Report Highlights
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Chicago has a higher homicide rate than comparably large cities. Of the 11 most populous U.S. cities (over 1 million people), Chicago consistently has the highest homicide rate.
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Chicago’s yearly average murder rate from 2019 to 2025 was 23.32 per 100,000 residents (excluding justifiable homicide and involuntary manslaughter).
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63.6% of Chicago’s neighborhoods (49 of 77) had homicide rates above the national average between October 2024 and 2025.
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Chicago’s homicide rate declined by 7.95% in 2024: much less than in other cities.
Chicago Homicide Rates Per Capita
According to the press release, ‘2025 in Review’ (Jan. 5, 2026), issued by the Chicago Police Department, the murder rate in the city in 2025 was 15.2 per 100,000 with 416 murders. This figure is provisional and may change in future press releases. 7
The homicide rate from the CDC WONDER Provisional database in 2025 was 10.6 per 100,000 with 550 deaths reported in Cook County, Illinois. This database includes justifiable and negligent homicides. As with the CPD figure above, this number is provisional. The final 2025 homicide totals will likely be higher once all cases are fully coded in the database. 4
Chicago Homicide Rates Per Capita: Year-Over-Year
According to Chicago Police Department year-end press releases, the city’s murder rate increased from 2019 to 2020, peaked in 2021, and then began a gradual decline in 2022. Although 2025 data is provisional, and death counts will likely be higher than what is currently available in future press releases, the CPD is reporting the lowest murder rates in more than a decade. 6, 7
According to the CDC WONDER Database, which does not rely on local law enforcement reporting; rather, it draws upon data from medical examiners, homicide rates (which include justifiable homicides) followed a similar pattern in Cook County. Homicide rates rose from 2019 to 2020 (12.5 to 18.7 per 100,000), peaked in 2021 (20.5 per 100,000), and began a gradual decline in 2022 (18.2 per 100,000). 4
Chicago Murder Rates 2019-2025
| Year | Murders | Population | Rate per 100k | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 500 | 2,693,976 | 18.56 | CPD “2022 in Review” news release (Jan 1, 2023) |
| 2020 | 776 | 2,741,640 | 28.31 | CPD “2022 in Review” news release (Jan 1, 2023) |
| 2021 | 804 | 2,705,934 | 29.72 | CPD “2022 in Review” news release (Jan 1, 2023) |
| 2022 | 719 | 2,680,609 | 26.82 | CPD “2025 in Review” news release (Jan 5, 2026) |
| 2023 | 623 | 2,698,758 | 23.08 | CPD “2025 in Review” news release (Jan 5, 2026) |
| 2024 | 587 | 2,726,332 | 21.53 | CPD “2025 in Review” news release (Jan 5, 2026) |
| 2025 | 416 | 2,731,585 | 15.23 | CPD “2025 in Review” news release (Jan 5, 2026) |
The CPD counts above are the department’s own year-end totals. The FBI Crime Data Explorer figures used elsewhere in this report come from a separate, submission-based collection, so the two sets are not directly comparable. 1, 6, 7
How Does Chicago Compare to National Numbers?
Chicago compares differently to other cities depending on their population sizes.
When compared to smaller cities, Chicago looks much safer despite having roughly two and a half times as many homicides. Conversely, when compared to cities with larger populations, Chicago’s homicide rates appear more normalized.
Is Chicago More Dangerous Than Other Cities?
Chicago is the most dangerous city among its peer cities. Of the 11 U.S. cities with populations over 1,000,000 people in 2024, Chicago’s homicide rate ranges from roughly on par with Philadelphia’s to nearly seven times higher than San Diego’s, with most peer cities falling somewhere in between. 1
Chicago’s homicide rate in 2024 was 17.5 per 100,000 people (including justifiable homicide and involuntary manslaughter), which is more than four times that of New York City and two and a half times higher than Los Angeles. Of the 1 million+ population cities, Philadelphia is the only one that comes close to Chicago’s homicide rate (16.9 per 100,000).
Although cities like Houston and Dallas also have double-digit homicide rates, Chicago is an outlier due to the combination of its large population and high homicide rate.
| State | City | Population | Total Homicides | Homicides Per 100,000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NEW YORK | New York | 8,299,271 | 325 | 3.92 |
| CALIFORNIA | Los Angeles | 3,796,352 | 264 | 6.95 |
| ILLINOIS | Chicago | 2,638,698 | 461 | 17.47 |
| TEXAS | Houston | 2,319,160 | 320 | 13.80 |
| NEVADA | Las Vegas | 1,716,565 | 106 | 6.18 |
| ARIZONA | Phoenix | 1,662,809 | 139 | 8.36 |
| PENNSYLVANIA | Philadelphia | 1,549,259 | 262 | 16.91 |
| TEXAS | San Antonio | 1,514,458 | 127 | 8.39 |
| CALIFORNIA | San Diego | 1,389,024 | 35 | 2.52 |
| TEXAS | Dallas | 1,321,502 | 180 | 13.62 |
| NORTH CAROLINA | Charlotte-Mecklenburg | 1,003,130 | 109 | 10.87 |
Note: Although New York and Los Angeles have much higher populations, those cities reported fewer murders than Chicago in 2024.
For state-level context on several of the cities above, see our reports on the Texas murder rate, the California homicide rate and the Florida murder rate.
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