Park Forest, IL is higher-crime than most U.S. cities, and earns a C PlainCrime safety grade, where violent crime runs 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.
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.
Park Forest's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 5 Census sq mi, Park Forest logged 62.3 property and 11.7 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
Park Forest leans on larceny-theft at 33% of reported offenses, with a moderate mix index of 2,526.
Violent offenses are 16% of the municipal total; property offenses still dominate the count.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (5 sq mi); mix index is HHI x 10,000 on the offense-type shares above. Distinct from the per-100K rates in the hero.
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
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are the U.S. national averagesRead the chart as a list
Park Forest: 283 violent, 1508 property per 100,000 (grade C)
East Moline: 315 violent, 2355 property per 100,000 (grade C)
Libertyville: 84 violent, 533 property per 100,000 (grade A)
South Holland: 337 violent, 2115 property per 100,000 (grade C)
Crest Hill: 180 violent, 909 property per 100,000 (grade B)
Geneva: 62 violent, 522 property per 100,000 (grade A)
Frankfort: 33 violent, 668 property per 100,000 (grade A+)
Blue Island: 434 violent, 2687 property per 100,000 (grade D)
Mokena: 101 violent, 720 property per 100,000 (grade A)
Park Forest Police Department
Reporting agency for Park Forest NIBRS-participating
Park Forest Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Park Forest's 367 reported offenses (5-year span 2020-2024).
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.
Park Forest at 283.1/100K violent and 1,508.3/100K property - matched below outside Illinois (≥10k pop, latest UCR vintage; not the in-state lists above).
In 2024, Park Forest reported 58 violent crimes and 309 property crimes, for a total of 367 reported offenses.
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.