East St. Louis is a city of 19,400 in St. Clair County, about 4 miles east of downtown St. Louis · Updated November 2026
How common is violent crime in East St. Louis?
East St. Louis grades F for violent crime, with more of it than the neighborhoods where 99% of Americans live. Assaults make up 93% of it, and most of those are simple assaults, which involve no weapon and no serious injury.
F
Violent crime CrimeGrade™
Safety score 0 of 1,000More violent crime than nearly all US neighborhoodsi What this means
1% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more violent crime than East St. Louis as a whole, and 99% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a violent crime safety score of 860, a CrimeGrade™ of A. East St. Louis scores 0.
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 violent crime than most US neighborhoods.
How to read the map: each area's color compares its violent crime with the people who spend time there, on one national scale, from green for the least to red for the most. Each area gets its own color, so a busy downtown or nightlife strip can show red while the homes around it stay green. The interactive maps load faster on a solid connection. Compare high speed internet in East St. Louis, IL at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in East St. Louis, 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 about violent crime in East St. Louis
Reported rape stands out among cities graded F for violent crime. For the typical resident of a US city graded F for violent crime, the figure is 0.55 reported rapes a year per 1,000 residents; East St. Louis has 1.3.
Aggravated assaults and simple assaults both run high. In East St. Louis, each runs at more than triple the US rate: 10.7 aggravated assaults and 36.5 simple assaults a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.6 and 9.7 nationally.
Where violent crime is lowest and highest in East St. Louis
High violent crime is widespread across East St. Louis: 94% of residents live in areas graded D or F, and 6% in areas graded A or B. Violent crime grades across East St. Louis run from A+ to F.
94%
A or B 6%D or F 94%
Share of residents, by the violent crime CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Violent crime rates and types in East St. Louis
CrimeGrade™ estimates East St. Louis has about 51 reported violent crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, more than triple the rate for the US as a whole and about triple the rate for Illinois.
All violent crime
Assaults
Robbery
Reported crimes a year, per 1,000 residents. Violent crime here includes simple assaults, which the FBI's violent crime rate leaves out.
Assault is the most common violent crime in East St. Louis, about 93% of the total.
Each CrimeGrade™ here compares a violent crime with the people who spend time in an area, not only the people who live there. Rates count crimes per 1,000 residents.
The East St. Louis Police Department sent the FBI no usable 2024 counts of murder, reported rape, robbery and aggravated assault, so CrimeGrade™ built the figures from the department's own reports for recent years, brought up to 2024. The department sent the FBI no 2024 count of simple assault and no recent year to build on, so CrimeGrade™ made its own estimate.
Select a crime's name to see its map above. CrimeGrade™ business reports map each crime at about 66-meter detail.
Violent crime in East St. Louis and nearby cities
East St. Louis has the most violent crime of its 7 nearest cities.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from East St. Louis. Beside each violent crime CrimeGrade™ is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer).
Compared with cities of similar size and density, East St. Louis has more violent crime than 99% of them.
Among the traits that tend to go with violent crime, two set East St. Louis apart: it has 13 buses and trains an hour at the evening rush, where most Americans have none nearby, and 25 jobs for every 100 residents, against 45 for the US as a whole. Places with busy transit tend to report more robbery, and it runs high here.
Transit serviceBuses and trains an hour at the evening rush. Places with busy transit tend to report more robbery. BestNeighborhood's Transit Grade for East St. Louis: D+ (24 of 100).13 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 88% of US city residents
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more robbery.25 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Lower than for 79% 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 assault. 89% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D (16 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 55% of US city residents
Show all 4
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery.12% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 57% 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 violent crime costs East St. Louis
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, violent crime costs East St. Louis about $305 million a year, or $15,681 per resident. The costs that reach a bill, such as medical care, lost work and the justice system, come to about $50 million, or $2,569 per resident.
Billed cost of violent crime per resident, per year
How the cost breaks down
Pain and suffering are about 84% of that full cost.
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$37 million
$1,881
Rape
$1.5 million
$78
Robbery
$790,000
$41
Assault
$11 million
$570
Total
$50 million
$2,569
How CrimeGrade™ works
The violent crime CrimeGrade™ covers murder, rape, robbery and assault, from A+ for the least crime to F for the most, on one scale for the whole country.
It weighs each violent crime against the people who spend time in an area, so a busy downtown is graded on its workers and visitors as well as its residents.
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.
