The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in East St. Louis, IL
East St. Louis is a city of 19,400 in St. Clair County, about 4 miles east of downtown St. Louis · Updated November 2026
Is East St. Louis, IL safe?
East St. Louis is among the higher-crime places in the US: an overall CrimeGrade™ of F, with more crime than the neighborhoods where 98% of Americans live. Property crime grades better than violent crime here, B- against F. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within East St. Louis run from A+ to F, so check the map below.
F
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 0 of 1,000Less safe than nearly all US neighborhoodsi What this means
2% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than East St. Louis as a whole, and 98% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. East St. Louis scores 0.
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 East St. Louis, IL at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in East St. Louis, 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 East St. Louis
Burglaries run high for an F-graded city. East St. Louis has 10.0 burglaries a year per 1,000 residents; for the typical resident of an F-graded US city, the figure is 2.7.
Theft is a strength. East St. Louis grades B- for property crime, but theft grades A-, better than in the neighborhoods where 61% of Americans live.
The safest and least safe parts of East St. Louis
High crime is widespread across East St. Louis: 92% of residents live in areas graded D or F, and 6% in areas graded A or B. Grades across East St. Louis run from A+ to F; 2% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
92%
A or B 6%C 2%D or F 92%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within East St. Louis, the south side has the least crime and the center the most.
Crime rates and types in East St. Louis
CrimeGrade™ estimates East St. Louis has about 97 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, more than double the rate for the US as a whole and more than 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 East St. Louis, about 49% of everything reported.
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 East St. Louis Police Department sent the FBI no usable 2024 counts of murder, reported rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, theft, vehicle theft and arson, so CrimeGrade™ built the figures from the department's own reports for recent years, brought up to 2024. The department sent the FBI no 2024 count of simple assault and no recent year to build on, so CrimeGrade™ made its own estimate. The department reports to the FBI in a format that leaves out vandalism, so CrimeGrade™ makes its own vandalism estimate.
Select a crime's name to see its map above. CrimeGrade™ business reports map each crime at about 66-meter detail.
How East St. Louis compares with nearby cities
East St. Louis has the most crime of its 7 nearest cities.
Empty homes, parking lots and walkability in East St. Louis
Two things set East St. Louis apart: it has 32.7% of its homes standing empty, against 7.1% nationally, and 4.3 parking-lot spaces per resident, against 2.0 nationally. Places like that tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson, and they run high here.
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson.32.7% of homesUS: 7.1%Higher than for 99% of US city residents
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.4.3 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 96% 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. 89% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D (16 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 55% of US city residents
Show all 6
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 East St. Louis: D+ (24 of 100).13 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 88% of US city residents
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.25 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Lower than for 79% of US city residents
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.7.4 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Lower than for 78% 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 East St. Louis
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs East St. Louis about $7,018 a year per household, more than triple 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 $312 million a year, or $16,078 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$37 million
$1,881
Rape
$1.5 million
$78
Robbery
$790,000
$41
Assault
$11 million
$570
Burglary
$1.8 million
$90
Theft
$1.1 million
$58
Vehicle theft
$1.9 million
$98
Arson
$290,000
$15
Vandalism
$2.4 million
$124
Total
$57 million
$2,955
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 East St. Louis 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 East St. Louis, IL average a SchoolGrade of D-: 27% of students test proficient, against 14% projected for schools like them. Overall, they don't meet expectations. See schools in East St. Louis on SchoolGrade
