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.
To find the cities in Illinois with the most murders and the highest murder rates per capita, we used Saturday Night Science to compare the FBI crime data on murders for the 81 cities in the Prairie State with over 6,000 residents.
What city has the highest murder rate in Illinois? The city with the highest murder rate in Illinois is Riverdale with 70 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 461 murders.
Read on below to see how we crunched the numbers and how your town in Illinois ranked. There were ‘only’ 81 cities in Illinois where a city reported a murder to the FBI, meaning 203 places had no murder.
70 per 100k · #1 highest murder rate in Illinois
Located in
Cook County, Illinois
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
30 per 100k · #2 highest murder rate in Illinois
Located in
Cook County, Illinois
Forest Park is a village in Cook County, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, United States. The population was 14,167 at the 2010 census. The Forest Park terminal on the CTA Blue Line is the line’s western terminus, located on the Eisenhower Expressway at Des Plaines Avenue.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
28 per 100k · #3 highest murder rate in Illinois
Located in
Champaign County, Illinois
Mahomet is a town in Champaign County, Illinois, United States. The population was 7,258 at the 2010 census. Mahomet is located approximately ten miles west of Champaign at the junction of Interstate 74 and IL 47.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
28 per 100k · #4 highest murder rate in Illinois
Located in
Jefferson County, Illinois
Mount Vernon known as “The King City” is a city in and the county seat of Jefferson County, Illinois, United States. The population was 15,277 at the 2010 census.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
25 per 100k · #5 highest murder rate in Illinois
Located in
Cook County, Illinois
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
21 per 100k · #6 highest murder rate in Illinois
Sauk Village is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, with a small portion in Will County. The population was 10,506 at the 2010 census.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
21 per 100k · #7 highest murder rate in Illinois
Located in
Whiteside County, Illinois
Sterling is a city in Whiteside County, Illinois, United States. The population was 15,370 at the 2010 census, down from 15,451 in 2000. Formerly nicknamed “Hardware Capital of the World”, Sterling has long been associated with manufacturing and the steel industry.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
21 per 100k · #8 highest murder rate in Illinois
Located in
Grundy County, Illinois
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
19 per 100k · #9 highest murder rate in Illinois
Located in
Cook County, Illinois
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
19 per 100k · #10 highest murder rate in Illinois
Located in
Cook County, Illinois
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Illinois’s statewide median.
On the map
Where Illinois’s murders happen
Saturday Night Science
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 wanted to rely on something other than speculation and opinion. Instead, we used Saturday Night Science to compare 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 in each city annually.
We only looked at 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 81 cities to rank.
We took the number of murders per capita as the ranking factor. The place with the most murders per capita based on the most recent data is Riverdale. It is our eleventh time ranking the places with the most murders per capita in Illinois. We updated the list for 2026.
The full plate
Murder Rates By City In Illinois
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Population | Murders | Murders/100K |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverdale | 10,009 | 7 | 70 |
| 2 | Forest Park | 13,460 | 4 | 30 |
| 3 | Mahomet | 10,538 | 3 | 28 |
| 4 | Mount Vernon | 14,146 | 4 | 28 |
| 5 | Glenwood | 8,150 | 2 | 25 |
| 6 | Sauk Village | 9,360 | 2 | 21 |
| 7 | Sterling | 14,400 | 3 | 21 |
| 8 | Morris | 14,608 | 3 | 21 |
| 9 | Chicago Heights | 25,802 | 5 | 19 |
| 10 | Summit | 10,455 | 2 | 19 |
| 11 | Country Club Hills | 15,787 | 3 | 19 |
| 12 | Chicago | 2,638,698 | 461 | 17 |
| 13 | Belleville | 40,225 | 6 | 15 |
| 14 | Park Forest | 20,487 | 3 | 15 |
| 15 | Murphysboro | 6,924 | 1 | 14 |
| 16 | Blue Island | 21,179 | 3 | 14 |
| 17 | Bradley | 15,224 | 2 | 13 |
| 18 | Freeport | 22,888 | 3 | 13 |
| 19 | Rockford | 145,280 | 19 | 13 |
| 20 | Peoria | 109,677 | 14 | 13 |
| 21 | Zion | 24,068 | 3 | 12 |
| 22 | Alton | 24,809 | 3 | 12 |
| 23 | Moline | 41,659 | 5 | 12 |
| 24 | Rock Falls | 8,545 | 1 | 12 |
| 25 | Jacksonville | 17,122 | 2 | 12 |
| 26 | Bellwood | 17,623 | 2 | 11 |
| 27 | South Holland | 20,192 | 2 | 10 |
| 28 | Barrington | 10,402 | 1 | 10 |
| 29 | Geneva | 21,056 | 2 | 9 |
| 30 | Carbondale | 21,494 | 2 | 9 |
| 31 | Villa Park | 21,570 | 2 | 9 |
| 32 | Woodridge | 33,387 | 3 | 9 |
| 33 | Melrose Park | 23,327 | 2 | 9 |
| 34 | Rantoul | 11,835 | 1 | 8 |
| 35 | Northlake | 12,100 | 1 | 8 |
| 36 | Richton Park | 12,187 | 1 | 8 |
| 37 | Springfield | 111,965 | 9 | 8 |
| 38 | West Chicago | 24,968 | 2 | 8 |
| 39 | Plano | 12,942 | 1 | 8 |
| 40 | Tinley Park | 53,256 | 4 | 8 |
| 41 | Vernon Hills | 26,629 | 2 | 8 |
| 42 | Decatur | 67,934 | 5 | 7 |
| 43 | McHenry | 28,563 | 2 | 7 |
| 44 | Galesburg | 28,864 | 2 | 7 |
| 45 | Highland Park | 30,311 | 2 | 7 |
| 46 | Warrenville | 15,530 | 1 | 6 |
| 47 | Mundelein | 31,876 | 2 | 6 |
| 48 | Fairview Heights | 15,948 | 1 | 6 |
| 49 | Mattoon | 16,464 | 1 | 6 |
| 50 | Oak Park | 51,306 | 3 | 6 |
| 51 | Waukegan | 87,155 | 5 | 6 |
| 52 | Lemont | 17,507 | 1 | 6 |
| 53 | Champaign | 89,466 | 5 | 6 |
| 54 | Rock Island | 35,841 | 2 | 6 |
| 55 | Sycamore | 18,718 | 1 | 5 |
| 56 | Harvey | 19,121 | 1 | 5 |
| 57 | Cicero | 79,748 | 4 | 5 |
| 58 | Crest Hill | 20,020 | 1 | 5 |
| 59 | East Moline | 20,637 | 1 | 5 |
| 60 | East Peoria | 21,873 | 1 | 5 |
| 61 | Elgin | 112,879 | 5 | 4 |
| 62 | Normal | 52,573 | 2 | 4 |
| 63 | Round Lake Beach | 26,644 | 1 | 4 |
| 64 | Granite City | 26,708 | 1 | 4 |
| 65 | Lansing | 27,309 | 1 | 4 |
| 66 | Oak Lawn | 54,953 | 2 | 4 |
| 67 | Danville | 27,905 | 1 | 4 |
| 68 | Gurnee | 30,041 | 1 | 3 |
| 69 | O’Fallon | 31,856 | 1 | 3 |
| 70 | St. Charles | 32,529 | 1 | 3 |
| 71 | Streamwood | 37,245 | 1 | 3 |
| 72 | Wheeling | 37,251 | 1 | 3 |
| 73 | Urbana | 38,204 | 1 | 3 |
| 74 | Carol Stream | 38,703 | 1 | 3 |
| 75 | Downers Grove | 49,567 | 1 | 2 |
| 76 | Mount Prospect | 53,523 | 1 | 2 |
| 77 | Orland Park | 56,593 | 1 | 2 |
| 78 | Palatine | 63,960 | 1 | 2 |
| 79 | Bolingbrook | 74,177 | 1 | 1 |
| 80 | Naperville | 150,521 | 1 | 1 |
| 81 | Aurora | 176,688 | 1 | 1 |
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Report. 81 Illinois cities that reported a murder.
Summary
Summary: The Places With The Most Murders In Illinois For 2026
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.
The cities with the highest murder per capita in Illinois are Riverdale, Forest Park, Mahomet, Mount Vernon, Glenwood, Sauk Village, Sterling, Morris, Chicago Heights, and Summit. Not sold on Illinois? Take the two-minute Find Your Place quiz and see which state actually fits you.
Questions and answers
Deadliest Cities In Illinois FAQs
What city in Illinois has the highest murder rate?
Riverdale has the highest murder rate in Illinois for 2026, at 70 murders per 100,000 residents. That is based on the latest FBI Uniform Crime Report data.
What is the murder capital of Illinois?
Riverdale is the murder capital of Illinois on a per-capita basis. On raw numbers, Chicago logged the most murders with 461.
How many cities in Illinois reported no murders at all?
203 Illinois cities reported zero murders to the FBI in the most recent reporting year. Only 81 cities reported at least one, and those are the ones in this ranking.
What are the deadliest cities in Illinois?
The deadliest cities in Illinois are Riverdale, Forest Park, Mahomet, Mount Vernon, Glenwood, Sauk Village, Sterling, Morris, Chicago Heights, and Summit, ranked by murders per capita. All of the numbers come from the FBI’s most recent Uniform Crime Report.
Why rank by murder rate instead of total murders?
Because population size swamps everything else. The biggest cities almost always log the most total murders, but a rate per 100,000 residents shows where the risk actually runs highest — which is why Riverdale tops this list at 70 per 100k.
