The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Prospect Heights, IL
Prospect Heights is a city of 16,200 in Cook County, about 20 miles northwest of downtown Chicago · Updated November 2026
Is Prospect Heights, IL safe?
Yes. Most US neighborhoods have little crime, and Prospect Heights has less than most of them: its overall CrimeGrade™ is A, safer than the neighborhoods where 66% 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 899 of 1,000Safer than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
66% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Prospect Heights as a whole, and 34% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Prospect Heights scores 899.
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 Prospect Heights, IL at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Prospect 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 Prospect Heights
Thefts are uncommon. Prospect Heights has thefts at less than half the US rate: 4.0 a year per 1,000 residents, against 13.1 nationally.
The safest and least safe parts of Prospect Heights
Every part of Prospect Heights where people live grades A or B on the national scale. Grades across Prospect Heights run from A+ to A-; 90% 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 Prospect Heights, the southeast side has the least crime and the east side the most.
Is crime going up in Prospect Heights?
Reported property crime in Prospect Heights has risen 15% 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 5.0 to 5.7 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 18). In 2024 alone, property crime fell 31%.
Property crime, change since 2019
Prospect HeightsUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Prospect Heights. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Property, Prospect Heights
Property, US
2016
+31%
+15%
2017
+27%
+12%
2018
+3%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
2020
+39%
-8%
2021
+14%
-10%
2022
+105%
-6%
2023
+68%
-7%
2024
+15%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Prospect Heights
CrimeGrade™ estimates Prospect Heights has about 20 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 46% less than the US as a whole and 52% 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 Prospect Heights, about 41% 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 Prospect Heights
Prospect Heights has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Prospect Heights, 63% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often in parking lots and garages: 71% of them, against 31% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (63%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (71%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Vandalism
Parking lots and garages (44%)
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 Prospect Heights compares with nearby cities
Of the 10 cities closest to Prospect Heights, 6 have less crime. Riverwoods and Buffalo Grove have the least.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from Prospect Heights. Beside each overall CrimeGrade™ is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer).
Compared with cities of similar size and density, Prospect Heights is safer than 86% of them.
Empty homes, night lighting and walkability in Prospect Heights
Two things set Prospect Heights apart: it has 2.3% of its homes standing empty, against 7.1% nationally, and 54% of its residents in dense blocks, against 24% nationally. Places with few empty homes tend to report less burglary, vandalism and arson, yet vandalism runs higher here than that would suggest.
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson.2.3% of homesUS: 7.1%Lower than for 93% 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 92% 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. 60% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.C- (26 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 74% of US city residents
Show all 6
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.54% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 85% of US city residents
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.8.0 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Lower than for 72% of US city residents
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.2.0 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 64% 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 Prospect Heights
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Prospect Heights about $455 a year per household, 62% 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 $7.0 million a year, or $436 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$120,000
$7
Rape
$190,000
$12
Robbery
$53,000
$3
Assault
$1.3 million
$83
Burglary
$180,000
$11
Theft
$330,000
$21
Vehicle theft
$190,000
$12
Arson
$8,000
under $1
Vandalism
$640,000
$40
Total
$3.1 million
$189
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 Prospect 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. Prospect Heights is the other kind of example: few people work in, shop in or visit it, so its crime per resident looks lower than its CrimeGrade™ suggests.
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 Prospect Heights, IL average a SchoolGrade of A-: 56% of students test proficient, against 42% projected for schools like them. Overall, they don't meet expectations. See schools in Prospect Heights on SchoolGrade
