The 10 Most Dangerous Cities In Illinois For 2022

The 10 Most Dangerous Places To Live In Illinois For 2022

Rockford is the most populous city to make this list and the 4th biggest in Illinois. Having the second highest violent crime rate in the state is the big reason Rockford features on this list. With a robbery and five aggravated assaults happening just about every day, it's safe to say that you're not paranoid looking over your shoulder in Rockford.

Overall, residents of Rockford face a 1 in 68 chance of being the victim of a violent crime each year. If you're stressing about the high crime rates in Rockford, you can try to mellow out in Anderson Japanese Gardens - just be sure to tell someone where you're going before you head over.

While Mount Vernon takes the cake for most dangerous city statewide overall, there's nowhere more violent in Illinois than Danville. Danville averaged a murder each month in 2020, giving the city the seventh highest murder rate in the state. With all that live-action violence going on every day, it's no wonder that the Vermilion County War Museum is one of Danville's biggest attractions.

It's not like Danville doesn't have its fair share of property crime either -- each year, residents face a 1 in 63 chance of having their stuff damaged or stolen.

We're making a stop on our tour of the most dangerous places to live in Illinois in Mount Vernon, a city in Jefferson County. Last year, Mount Vernon was also the most dangerous, so King City's stay at the top spot is predictable, but a bit disturbing.

How'd things turn so bad so quick? Well, Mount Vernon has the fourth highest violent crime rate in the state, with residents facing a crazy high 1 in 85 chance of being attacked or killed in 2020.

Property crime also isn't so great in Mount Vernon, which has the fifth highest rate of burglaries in Illinois. Looks like the local police have their work cut out for them.

Located 60 miles east of St. Louis, Centralia ranks as the fourth most dangerous places to live in Illinois for 2022. If you're hanging out in Foundation Park, you might want to bring a buddy and get home before dark, because Centralia is the third most violent place in Illinois.

Centralia also has the unfortunate distinction of having the third highest rape cases per capita in the state. You're not even safe at home in Centralia, seeing as the city also has the second highest rate of burglaries in Illinois.

Granite City has an industrial past. It gets its name from a manufacturing tradition that goes back to the late 1800s, when the company's main employer was a company that made kitchen utensils that looked like granite.

Located in west-central Illinois, Granite City sits just across the Mississippi River from Missouri. In this regard, it acts as a kind of cross-border suburb to St. Louis.

It's a good thing it sits so close to the river. The water could come in handy in a community with the number 4 highest rate of arsons in the state. This is part of an overall crime problem for the community, with Granite City representing the number 5 most dangerous spot in Illinois.

We make our next stop in consideration of Illinois's most dangerous locales in the town of Cahokia, a village located just south of St. Louis. Cahokia is the 2highest least violent place on our list, so you don't have to worry much about getting attacked at a local park.

At the same time, you probably want to invest in some good home security if you're living in Cahokia, because the village experienced the third highest burglary rate in Illinois for 2020, with a burglary happening every other day on average.

This is Cahokia's first time on the top ten most dangerous in Illinois list, so if it can get its property crime rate down to its violent crime levels, the village should have no problem getting back off this list next year.

Coming in as the seventh most dangerous place in Illinois is Peoria. Peoria is known for having one of the most scenic roads in the country, Grand View Drive, but with 430 car thefts occurring in 2020, we wonder how many people that got to experience it in 2020 were driving cars they actually owned.

Peoria also ranked as the sixth most violent place in Illinois, with 14 murders taking place and residents facing a 1 in 101 chance of being attacked in 2020.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and posit that the Springfield the Simpsons live in isn't in Illinois, based on the fact that the Simpson's hometown only has one bumbling criminal at work. I'm also going to guess that Abraham Lincoln would be pretty disappointed with the state of affairs in Springfield these days.

Both violent crime and property crime rates in Springfield are in the top ten statewide, with 1,230 instances of theft, burglary, and vandalism, and 1,078 attacks and murders.

Decatur is located in the center of Illinois. When you hear about the state, your mind might automatically turn to Chicago, the biggest city in the Midwest and the home of infamous criminals like Al Capone.

Well, that's a long way from here. Decatur sits in the middle of farm country. No wonder it serves as the headquarters of agriculture giant Archer Daniels Midland. But while farms make up much of the surrounding landscape, Decatur suffers from a taste of the Chicago-style crime. While violence is reasonably under wraps, high burglary rates contribute to making this the number 9 most dangerous spot in Illinois.

A former mayor once called Marion "the hub of the universe." Uh, hardly. But among the cornfields of southern Illinois, it serves as a key urban outpost.

So, not the hub of the universe. But the hub of a car-theft ring? Maybe. In a population of just 17,551 residents, Marion suffered 80 stolen cars during a year. For rural Illinois, that's a crime wave.

Most Dangerous Places To Live In Illinois FAQs

Is Illinois a dangerous state?

No, Illinois is not a dangerous state as it ranks as the #24 safest state in the United States based on our analysis of the latest FBI Crime Data. The violent crime rate in illinois ranks 18th highest in the United States -- 9.83% worse than US average violent crime rate. The property crime rate in the Prairie State ranks 38th highest in the United States -- 20.37% better than US average property crime rate. The latest reporting year from the FBI was 2020.

Is Chicago, IL a dangerous city?

No, Chicago is not a dangerous city. Chicago ranks as the #44 safest out of 320 major cities over 100,000 people in the United States based on our analysis of the latest FBI Crime Data. Keep in mind that are always safe and dangerous parts of any city, so even though Chicago might be considered safe you still need to be aware of where you are. For example, Edison Park is the safest in Chicago, while West Garfield Park is considered dangerous by many based on recent crime stats.

Compared to other big cities, the violent crime rate in Chicago ranks 39th highest in America -- 79.79% worse than US average violent crime rate. The property crime rate in the ranks 316th highest in the United States -- 72.98% better than US average property crime rate. Note the latest reporting year from the FBI was 2020 and that no city in America is 'dangerous'. Despite the uptick in murders, it's nothing like you'd see in Tijuana or Caracas where the murder rate is 2x any American city.