With a nearly three-year surge in the rearview mirror, Chicago robbery numbers have plunged to historic lows.
From September 2021 to June 2024, almost every month saw a year-over-year robbery increase, a WBEZ analysis of city data has found. Robberies peaked at 1,213 in August 2023. In July of last year, however, the numbers started to plummet. Every month since then has had a double-digit drop in robberies from the previous year. The first three months of 2025 had the fewest robberies of any quarter in decades.
“You could see the impact of COVID on crime,” said Wesley G. Skogan, an emeritus Northwestern University political scientist who analyzes Chicago’s numbers. “Burglary went way down but street robbery went way up.”…