The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Rock Falls, IL
Rock Falls is a city of 12,600 in Whiteside County, about 35 miles south of downtown Freeport · Updated November 2026
Is Rock Falls, IL safe?
Mostly, yes. Crime in Rock Falls is low, with an overall CrimeGrade™ of A-, but most US neighborhoods are safer still: Rock Falls has more crime than the neighborhoods where 61% of Americans live. Violent and property crime both grade A- here. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Rock Falls run from A+ to C+, so check the map below.
A-
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 776 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
39% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Rock Falls as a whole, and 61% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Rock Falls scores 776.
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 Rock Falls, IL at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Rock Falls, 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 Rock Falls
Burglaries run high for an A-graded city. Rock Falls has 4.1 burglaries a year per 1,000 residents; for the typical resident of an A-graded US city, the figure is 1.2.
Car thefts are less common than the crime level suggests. Crime overall in Rock Falls runs 40% above the US rate, but car thefts run 27% below it: 2.0 a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.7 nationally.
The safest and least safe parts of Rock Falls
Low crime is the norm across Rock Falls: 91% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and the rest in areas graded C. Grades across Rock Falls run from A+ to C+; 37% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
91%
A or B 91%C 9%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Rock Falls, the southwest side has the least crime and the north side the most.
Is crime going up in Rock Falls?
Reported crime in Rock Falls has held about steady since 2019: violent crime is down 2% and property crime down 1%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 6.1 to 5.9 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts stayed at about 30 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, property crime rose 28%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
Rock FallsUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Rock Falls. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Rock Falls
Violent, US
Property, Rock Falls
Property, US
2016
-35%
+4%
-55%
+15%
2017
-66%
+4%
-62%
+12%
2018
-38%
+0%
-29%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
-40%
+4%
+45%
-8%
2021
-31%
+6%
+0%
-10%
2022
-15%
+5%
-7%
-6%
2023
-18%
+2%
-22%
-7%
2024
-2%
-4%
-0%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Rock Falls
CrimeGrade™ estimates Rock Falls has about 52 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 40% more than the US as a whole and 23% more 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 Rock Falls, about 40% 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 Rock Falls
Rock Falls has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Rock Falls, 75% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (75%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Vandalism
Homes (52%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Aggravated assault
Homes (49%)
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 Rock Falls compares with nearby cities
Rock Falls has the most crime of its 2 nearest cities.
Empty homes, parking lots and walkability in Rock Falls
Two things set Rock Falls apart: it has 11.3% of its homes standing empty, against 7.1% nationally, and 3.2 parking-lot spaces per resident, against 2.0 nationally. Places like that tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson, and burglary and vandalism run high here.
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson.11.3% of homesUS: 7.1%Higher than for 91% of US city residents
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.3.2 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 88% 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. 79% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D+ (19 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 58% of US city residents
Show all 6
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.21 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Lower than for 85% of US city residents
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 Rock Falls: F (0 of 100).NoneUS: noneLower than for 84% of US city residents
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.3% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 81% 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 Rock Falls
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Rock Falls about $1,186 a year per household, about the same as 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 $17 million a year, or $1,327 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$450,000
$36
Rape
$670,000
$53
Robbery
$110,000
$9
Assault
$2.6 million
$208
Burglary
$460,000
$37
Theft
$1.0 million
$80
Vehicle theft
$380,000
$30
Arson
$28,000
$2
Vandalism
$730,000
$58
Total
$6.4 million
$513
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 Rock Falls 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 Rock Falls, IL average a SchoolGrade of C+: 42% of students test proficient, against 21% projected for schools like them. Overall, they greatly exceed expectations. See schools in Rock Falls on SchoolGrade
