The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Wilmette, IL
Wilmette is a village of 27,500 in Cook County, about 14 miles north of downtown Chicago · Updated November 2026
Is Wilmette, IL safe?
Yes. Crime is low across most of the US, and lower still in Wilmette: an overall CrimeGrade™ of A, safer than the neighborhoods where 73% of Americans live. Violent crime grades better than property crime here, A+ against A-. Its neighborhoods are much alike, from A+ to A; see the map below.
A
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 918 of 1,000Safer than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
73% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Wilmette as a whole, and 27% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Wilmette scores 918.
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 Wilmette, IL at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Wilmette, 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 Wilmette
One weak spot: burglary. It grades B in Wilmette, worse than in the neighborhoods where 84% of Americans live, against A- for property crime as a whole.
Simple assaults are uncommon. Wilmette has simple assaults at a small fraction of the US rate: 2.0 a year per 1,000 residents, against 9.7 nationally.
The safest and least safe parts of Wilmette
Every part of Wilmette where people live grades A or B on the national scale. Grades across Wilmette run from A+ to A; every part of Wilmette has 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 Wilmette, the northwest side has the least crime and the south side the most.
Is crime going up in Wilmette?
Reported property crime in Wilmette has risen 42% 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 8.1 to 12 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 18). Property crime changed little from 2023 to 2024.
Property crime, change since 2019
WilmetteUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Wilmette. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Property, Wilmette
Property, US
2016
+39%
+15%
2017
+57%
+12%
2018
+22%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
2020
+2%
-8%
2021
-4%
-10%
2022
+54%
-6%
2023
+41%
-7%
2024
+42%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Wilmette
CrimeGrade™ estimates Wilmette has about 17 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 55% less than the US as a whole and 60% 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.
Theft is the most common crime in Wilmette, about 47% 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 Wilmette
Wilmette has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Wilmette, 45% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often on streets and sidewalks: 45% of them, against 18% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (45%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Streets and sidewalks (43%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Theft from cars
Streets and sidewalks (45%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Vandalism
Homes (27%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Shares of the crimes reported to police, 2022 to 2024. Reports with no time recorded are left out of the times.
How Wilmette compares with nearby cities
Wilmette has less crime than 5 of its 9 nearest cities.
Night lighting, parking lots and walkability in Wilmette
Two things set Wilmette apart: it has 0.6 parking-lot spaces per resident, against 2.0 nationally, and a Walk Grade of C (32 of 100) on BestNeighborhood, against 21 for the US as a whole. Even so, 55% of residents in Wilmette live in car-dependent areas, where most errands take a car. Places with little parking-lot space tend to report less theft; here theft sits near the national middle.
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
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.0.6 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Lower 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.C (32 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 83% of US city residents
Show all 6
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson.3.6% of homesUS: 7.1%Lower than for 79% 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 Wilmette: C- (29 of 100).7 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 78% of US city residents
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.26 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Lower than for 77% 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 Wilmette
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Wilmette about $343 a year per household, 72% 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 $5.2 million a year, or $188 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$82,000
$3
Rape
$160,000
$6
Robbery
$49,000
$2
Assault
$480,000
$17
Burglary
$820,000
$30
Theft
$1.1 million
$40
Vehicle theft
$110,000
$4
Arson
$10,000
under $1
Vandalism
$590,000
$22
Total
$3.4 million
$124
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 Wilmette 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. Wilmette 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 Wilmette, IL average a SchoolGrade of A+: 83% of students test proficient, against 62% projected for schools like them. Overall, they exceed expectations. See schools in Wilmette on SchoolGrade
