Ford Heights is a village of 1,450 in Cook County, about 25 miles south of downtown Chicago · Updated November 2026
Is Ford Heights, IL safe?
Crime in Ford Heights is high by national standards, with an overall CrimeGrade™ of C-. Most US neighborhoods have little crime: 87% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime than Ford Heights. Property crime grades better than violent crime here, B against D.
C-
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 354 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
13% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Ford Heights as a whole, and 87% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Ford Heights scores 354.
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 Ford Heights, IL at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Ford 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 Ford Heights
Aggravated assaults run high for a C-graded city. Ford Heights has 20.7 aggravated assaults a year per 1,000 residents; for the typical resident of a C-graded US city, the figure is 4.1.
Simple assaults run high. Ford Heights has simple assaults at more than triple the US rate: 49.3 a year per 1,000 residents, against 9.7 nationally.
Crime rates and types in Ford Heights
CrimeGrade™ estimates Ford Heights has about 137 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, more than triple the rate for the US as a whole and about triple 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.
The largest share of crime reported in Ford Heights is assault, about 51% of the total. It also makes up 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 Ford Heights
The Cook County Sheriff's Office polices Ford Heights, and these figures cover every place it serves, 2022 to 2024.
In Ford Heights, 64% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often at homes: 38% of them, against 34% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (64%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Homes (44%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Theft from cars
Homes (38%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Vandalism
Homes (53%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Robbery
Streets and sidewalks (49%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Aggravated assault
Homes (41%)
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 Ford Heights compares with nearby cities
Ford Heights has more crime than 8 of its 10 nearest cities. Dyer, IN and Crete have the least crime nearby.
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Ford Heights about $4,430 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 $10.0 million a year, or $6,916 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$270,000
$187
Rape
$360,000
$248
Robbery
$91,000
$63
Assault
$1.4 million
$949
Burglary
$57,000
$39
Theft
$220,000
$154
Vehicle theft
$110,000
$79
Arson
$9,500
$7
Vandalism
$220,000
$150
Total
$2.7 million
$1,878
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 Ford 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 Ford Heights, IL average a SchoolGrade of F: 21% of students test proficient, against 13% projected for schools like them. Overall, they underperform expectations. See schools in Ford Heights on SchoolGrade
