The Murder Capitals Of Illinois For 2023


The cities with the most murder in Illinois are East St. Louis and Maywood for 2023.

By: Chris Kolmar | About HomeSnacks
Last Updated: October 5, 2023

Do you live in one of the murder capitals of Illinois?

We all watch the news with horror when we hear about a homicide that happens not that far away from us. While a murder just blocks or even a couple of towns away from your house would make anyone uneasy, in the long run, most likely, where you live is relatively safe.

So we wanted to get the facts straight and dug into the FBI crime data in order to identify the places with the most murders and the highest murder rates per capita in Illinois.

The result is the Murder Capitals of the Prairie State for 2023:

  1. East St. Louis
  2. Maywood
  3. Chicago
  4. Kankakee
  5. Markham
  6. Urbana
  7. Danville
  8. Joliet
  9. Decatur
  10. Riverdale

What city has the highest murder rate in Illinois? The city with the highest murder rate in Illinois is East St. Louis with 190.3 murders per 100,000 people.

What is the city in Illinois with highest number of murders? The city in Illinois with the highest number of murders is Chicago with 771 murders.

Read on below to see how we crunched the numbers and how your town in Illinois ranked. There were ‘only’ 94 cities in Illinois where a city reported a murder to the FBI, meaning 212 places had no murder.

For more reading on the Prairie State check out:

The 10 Murder Capitals Of Illinois For 2023

1. East St. Louis

East St. Louis, IL

Source: Wikipedia User FlickreviewR | CC BY 2.0

Overall SnackAbility

3
/10

Population: 26,277
Rank Last Year: –
Murders: 50 (2nd Most)
Murders Per 100k: 190.3 (Most)
More on East St. Louis:  Data | Cost Of Living | Crime Report

2. Maywood

Maywood, IL

Source: Wikipedia User Boscophotos | CC BY-SA 3.0

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 23,055
Rank Last Year: 1
Murders: 16 (5th Most)
Murders Per 100k: 69.4 (2nd Most)
More on Maywood:  Data | Cost Of Living

3. Chicago

Chicago, IL

Source: Flickr User ::RodrixParedes:: | CC BY 2.0

Overall SnackAbility

7
/10

Population: 2,693,598
Rank Last Year: 2
Murders: 771 (Most)
Murders Per 100k: 28.6 (7th Most)
More on Chicago:  Data | Cost Of Living

4. Kankakee

Kankakee, IL

Source: Wikipedia User Chris Light | CC BY-SA 3.0

Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 25,863
Rank Last Year: 3
Murders: 8 (12th Most)
Murders Per 100k: 30.9 (4th Most)
More on Kankakee:  Data | Cost Of Living

5. Markham

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 12,289
Rank Last Year: 5
Murders: 7 (14th Most)
Murders Per 100k: 57.0 (3rd Most)
More on Markham:  Data | Cost Of Living

6. Urbana

Urbana, IL

Source: Public domain

Overall SnackAbility

8
/10

Population: 41,673
Rank Last Year: 44
Murders: 9 (10th Most)
Murders Per 100k: 21.6 (10th Most)
More on Urbana:  Data | Cost Of Living

7. Danville

Danville, IL

Source: Public domain

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 30,208
Rank Last Year: 6
Murders: 8 (12th Most)
Murders Per 100k: 26.5 (8th Most)
More on Danville:  Data | Cost Of Living

8. Joliet

Joliet, IL

Source: Public domain

Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 148,155
Rank Last Year: –
Murders: 25 (3rd Most)
Murders Per 100k: 16.9 (19th Most)
More on Joliet:  Data | Cost Of Living | Crime Report

9. Decatur

Decatur, IL

Source: Public domain

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 70,175
Rank Last Year: 7
Murders: 13 (7th Most)
Murders Per 100k: 18.5 (16th Most)
More on Decatur:  Data | Cost Of Living

10. Riverdale

Riverdale, IL

Source: Wikipedia User Zol87 from Chicago, Illinois, USA | CC BY-SA 2.0

Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 13,025
Rank Last Year: 8
Murders: 4 (22nd Most)
Murders Per 100k: 30.7 (5th Most)
More on Riverdale:  Data | Cost Of Living

Methodology: How we calculated the murder capitals of Illinois

While there are surveys and public polls on what cities in a state are the most dangerous, we didn’t want to rely on speculation and opinion. Instead, we looked at the hard numbers from the FBI’s last year of reporting. Specifically, we analyzed the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report which summarizes the number of murders that may happen in each city per year.

We only looked every single city in Illinois for which FBI data was available for the most recent FBI Crime In The United States. That left us with 94 cities to rank.

Most Dangerous Cities In America

Finally, we averaged the two scores into an index:

  • The raw number of murders in each city
  • The murders per person

We felt as if a small place with 2,500 people and two murders makes it a lot more dangerous than a city of 25,000 people with three murders. Any ties went to the larger city.

This article is an opinion based on facts. It is our tenth time ranking the most places with the most murders per capita in Illinois and is updated for 2023.

Summary: The Places With The Most Murders In Illinois For 2023

If you’re looking at the places in Illinois with the most murders, and where residents have the highest chances of being killed themselves, this is an accurate list. Again, these statistics are an indication of where crimes occur, not a statement about the effectiveness of the law enforcement in the areas they serve.

For more Illinois reading, check out:

Detailed List Of The Places With The Most Murder In Illinois For 2023

Rank City Murders Murders/100K
1 East St. Louis, IL 50 190.28
2 Maywood, IL 16 69.4
3 Chicago, IL 771 28.62
4 Kankakee, IL 8 30.93
5 Markham, IL 7 56.96
6 Urbana, IL 9 21.6
7 Danville, IL 8 26.48
8 Joliet, IL 25 16.87
9 Decatur, IL 13 18.53
10 Riverdale, IL 4 30.71
11 Cahokia, IL 4 29.12
12 Freeport, IL 5 21.2
13 Rockford, IL 19 13.19
14 Chicago Heights, IL 5 17.12
15 East Moline, IL 4 19.44
16 Peoria, IL 14 12.74
17 Hazel Crest, IL 3 22.2
18 Midlothian, IL 3 21.25
19 Sterling, IL 3 20.89
20 Carbondale, IL 4 16.04
21 Calumet City, IL 5 13.97
22 Springfield, IL 11 9.71
23 Champaign, IL 8 8.87
24 Pekin, IL 4 12.66
25 Sauk Village, IL 2 19.38
26 Zion, IL 3 12.83
27 Waukegan, IL 7 8.16
28 Evanston, IL 6 8.28
29 Shiloh, IL 2 14.53
30 Aurora, IL 11 5.56
31 Washington, IL 2 12.0
32 Wheeling, IL 3 7.68
33 Crest Hill, IL 2 9.84
34 Montgomery, IL 2 9.82
35 Bloomingdale, IL 2 9.2
36 Machesney Park, IL 2 8.85
37 Alton, IL 2 7.73
38 Bloomington, IL 4 5.18
39 Normal, IL 3 5.49
40 West Chicago, IL 2 7.47
41 Posen, IL 1 17.11
42 Granite City, IL 2 7.2
43 Galesburg, IL 2 6.67
44 North Riverside, IL 1 15.62
45 Algonquin, IL 2 6.49
46 University Park, IL 1 14.58
47 Mount Carmel, IL 1 14.35
48 Princeton, IL 1 13.48
49 Silvis, IL 1 13.39
50 South Beloit, IL 1 13.32
51 Rock Island, IL 2 5.45
52 Hanover Park, IL 2 5.35
53 Rochelle, IL 1 11.11
54 Steger, IL 1 10.89
55 Belleville, IL 2 4.93
56 Summit, IL 1 8.99
57 Schiller Park, IL 1 8.8
58 Oak Park, IL 2 3.81
59 Richton Park, IL 1 7.55
60 Berwyn, IL 2 3.66
61 Forest Park, IL 1 7.27
62 Fairview Heights, IL 1 6.24
63 Bridgeview, IL 1 6.23
64 Country Club Hills, IL 1 6.08
65 Marion, IL 1 5.7
66 Homewood, IL 1 5.44
67 Sycamore, IL 1 5.44
68 Bellwood, IL 1 5.37
69 Matteson, IL 1 5.13
70 Park Forest, IL 1 4.73
71 Geneva, IL 1 4.61
72 Roselle, IL 1 4.46
73 Morton Grove, IL 1 4.4
74 Blue Island, IL 1 4.34
75 Loves Park, IL 1 4.29
76 Rolling Meadows, IL 1 4.26
77 Elmwood Park, IL 1 4.16
78 Melrose Park, IL 1 4.06
79 New Lenox, IL 1 3.67
80 Lansing, IL 1 3.66
81 O’Fallon, IL 1 3.37
82 Elk Grove Village, IL 1 3.1
83 Glendale Heights, IL 1 2.98
84 Carpentersville, IL 1 2.69
85 Romeoville, IL 1 2.52
86 Crystal Lake, IL 1 2.52
87 DeKalb, IL 1 2.35
88 Lombard, IL 1 2.25
89 Glenview, IL 1 2.1
90 Downers Grove, IL 1 2.04
91 Skokie, IL 1 1.61
92 Arlington Heights, IL 1 1.34
93 Elgin, IL 1 0.9
94 Naperville, IL 1 0.67
About Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar has been in the real estate business for almost ten years now. He originally worked for Movoto Real Estate as the director of marketing before founding HomeSnacks.

He believes the key to finding the right place to live comes down to looking at the data, reading about things to do, and, most importantly, checking it out yourself before you move.

If you've been looking for a place to live in the past several years, you've probably stumbled upon his writing already.

You can find out more about him on LinkedIn or his website.

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