Crete is a village of 14,500 in Will County, about 30 miles south of downtown Chicago · Updated November 2026
Is Crete, IL safe?
Yes. Crime is low across most of the US, and lower still in Crete: an overall CrimeGrade™ of A, safer than the neighborhoods where 68% of Americans live. Violent and property crime both grade A here. Its neighborhoods are much alike, from A+ to A-; see the map below.
A
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 903 of 1,000Safer than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
68% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Crete as a whole, and 32% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Crete scores 903.
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 Crete, IL at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Crete, 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 Crete
Theft runs low. Crete has 4.1 thefts a year per 1,000 residents, less than half the US rate of 13.1.
The safest and least safe parts of Crete
Every part of Crete where people live grades A or B on the national scale. Grades across Crete run from A+ to A-; 94% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
100%
A or B 100%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Crete, the southeast side has the least crime and the north side the most.
Is crime going up in Crete?
Reported property crime in Crete has fallen 51% since 2019. Too few violent crimes are reported here each year for a reliable violent crime trend. Burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts went from about 18 to 9.1 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 18). In 2024 alone, property crime fell 40%.
Property crime, change since 2019
CreteUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Crete. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Property, Crete
Property, US
2016
-6%
+15%
2017
-6%
+12%
2018
-10%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
2020
-50%
-8%
2021
-60%
-10%
2022
-53%
-6%
2023
-18%
-7%
2024
-51%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Crete
CrimeGrade™ estimates Crete has about 22 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 42% less than the US as a whole and 49% 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 Crete, about 49% 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 Crete
Crete has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Crete, 33% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Other places (34%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Other places (39%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Shares of the crimes reported to police, 2022 to 2024. Reports with no time recorded are left out of the times.
How Crete compares with nearby cities
Crete has less crime than 7 of its 9 nearest cities; only Beecher and Dyer, IN have less.
Two things set Crete apart: it has 5.6 stores and restaurants for every 1,000 residents, against 10.5 nationally, and 1% of its residents in dense blocks, against 24% nationally. Places like that tend to report less theft, and it runs low here.
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.5.6 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Lower than for 90% 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.1% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 88% 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. 95% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D- (6 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 88% of US city residents
Show all 6
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson.3.4% of homesUS: 7.1%Lower than for 81% of US city residents
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.2.6 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 77% of US city residents
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.73% where people liveUS: 78%Lower than for 76% of US city residents
BestNeighborhood, a sister site of CrimeGrade™, ranks the neighborhoods of Crete 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 Crete
Crime costs Crete about $543 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 55% less 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 $7.8 million a year, or $540 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$290,000
$20
Rape
$250,000
$17
Robbery
$85,000
$6
Assault
$1.4 million
$95
Burglary
$230,000
$16
Theft
$310,000
$21
Vehicle theft
$170,000
$12
Arson
$15,000
$1
Vandalism
$410,000
$28
Total
$3.1 million
$216
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 Crete 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 Crete, IL average a SchoolGrade of F: 22% of students test proficient, against 15% projected for schools like them. Overall, they don't meet expectations. See schools in Crete on SchoolGrade
