The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Machesney Park, IL
Machesney Park is a village of 22,200 in Winnebago County, about 7 miles northeast of downtown Rockford · Updated November 2026
Is Machesney Park, IL safe?
Yes. An overall CrimeGrade™ of A- means crime in Machesney Park is low. Most US neighborhoods have little crime too, so Machesney Park sits near the middle: 49% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime, and 51% in neighborhoods with less. Violent and property crime both grade A- here. Its neighborhoods are much alike, from A to B+; see the map below.
A-
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 834 of 1,000About as safe as the typical US neighborhoodi What this means
49% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Machesney Park as a whole, and 51% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Machesney Park scores 834.
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 Machesney Park, IL at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Machesney Park, 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 Machesney Park
Reported rapes run high for an A-graded city. Machesney Park has 0.65 reported rapes a year per 1,000 residents; for the typical resident of an A-graded US city, the figure is 0.25.
Vehicle theft runs low. Machesney Park has 0.93 car thefts a year per 1,000 residents, less than half the US rate of 2.7.
The safest and least safe parts of Machesney Park
Every part of Machesney Park where people live grades A or B on the national scale. Grades across Machesney Park run from A to B+; 62% 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 Machesney Park, the north side has the least crime and the southwest side the most.
Is crime going up in Machesney Park?
Since 2019, reported violent crime in Machesney Park is up 43% and property crime is down 21%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 2.2 to 3.2 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 19 to 15 (US: 18). Neither changed much from 2023 to 2024.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
Machesney ParkUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Machesney Park. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Machesney Park
Violent, US
Property, Machesney Park
Property, US
2016
+50%
+4%
+30%
+15%
2017
+2%
+4%
+24%
+12%
2018
+18%
+0%
-3%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
+38%
+4%
-24%
-8%
2021
-9%
+6%
-42%
-10%
2022
+12%
+5%
-44%
-6%
2023
+30%
+2%
-25%
-7%
2024
+43%
-4%
-21%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Machesney Park
CrimeGrade™ estimates Machesney Park has about 35 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 6% less than the US as a whole and 17% 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 Machesney Park, about 38% 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 Machesney Park
Machesney Park has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Machesney Park, 69% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Car thefts happen most often at homes: 69% of them, against 33% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (69%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Homes (69%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Homes (68%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Aggravated assault
Homes (74%)
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 Machesney Park compares with nearby cities
Machesney Park has more crime than 7 of its 9 nearest cities. Timberlane and Poplar Grove have the least crime nearby.
Density, parking lots and walkability in Machesney Park
Two things set Machesney Park apart: it has 1% of its residents in dense blocks, against 24% nationally, and 3.5 parking-lot spaces per resident, against 2.0 nationally. Places where few residents live in dense blocks tend to report less robbery and car theft, and car theft runs low here.
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 92% of US city residents
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.3.5 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 90% 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. 93% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D- (10 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 76% 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 Machesney Park: F (3 of 100).NoneUS: noneLower than for 84% of US city residents
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.30 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Lower than for 71% 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.88% where people liveUS: 78%Lower than for 63% 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 Machesney Park
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Machesney Park about $801 a year per household, 34% 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 $20 million a year, or $894 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$220,000
$10
Rape
$870,000
$39
Robbery
$77,000
$3
Assault
$3.3 million
$147
Burglary
$330,000
$15
Theft
$1.5 million
$67
Vehicle theft
$320,000
$14
Arson
$17,000
$1
Vandalism
$830,000
$38
Total
$7.4 million
$335
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 Machesney Park 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 Machesney Park, IL average a SchoolGrade of C: 40% of students test proficient, against 25% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in Machesney Park on SchoolGrade
