Naperville has a spooky reputation for spine-chilling ghost stories and homes with jaw-dropping Halloween decorations. But when it comes to safety, there is no reason to be frightened: Naperville is the second safest city in the U.S. for trick-or-treating, according to a study done by security research company SafeHome.org.
The report examined five key safety metrics — rates of violent crimes, property crimes, pedestrian fatalities, registered sex offenders and law enforcement staffing — for 154 U.S. cities with populations of at least 150,000 residents.
Each metric was weighted differently depending on how important it was for safe trick-or-treating. Violent crime rates were weighted the highest while police staffing and property crime rates were weighted the lowest.
Considering all of these factors, Naperville’s score came in at 96 out of 100, second only to Yonkers, New York, which scored 97.
“There were really low violent crime rates, low property crime rates and low rates of registered sex offenders in the area, but it doesn’t have as large of a police force as other cities on the list, which changed its ranking a little bit,” said Corie Colliton, a representative for SafeHome.org, who worked closely with an analyst on this study.
Other cities that cracked the top five were New York, New York, at No. 3, Gilbert, Arizona, at No. 4 and Frisco, Texas, at No. 5. New York received a 96 and Gilbert and Frisco scored 95.
Specifically, the study found that Naperville has a rate of 8.4 violent crimes per 10,000 residents, a rate of 2.4 sex offenders per 10,000 residents, a rate 0.1 pedestrian fatalities per 10,000 residents and a rate of 88.4 property crimes per 10,000 residents. The study also found that Naperville has 17.9 police officers per 10,000 residents.
While Naperville was the only city in Illinois to crack the top five, two other Chicago-area cities were recognized for outstanding safe trick-or-treating environments, with Aurora ranking No. 11 and Joliet No. 25. Aurora and Joliet, which scored 94 and 92, respectively, had the same number of pedestrian fatalitiess as Naperville but scored differently in all other categories.
It is not the first time Naperville has been recognized for safety. In 2023, Naperville took the No. 1 spot in Chamber of Commerce’s national study on the safest U.S. cities to go trick-or-treating in.
Earlier this year, U.S. News & World Report released its 2025-26 list of “Safest Places to Live in the U.S.,” where Naperville tied with Palatine for the No. 19 spot.
U.S. News & World Report has also recognized Naperville in its other lists. The city was ranked No. 3 for the publication’s 2025-26 list of “Best Places to Live in Illinois” and No. 76 for their broader list of “Best Places to Live in the U.S.”
Property crimes and personal crimes were down in Naperville for the first half of 2025, according to the Naperville Police Department’s mid-year crime report. That report examined crime statistics from Jan. 1 to June 30 and compared those numbers to mid-year crime reports going back to 2022.
Annually reported mid-year crime data are broken down into three categories, with property crimes and personal crimes representing two of the three categories. Those two categories were at their lowest for the first six months of this year compared to the mid-year crime statistics of the last three years.
Staying safe this Halloween
Beyond the rankings, Colliton emphasized that parents should take extra precautions to make sure their children are safe when trick-or-treating.
“Rankings like these are not perfect measures for how safe an area really is,” she said.
Parents should set ground rules before the kids head out, making sure that they know how to pay attention to traffic patterns and when to talk to someone and wen not to.
“We always like to point out that it’s really important to know your neighbors,” Colliton said. “Being in a stronger community definitely makes you safer because you have more people like looking out for you and looking out for your children, and you can do the same for other people.”
cstein@chicagotribune.com
