Uptown is a neighborhood of 38,700 residents in Chicago, about 6 miles north of downtown · Updated November 2026
Is Uptown in Chicago safe?
Crime in Uptown is high by national standards, with an overall CrimeGrade™ of C. Most US neighborhoods have little crime: 84% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime than Uptown. Violent crime grades B and property crime D-. Chicago as a whole grades F. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Uptown run from B+ to F, so check the map below.
C
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 445 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
16% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Uptown as a whole, and 84% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Uptown scores 445.
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 Uptown, Chicago, IL at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Uptown in Chicago, 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 Uptown
Aggravated assaults are less common than the crime level suggests. Crime overall in Uptown runs 59% above the US rate, but aggravated assaults run at a small fraction of that rate: 0.56 a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.6 nationally.
Burglary is a strength. Uptown grades D- for property crime, but burglary grades A.
How Uptown compares within Chicago
Areas graded C are home to 49% of residents in Uptown; 15% live in areas graded A or B and 36% in areas graded D or F. Grades across Uptown run from B+ to F; every part of Uptown has more crime than the typical US neighborhood.
15%49%36%
A or B 15%C 49%D or F 36%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Uptown has less crime than 100 of the 135 neighborhoods in Chicago. It covers much of the Lake View, Lincoln Park, and Edgewater areas and the West Ridge, Rogers Park, and Logan Square areas.
Is crime going up in Chicago?
Reported property crime in Chicago as a whole has risen 12% since 2019. Burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts went from about 30 to 34 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 18). Property crime changed little from 2023 to 2024.
Property crime, change since 2019
ChicagoUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police departments that serve Chicago. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Property, Chicago
Property, US
2016
+6%
+15%
2017
+8%
+12%
2018
+7%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
2020
-28%
-8%
2021
-26%
-10%
2022
+3%
-6%
2023
+11%
-7%
2024
+12%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Uptown
CrimeGrade™ estimates Uptown has about 59 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 59% more than the US as a whole and 30% less than Chicago as a whole.
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.
Theft makes up about 36% of crime reported in Uptown. Assault is less common but costs more, because each one does 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.
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 Chicago
The Chicago Police Department polices Uptown; these figures cover Chicago as a whole, 2022 to 2024.
In Chicago as a whole, 68% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often on streets and sidewalks: 69% of them, against 18% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (68%)
Night (midnight to 6 am)
Car theft
Streets and sidewalks (75%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Streets and sidewalks (69%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Streets and sidewalks (48%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Robbery
Streets and sidewalks (65%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Streets and sidewalks (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 Uptown compares with nearby neighborhoods
Uptown has less crime than 6 of its 10 nearest neighborhoods.
Two things set Uptown apart: it has a Walk Grade of A+ (92 of 100) on BestNeighborhood, against 21 for the US as a whole, and 98% of its residents in dense blocks, against 24% nationally. Places like that tend to report more theft and assault, and they run high here.
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. 98% of residents here live in walkable areas.A+ (92 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 94% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.98% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 88% of residents of US city neighborhoods
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 Uptown: C+ (47 of 100).50 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 87% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Show all 4
Tree coverThe share of land under tree canopy where people live. Leafy neighborhoods tend to report less robbery.2% where people liveUS: 21%Lower than for 84% of residents of US city neighborhoods
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 Uptown
Crime costs Uptown about $967 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 20% 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 $51 million a year, or $1,328 per resident.
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 Uptown 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
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 Uptown, Chicago, IL average a SchoolGrade of D+: 32% of students test proficient, against 24% projected for schools like them. Overall, they underperform expectations. See schools in Uptown on SchoolGrade
