Gary is a city of 72,700 in Lake County, about 25 miles southeast of downtown Chicago · Updated November 2026
Is Gary, IN safe?
Gary is among the higher-crime places in the US: an overall CrimeGrade™ of F, with more crime than the neighborhoods where 92% of Americans live. Property crime grades better than violent crime here, B against F. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Gary run from A to F, so check the map or the safest and least safe neighborhoods below.
F
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 61 of 1,000Less safe than nearly all US neighborhoodsi What this means
8% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Gary as a whole, and 92% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Gary scores 61.
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 Gary, IN at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Gary, 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 Gary
Robberies are less common than in most F-graded cities. Gary has 0.70 robberies a year per 1,000 residents; for the typical resident of an F-graded US city, the figure is 3.1.
One part of Gary stands out for vehicle theft. Car thefts in Midtown, in central Gary, run at more than double the rate in the rest of the city.
The safest and most dangerous neighborhoods in Gary
In Gary, 15% of residents live in areas graded A or B, 10% in areas graded C and 75% in areas graded D or F. Grades across Gary run from A to F; every part of Gary has more crime than the typical US neighborhood.
15%10%75%
A or B 15%C 10%D or F 75%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
1Miller Beach, Aetna & Emerson, northeastAggravated assaults run about 30% lower here than in the rest of Gary.D+267
2Brunswick & Ambridge Mann, northwestCar thefts run about 40% lower here than in the rest of Gary.D169
3Downtown West & Downtown Gary, northCar thefts run about 30% lower here than in the rest of Gary.F7
4Pulaski, eastAggravated assaults run about 40% higher here than in the rest of Gary.F0
5Midtown, centralThefts run at about double the rate in the rest of Gary.F0
6Glen Park, southCar thefts run about 60% higher here than in the rest of Gary.F0
7Tolleston & Tarrytown, westClose to the rest of Gary on most crimes.F0
Neighborhood areas of Gary, ranked by overall CrimeGrade™; beside each grade is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer). Each one combines several of the smaller areas on the map.
Crime rates and types in Gary
CrimeGrade™ estimates Gary has about 80 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, about double the rate for the US as a whole and more than double the rate for Indiana.
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 makes up about 42% of crime reported in Gary. Murder is less common but costs more, because each one does far more harm.
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 Gary Police Department's 2024 report to the FBI was missing some months of reported rape, robbery, aggravated assault, simple assault, theft, vehicle theft, arson and vandalism; CrimeGrade™ filled them in from the department's own monthly pattern. The department sent the FBI no usable 2024 count of burglary, so CrimeGrade™ built the figure from the department's own reports for recent years, brought up to 2024. The department's 2024 count of murder fell far below its usual level, a sign of a reporting break, so CrimeGrade™ used the department's earlier years instead.
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 Gary
Gary has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Gary, 82% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often on streets and sidewalks: 79% of them, against 18% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (82%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Streets and sidewalks (76%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Theft from cars
Streets and sidewalks (79%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Vandalism
Streets and sidewalks (48%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Robbery
Streets and sidewalks (54%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (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 Gary compares with nearby cities
Of the 10 cities closest to Gary, 8 have less crime. Schererville and Highland have the least.
Two things set Gary apart: it has 26.6% of its homes standing empty, against 7.1% nationally, and 5.3 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.26.6% 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.5.3 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 98% 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. 80% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D+ (19 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 54% of US city residents
Show all 6
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.6.8 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Lower than for 82% 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.100% where people liveUS: 78%Higher than for 74% 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
BestNeighborhood, a sister site of CrimeGrade™, ranks the neighborhoods of Gary 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 Gary
Crime costs Gary about $3,567 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, about 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 $488 million a year, or $6,720 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$50 million
$683
Rape
$3.6 million
$50
Robbery
$1.6 million
$22
Assault
$28 million
$387
Burglary
$3.8 million
$52
Theft
$6.8 million
$94
Vehicle theft
$6.7 million
$93
Arson
$310,000
$4
Vandalism
$7.1 million
$98
Total
$108 million
$1,482
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 Gary 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 Gary, IN average a SchoolGrade of F: 14% of students test proficient, against 16% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in Gary on SchoolGrade
