, vandalism and arson, yet burglary and vandalism 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.3.9% of homesUS: 7.1%Lower than for 78% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Tree coverThe share of land under tree canopy where people live. Leafy neighborhoods tend to report less robbery.4% where people liveUS: 21%Lower than for 76% of residents of US city neighborhoods
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.B- (53 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 66% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Show all 4
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.88% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 72% 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 Clearing
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Clearing about $1,405 a year per household, 17% 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 $25 million a year, or $1,075 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 Clearing 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
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 Clearing, Chicago, IL average a SchoolGrade of C: 41% of students test proficient, against 14% projected for schools like them. Overall, they greatly exceed expectations. See schools in Clearing on SchoolGrade
