Safest Counties in Illinois: 20 Ranked (2026)
The 20 Illinois counties where police report enough to the FBI to build a reliable rate, ranked by violent crime, with home prices, asking rents and incomes where available.
Illinois has 102 counties. Twenty of them clear the reporting bar this page uses, and the gap between the quietest, McHenry at 60 violent offenses per 100,000, and the busiest, Peoria at 901, is 15 to one. Beside each rate sits what homes there closed at over the last 12 months, from 146,231 closing records Resideline tracked across all 20 counties.
The crime rates here are built from the 10,198,829 residents those police agencies actually report on, over the months they reported. Each figure is a single county-wide figure, so treat this as a way to narrow a search rather than a verdict on any street.
We do not treat missing or conflicting crime data as zero. A county appears here only when its reporting clears our reliability threshold, and we set aside results that conflict materially with the state's own records. Whether a county is ranked depends on its crime reporting alone; whether it shows a price depends on whether Resideline tracked enough closings there.
The ranking
| # | County | Violent per 100k | Property per 100k | Median closed price | Median asking rent | Median income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McHenry | 60 | 544 | $357,809 | $2,200 | $102,725 |
| 2 | DuPage | 66 | 694 | $418,130 | $2,400 | $110,974 |
| 3 | Boone | 103 | 412 | $256,000 | n/a | $86,711 |
| 4 | Ogle | 107 | 354 | $216,900 | n/a | $80,221 |
| 5 | Lake | 118 | 733 | $368,264 | $2,400 | $108,137 |
| 6 | Will | 166 | 717 | $369,993 | $2,600 | $109,888 |
| 7 | DeKalb | 182 | 1,465 | $299,000 | $1,495 | $78,556 |
| 8 | Kane | 191 | 976 | $395,000 | $2,195 | $103,587 |
| 9 | McLean | 256 | 1,228 | $250,000 | $1,275 | $81,913 |
| 10 | Tazewell | 257 | 1,415 | $175,000 | $1,200 | $78,573 |
| 11 | Madison | 258 | 1,265 | $195,000 | $1,200 | $78,648 |
| 12 | Cook | 308 | 2,272 | $346,330 | $2,200 | $82,729 |
| 13 | Champaign | 350 | 1,990 | $230,000 | $1,445 | $64,240 |
| 14 | Rock Island | 374 | 2,170 | $151,050 | $1,100 | $67,335 |
| 15 | Macon | 497 | 2,187 | $123,000 | $950 | $62,679 |
| 16 | Winnebago | 563 | 1,751 | $200,000 | $1,400 | $67,363 |
| 17 | Jackson | 611 | 1,744 | $120,000 | $900 | $52,063 |
| 18 | Sangamon | 662 | 3,034 | $190,000 | $1,250 | $78,931 |
| 19 | Vermilion | 778 | 2,824 | $110,000 | $850 | $62,150 |
| 20 | Peoria | 901 | 2,908 | $150,000 | $1,125 | $68,190 |
A closer look at the 12 safest counties
1. McHenry County
McHenry's violent crime rate is 60 per 100,000 residents, the lowest quarter among the Illinois counties Resideline can measure. That is below the median comparable US county, which records 245. Buyers there paid a median of $357,809, some 160 percent of the level across the counties measured. Quiet and costly at the same time, which is how most of the safest places on this list look. Median household income is $102,725, roughly 130 percent of the level across this list. Its property rate is also among the lowest here, 544 per 100,000, or 0.5 times the median comparable US county. Resideline publishes a separate page for McHenry, the market with the most tracked closings in this county's ZIP codes.
2. DuPage County
Police in DuPage reported 66 violent offenses per 100,000 people, putting it in the lowest quarter of this list. That is below the median comparable US county, which records 245. The median home closed at $418,130, roughly 187 percent of the middle figure for these counties. Quiet and costly at the same time, which is how most of the safest places on this list look. The gap between local wages and local prices is wide: 3.8 times household income, in the top quarter of these counties. Its property rate is also among the lowest here, 694 per 100,000, or 0.6 times the median comparable US county. For prices at street level, see Naperville, the market with the most tracked closings in this county's ZIP codes.
3. Boone County
Boone's violent crime rate is 103 per 100,000 residents, the lowest quarter among the Illinois counties Resideline can measure. The median comparable US county records 245, so it is quieter than most of the country too. Homes there closed at a median of $256,000, about 115 percent of the median across this list. Its property rate is also among the lowest here, 412 per 100,000, or 0.3 times the median comparable US county. Resideline publishes a separate page for Belvidere, the market with the most tracked closings in this county's ZIP codes.
4. Ogle County
Ogle records 107 violent offenses per 100,000 residents, which places it in the lowest quarter of the Illinois counties measured here. That is below the median comparable US county, which records 245. The median closed price, $216,900, sits near the center of the counties measured. Property crime is low too, at 354 per 100,000, the bottom quarter of this list and 0.3 times the median comparable US county.
5. Lake County
At 118 violent offenses per 100,000, Lake sits in the lowest quarter of the places on this list. That is below the median comparable US county, which records 245. Buyers there paid a median of $368,264, some 165 percent of the level across the counties measured. Low crime and high prices arrive together here, which is the arrangement buyers assume is universal and is not. Households there earn a median of $108,137, about 137 percent of the median for these counties. Property offenses run at 733 per 100,000, in the middle of this list. For prices at street level, see Buffalo Grove, the market with the most tracked closings in this county's ZIP codes.
6. Will County
Will records 166 violent offenses per 100,000 residents, which places it in the middle range of the Illinois counties measured here. That is below the median comparable US county, which records 245. Homes changed hands at a median $369,993, around 166 percent of what the rest of this list recorded. Households there earn a median of $109,888, about 139 percent of the median for these counties. Its property rate is among the lowest here, 717 per 100,000, or 0.6 times the median comparable US county. The median rental listing asks $2,600 a month. Resideline publishes a separate page for Joliet, the market with the most tracked closings in this county's ZIP codes.
7. DeKalb County
Police in DeKalb reported 182 violent offenses per 100,000 people, putting it in the middle range of this list. That is below the median comparable US county, which records 245. Homes there closed at a median of $299,000, about 134 percent of the median across this list. Against what households there earn, a home costs 3.8 times median income, in the top quarter of this list. Property offenses run at 1,465 per 100,000, in the middle of this list. Asking rents run about $1,495 a month. For prices at street level, see Sycamore, the market with the most tracked closings in this county's ZIP codes.
8. Kane County
Kane records 191 violent offenses per 100,000 residents, which places it in the middle range of the Illinois counties measured here. That is below the median comparable US county, which records 245. The median home closed at $395,000, roughly 177 percent of the middle figure for these counties. The gap between local wages and local prices is wide: 3.8 times household income, in the top quarter of these counties. Its property rate, 976 per 100,000, sits in the middle of these counties. The median rental listing asks $2,195 a month.
9. McLean County
Police in McLean reported 256 violent offenses per 100,000 people, putting it in the middle range of this list. That is close to the median comparable US county, which records 245. Homes there closed at a median of $250,000, close to the middle of this list. Its property rate, 1,228 per 100,000, sits in the middle of these counties. Asking rents run about $1,275 a month. Resideline publishes a separate page for Bloomington, the market with the most tracked closings in this county's ZIP codes.
10. Tazewell County
Tazewell's violent crime rate is 257 per 100,000 residents, the middle range among the Illinois counties Resideline can measure. That is close to the median comparable US county, which records 245. The median home closed at $175,000, roughly 78 percent of the middle figure for these counties. Local incomes go further here than almost anywhere else on this list, with homes at 2.2 times median household income. Property offenses run at 1,415 per 100,000, in the middle of this list. Asking rents run about $1,200 a month. For prices at street level, see Pekin, the market with the most tracked closings in this county's ZIP codes.
11. Madison County
Madison records 258 violent offenses per 100,000 residents, which places it in the middle range of the Illinois counties measured here. That is close to the median comparable US county, which records 245. A median closing price of $195,000 puts it at roughly 87 percent of the middle figure for this list. Its property rate, 1,265 per 100,000, sits in the middle of these counties. Asking rents run about $1,200 a month. Resideline publishes a separate page for Granite City, the market with the most tracked closings in this county's ZIP codes.
12. Cook County
Cook's violent crime rate is 308 per 100,000 residents, the middle range among the Illinois counties Resideline can measure. That is 1.3 times the median comparable US county, which records 245, and above the Illinois statewide rate of 276 per 100,000 in the same data. Buyers there paid a median of $346,330, some 155 percent of the level across the counties measured. Against what households there earn, a home costs 4.2 times median income, in the top quarter of this list. Its property rate of 2,272 per 100,000 is in the top quarter here, and 1.9 times the median comparable US county. The median rental listing asks $2,200 a month. For prices at street level, see Arlington Heights, the market with the most tracked closings in this county's ZIP codes.
Does safety set the price in Illinois?
There is a gap here that income alone does not close. The safest third of these counties runs 166 percent above the highest-crime third on price, while earning only 62 percent more. Our national model needs density as well as income to explain gaps like this one, and this page does not test density, so treat the rest as unexplained rather than as a crime premium.
That matches what we found nationally: across 688 counties, once income and other county characteristics are controlled for, a crime rate stops predicting home prices. The full analysis is in our study of crime and home prices.
That is a county-level result. Within a county, research at the scale of a block or a neighborhood finds that violent crime does lower the value of the homes nearest to it, so use these figures to compare counties, not streets.
Where safety and affordability overlap in Illinois
Two of the 6 safest counties on this list also cost no more than the list's median once prices are set against local incomes: Boone (103 violent per 100,000, a home at 3.0 times median household income); Ogle (107 violent per 100,000, a home at 2.7 times median household income). Against what households there earn, those are the counties where a low crime rate is not being charged for.
The large counties
Five counties here have more than 500,000 residents. Their median violent rate is 166 per 100,000 against 350 for the smaller counties on the list, and the quietest of them is DuPage at 66. It closes homes at a median of $418,130.
The counties we cannot rank
Larger Illinois places are missing from the table above. Every one with more than 150,000 residents is listed here with the reason.
- •St. Clair, with about 251,000 residents, reports 82 percent of its population through the FBI program, below the 90 percent we require.
How to read this list
A rate like this averages everything inside the area, from its downtown to its farmland, and the spread within one of them is often wider than the spread between them. Use it to shortlist, then look at the specific address and the block it sits on.
Prices and rents are as of September 9, 2026, from closings and rental listings Resideline tracks over the previous 12 months; a price is shown where at least 100 closings were tracked and a rent where at least 50 listings were. Rent figures are the median asking rent on listings, not lease figures. Crime is the 2025 FBI Crime Data Explorer release, measured for the whole county over the months each agency reported, and violent crime means murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault. Household income is the Census SAIPE 2024 estimate of the county's median household income; population is the Census 2024 estimate. Where this page compares a rate with the median comparable US county, that figure (245 violent and 1188 property offenses per 100,000) is the median across the 874 US counties with at least 50,000 residents whose agencies reported on 90 percent or more of them for the year.
Sources and related pages
- •Crime: FBI Crime Data Explorer, agency-level offense counts for 2025, aggregated by county over the months each agency reported.
- •Income: Census SAIPE 2024, county median household income.
- •Population: Census county population estimates, vintage 2024.
- •Prices and rents: Resideline's tracked closings and rental listings, 12 months to September 2026.
- •Related: Safest counties by state; Does crime actually lower home prices?; Illinois housing market; Safest counties in Indiana; Safest counties in Iowa; Safest counties in Kentucky; Safest counties in Missouri; Safest counties in Wisconsin.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the safest county in Illinois?
Of the 20 Illinois counties measured here, McHenry County records the lowest violent crime rate at 60 offenses per 100,000 residents, against 245 for the median comparable US county. Homes there closed at a median of $357,809 over the last 12 months.
Is this every county in Illinois?
No. It covers 20 of the state's 102 counties, the ones where police agencies report at least 90 percent of the population to the FBI, the area has at least 50,000 residents, and the resulting rate falls inside the sanity bounds we apply. Whether Resideline has enough sales there decides only whether a price is shown. The larger places that miss those bars are listed on the page with the reason.
Does a lower crime rate mean higher home prices?
Here the price gap is larger than the income gap, so income alone does not explain the raw difference. Comparing the safest third of these counties with the highest-crime third, the median closed price is 166 percent higher and household income 62 percent higher. Across 688 US counties we found that once income and other county characteristics are controlled for, a county's crime rate stops predicting its home prices. At the scale of a block, the research says violent crime does lower nearby values.
Is this crime rate for my neighborhood?
No. The FBI publishes these figures for whole counties, so every part of a county carries the same number here, from its densest district to its farmland. It is useful for narrowing a search and not a substitute for looking at a specific address.
Are these rents asking rents or lease rents?
They are the median asking rent on rental listings in the county over the last 12 months. That is what landlords advertised, a guide to the market rather than a lease figure.
About the author
Jeffrey Batista
Jeffrey Batista is the founder of Resideline, a real estate technology company building institutional grade valuation and investment analysis tools for real estate investors.
A software engineer with more than 10 years of experience, Jeffrey has worked across full stack development, infrastructure, data engineering, machine learning, and large scale systems. He left his engineering career to build Resideline full time.
Jeffrey is also a real estate investor with nearly a decade of hands on experience buying, renovating, managing, and analyzing residential properties. His experience on both sides of the industry, as an engineer and an investor, led him to build Resideline after seeing how fragmented and outdated many of the tools available to individual investors were.
Today, he leads the development of Resideline's proprietary data infrastructure, automated valuation models, rental analytics, and investment underwriting technology.