Chicago's 2026 killings track below last year's 60-year low

Through October, Chicago logged 356 homicides, 14 fewer than 2025, as shootings, robberies and carjackings also fell.

Chicago Police Department data show 356 homicides in the city from January 1 through October 31, 2026. That is 14 fewer than the same stretch of 2025 and 154 fewer than the same stretch of 2024. The year before, 2025, closed with Chicago's lowest annual homicide count in 60 years, so this year is tracking below an already historic floor.

The decline reaches beyond homicides. The city recorded 1,223 shootings through October, down 4% from last year, and 1,560 shooting victims, down 2%. Overall violent crime is down 7%. Robberies are down 21%, burglaries 8% and carjackings 26%. Property crime is down just 1%, so the gains are concentrated in violent offenses.

Why it matters for abundance: personal safety is a basic need, and it is unevenly met across neighborhoods. When shootings and street crimes fall in a large city, more residents can walk, commute, run businesses and send children to school with less fear. Safety also tends to compound, because it supports investment and everyday movement. The drop in carjackings and robberies suggests the change is felt in daily life, not only in the homicide count.

Caveats are real. The figures cover ten months, and the phrase about being on pace for a historic low is a projection, not a final annual result. The numbers come from the Chicago Police Department, and no independent verification is given. The year-over-year homicide gap is also small, 14 deaths, and the shooting declines are modest. Watch the full-year tally in January and whether the declines hold into 2027. WTTW News reported the figures, and HumanProgress republished them.

Source: HumanProgress