Zion is a city of 24,600 in Lake County, about 40 miles north of downtown Chicago · Updated November 2026
Is Zion, IL safe?
Crime in Zion is moderate, with an overall CrimeGrade™ of B. Most US neighborhoods have little crime: 70% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime than Zion. Property crime grades better than violent crime here, A- against B. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Zion run from A+ to C, so check the map below.
B
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 692 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
30% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Zion as a whole, and 70% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Zion scores 692.
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 Zion, IL at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Zion, 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 Zion
Thefts from cars happen at homes far more often than nationally. In Zion, 64% of reported thefts from cars happen at homes, against 34% nationally.
Reported rapes run high. Zion has reported rapes at about double the US rate: 0.82 a year per 1,000 residents, against 0.38 nationally.
The safest and least safe parts of Zion
Low crime is the norm across Zion: 74% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and the rest in areas graded C. Grades across Zion run from A+ to C; 26% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
74%26%
A or B 74%C 26%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Zion, the northwest side has the least crime and the center the most.
Crime rates and types in Zion
CrimeGrade™ estimates Zion has about 30 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 20% less than the US as a whole and 30% 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 Zion, about 42% 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.
The Zion Police Department's 2024 report to the FBI was missing some months of theft; CrimeGrade™ filled them in from the department's own monthly pattern.
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 Zion
Zion has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Zion, 57% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (57%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Homes (52%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Homes (64%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Vandalism
Homes (52%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Aggravated assault
Homes (58%)
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 Zion compares with nearby cities
Zion has more crime than 6 of its 7 nearest cities. Wadsworth and Winthrop Harbor have the least crime nearby.
Two things set Zion apart: it has 17 jobs for every 100 residents, against 45 for the US as a whole, and 6.2 stores and restaurants for every 1,000 residents, against 10.5 nationally. Places like that tend to report less theft and robbery, yet robbery runs higher here than that would suggest.
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.17 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Lower than for 90% of US city residents
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.6.2 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Lower than for 86% 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. 75% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D+ (22 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 67% of US city residents
Show all 6
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.2.2 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 67% 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.11% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 58% 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.98% where people liveUS: 78%Higher than for 58% of US city residents
BestNeighborhood, a sister site of CrimeGrade™, ranks the neighborhoods of Zion on shops, parks, home prices, getting around and more.
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 Zion
Crime costs Zion about $1,272 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 5% more 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 $40 million a year, or $1,640 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$2.4 million
$97
Rape
$1.2 million
$49
Robbery
$320,000
$13
Assault
$3.7 million
$152
Burglary
$500,000
$20
Theft
$960,000
$39
Vehicle theft
$810,000
$33
Arson
$45,000
$2
Vandalism
$680,000
$28
Total
$11 million
$433
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 Zion 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. Zion 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 Zion, IL average a SchoolGrade of F: 23% of students test proficient, against 14% projected for schools like them. Overall, they don't meet expectations. See schools in Zion on SchoolGrade
