Park Forest, IL carries a PlainCrime C safety grade with violent crime 20% below the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Park Forest, IL shows violent crime at 283.1 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 1,508.3 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 20% below the U.S. average. PlainCrime assigns grade C from those rates. Figures are voluntary agency submissions joined to population denominators; incomplete coverage can move the number.
C safety grade
283.1/100K violent
1508.3/100K property
-20% vs U.S.
The verdict
Park Forest earns a C safety grade: violent crime runs 20% below the U.S. average, placing it higher-crime than most U.S. cities.
C
PlainCrime safety grade
-20%
violent crime vs. U.S. average
32nd
percentile of 7,769 U.S. cities
1,508.3
property crimes per 100K
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Park Forest, IL
Comparable rate records
Park Forest's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the Illinois cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Park Forest's 283.1 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Chicago Ridge (285.5), Metropolis (279.4), Alsip (289.8), Tilton (275.8). These are same-year agency submissions that pass the same completeness screen, not a claim that the cities have identical conditions. They make the cohort position above checkable against named records instead of a generic state average.
Position in the state cohort
Park Forest reported a higher violent-crime rate than most comparable Illinois cities
At 283.1 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Park Forest ranks 95 of 506 — above 411 of the 505 other Illinois cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +184.1% against the cohort median of 99.7. Cities that did not report, or that reported implausibly low totals, are excluded from this cohort rather than counted as low-crime.
Property-offense composition
Burglary and vehicle theft carry more of the property total than they do across the cohort
Larceny-theft is 38.8% of reported property offenses in Park Forest, against a cohort median of 70.3%. The remainder is burglary (98) and motor vehicle theft (91). Composition differences of this size usually track what kinds of places and property are present in a jurisdiction.
Offense mix
Violent offenses make up an unusually large share of the reported mix
Violent offenses are 15.8% of the 367 Part I offenses reported in Park Forest for 2024, against a median of 11.2% across comparable Illinois cities — a gap of 4.6 points. Offense mix is shaped by which agencies report and how incidents are classified as well as by the underlying offenses, so it describes the reported record rather than a settled difference in conditions.
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window lower
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 303.0 per 100,000 in 2020 to 283.1 in 2024 (-6.6%). The highest observed value was 303.0 in 2020 and the lowest 110.4 in 2021. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Property counts dominate Park Forest's FBI UCR Table 8 municipal row. Per-100,000 rates use the reporting-year population on that row; cities that fail the completeness test stay out of rate rankings. A citywide figure rarely describes any single neighbourhood inside the municipal boundary.
Mid-size municipal totals above are reported offenses, not safety advice for any single block. Reporting completeness still varies by year and agency.
Violent rate moved most (2023→2024)
Violent Crime Rate
-4.3%
295.7 → 283.1/100K
Property Crime Rate
+2.7%
1468.9 → 1508.3/100K
Property offenses lead Park Forest's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs US avg
Property Crime
309
1508.3
1711
Larceny-Theft
120
585.7
-
Burglary
98
478.4
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
91
444.2
-
Arson
3
14.6
-
Violent Crime
58
283.1
352
Aggravated Assault
40
195.2
-
Robbery
10
48.8
-
Rape
5
24.4
-
Murder
3
14.6
-
Park Forest Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Park Forest property crime rate trend
Lead series · rose across 5 comparable years · FBI UCR
Property crime rate (2024)
1,508.3/100K↑2.7%vs 2023
Park Forest violent crime rate trend
Secondary series · fell · 2020-2024 · FBI UCR
Violent crime rate (2024)
283.1/100K↓4.3%vs 2023
Year
Coverage
Population
Violent Rate
Property Rate
Total Crimes
2020
Comparable
21,125
303
1084
293
2021
Comparable
20,835
110.4
580.8
144
2022
Comparable
20,896
291.9
1392.6
352
2023
Comparable
20,627
295.7
1468.9
364
2024
Comparable
20,487
283.1
1508.3
367
How Park Forest sits among IL peers
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are the U.S. national averages
Reporting Agency
Park Forest Police Department NIBRS-participating
Park Forest's crime figures on this page originate from Park Forest Police Department's submission to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting Program.
This agency reports via NIBRS, the incident-based system that captures more detail per offense (multiple crimes per incident, victim/offender data) than the older summary counts.
Similar-Size Cities in Illinois
Crime rates read differently at different scales, so these are the Illinois cities closest to Park Forest in population. Their populations run from 19,726 to 21,179, against 20,487 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
These Illinois cities report the closest violent-crime rates to Park Forest's 283.1/100K (same FBI UCR vintage rules; size peers above are excluded so the two lists stay distinct).
Park Forest has a violent crime rate of 283.1 per 100,000 residents and a property crime rate of 1508.3 per 100,000, based on 2024 FBI UCR data.
Is Park Forest, IL safe? ▼
Park Forest receives a safety grade of C (Average), with a safety score of 59/100. The violent crime rate is 20% below the national average and 2% above the Illinois average.
What is the population of Park Forest, IL? ▼
The reporting population for Park Forest is 20,487 as of 2024.
How many crimes were reported in Park Forest? ▼
In 2024, Park Forest reported 58 violent crimes and 309 property crimes, for a total of 367 reported offenses.
How do Park Forest's reported offenses compare with its population? ▼
In 2024, Park Forest recorded about one reported offense per 56 residents and one reported violent offense per 353 residents. These ratios count reported offenses, not distinct victims, and are not a person's probability of victimization.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Park Forest? ▼
From 2023 to 2024, Park Forest's violent crime rate decreased by 4.3%, and the property crime rate increased by 2.7%.
What is the most common crime in Park Forest? ▼
The most common crime type in Park Forest is larceny-theft, accounting for 32.7% of all reported crimes (120 incidents in 2024).
Mid-size read: Park Forest figures are FBI UCR CIUS Table 8 (vintage 2024), population-adjusted per 100,000.
Denominators are the reporting-year population on the municipal row. Incomplete years are dropped from rankings. Confirm at FBI Crime Data Explorer and Census.gov QuickFacts.
Disclaimer (mid-size municipal): figures are informational, not advice. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program is the source. Consult a professional before decisions.
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program CIUS Table 8 municipal crime rates · 2024 Park Forest, IL rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.