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Chicago PublIc Safety DataHub

Violent Crime Map

People’s experiences and perceptions of Chicago depend on where they live and work. We want to make Chicago safer for everyone in all parts of the city. 

By mapping the distribution of violent crimes and demographic data and identifying trends across Chicago’s Community Areas, we can track our success and inform future public safety strategies.

Block-Level Map

Where you live matters. Crime and public service needs can vary dramatically from one block to the next, even within the same neighborhood. This interactive map provides a detailed view of these variations, offering insight into localized patterns across the city.

Explore patterns in safety and service requests across the entire city. View how violent and property crimes are distributed throughout different neighborhoods and observe how crime concentrations vary across the urban landscape. Track whether these patterns are shifting over time and identify areas that may need more attention. The map also incorporates 311 service requests, including issues such as streetlight outages, graffiti, and abandoned vehicles. 

These data provide additional context on resident-reported concerns and infrastructure challenges, illustrating how service needs are distributed across communities.

Together, these data offer a citywide perspective on spatial and temporal patterns that can inform the evaluation of public safety policies and resource allocation.

Block Trends over Time

Even adjacent blocks can have vastly different experiences. One block might have frequent property crimes while the next block over has very few incidents. Similarly, 311 requests reveal which blocks struggle with infrastructure issues or quality-of-life concerns.

How to Use This Visualization

Examine how crime hotspots move, emerge, or fade across months and years. See whether concentrations are growing or shrinking in specific blocks and explore whether recent public safety investments are making a difference. Compare specific blocks to nearby areas. Understanding these hyper-local patterns helps to identify where attention, resources, and interventions may be needed most.

Whatever data you choose to focus on, the display below shows two complementary views. On the left-hand side is a community map showing block trends for one variable. On the right-hand side, you can see trends over time since 2019 for your selected variable and many other variables. To understand community dynamics better, look for patterns in which variables move together or independently, which ones remain steady, and which ones reflect rare events. Click on one of the trendlines at the right-hand side to bring it up on the map.

Methodology

Crime Definitions

  • Shooting Victims: Number of fatal and non-fatal shooting victims.
  • Homicide Victims: Number of homicide victims. Includes murder, negligent, and non-negligent manslaughter. Justifiable homicide is not included.
  • Violent Crime Incidents: Number of incidents. Includes robbery, rape/criminal sexual assault, aggravated assault/battery, and homicide.
  • Assault Offenses: Number of assault offenses. Assault is defined as engaging in conduct which places another in reasonable apprehension of receiving bodily harm.
  • Battery Offenses: Number of battery offenses. Battery is defined as intentionally causing bodily harm to someone, and should include all non-fatal shootings if classified correctly.
  • Burglary Offenses: Number of burglary offenses. Burglary is defined as the unlawful entry of a home or other building to commit a felony or theft.
  • Motor Vehicle Theft Offenses: Number of motor vehicle theft offenses. Motor vehicle theft is defined as the theft or attempted theft of a motor vehicle.
  • Robbery Offenses: Number of robbery offenses. Robbery is defined as the taking or attempting to take anything of value from the care, custody, or control of a person by force or threat of force.
  • Theft Offenses: Number of theft offenses. Theft is defined as the unlawful taking, carrying, leading, or riding away of property.

311 Definitions

  • Abandoned Vehicle Complaints: Count of reports of abandoned vehicles.
  • Building Violations: Count of reported general building code violations.
  • Clean Vacant Lot Requests: Count of requests to clean vacant lots.
  • Street Light Out Complaints: Count of complaints of a light out in a street, alley, or viaduct or complaints of damage to street light poles.
  • Graffiti Removal Requests: Count of requests for graffiti removal.
  • Liquor Establishment Complaints: Count of complaints for liquor license violations.
  • Shared Housing/Vacation Rental Complaints: Count of complaints about shared or vacation housing rentals.
  • Vacant/Abandoned Buildings Complaints: Count of reported vacant/abandoned buildings.
  • Vicious Animal Complaints: Count of reported animals exhibiting signs of aggressiveness.

Census Data Definitions

  • Block Groups: Census geographical unit representing an area with around 1,500 residents. 
  • Employment Rate: The percentage of the working-age population that is employed.
  • Public Assistance Income or SNAP Usage Rate: The percentage of households who used public assistance income or food stamps/SNAP benefits last year.
  • No High School Graduation Rate: The percentage of the population who did not graduate high school or obtain a GED.
  • Moved in the Last Year Rate: The percent of the population who moved within the last year.
  • Poverty Rate: The percentage of people whose total family income in the past 12 months falls below the official poverty threshold. The income level of the threshold varies depending on the size of the household and the age of its members.

Sources

Limitations

The data presented here comprise the best available information published by the relevant public agencies. Like all large datasets, they are imperfect. Crime classifications are provided by the reporting agencies and may change later based on additional investigation. Many agencies do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, timeliness, or correct sequencing of their information. 

This site provides applications using data that has been modified for use from its original source, www.cityofchicago.org, the official website of the City of Chicago. The City of Chicago makes no claims as to the content, accuracy, timeliness, or completeness of any of the data provided at this site. The data provided at this site is subject to change at any time. It is understood that the data provided at this site is being used at one’s own risk.

Visualization Notes

  • Data are totaled at the time period of your choosing (e.g., 30 days, 90 days, 1 year) from the ending date selected.
  • The shading represents the concentration of the selected crime type or service request where darker colors represent higher volume. 
  • Trend lines are scaled based on the maximum value for the outcome in the specified timeframe. Therefore, the absolute value of the trend lines are not comparable but the relative change can be compared across outcomes.

Additional Notes

  • Offense definitions come from the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) and are based on common-law definitions.
  • Crime and service request data are updated monthly.

For questions about data and methodology, please email chipublicsafety@norc.org.