The Chicago Neighborhood Often Called The City's 'Most Violent' And Unsafe

As the nation's third largest city, Chicago is a great hub of culture and architecture. It is home to sought-after neighborhoods, the tallest church building in the world, and some of America's best art districts. However, in recent, Chicago has renewed its reputation for homicide and gang violence.

From January 1, 2016 to December 31, 2020, a wave of shootings killed 3,276 people, marking a level of violence not seen since the late 1990s. Homicides continued to climb with 797 murders in 2021 before dropping in 2022 and 2023, which recorded 709 and 617 murders, respectively. While the recent decline brings some relief, these statistics remain among the highest in the nation.

Most of this bloodshed has occurred not in downtown or North Side — where homicide has declined steadily throughout the last 25 years — but in South Side neighborhoods like Grand Crossing, Englewood, and Washington Park, all of which reported significantly higher violent crime rates than the national average. The most violent of them all, however, is West Garfield Park on Chicago's West Side. In 2023, the Chicago Sun Times reported that the West Garfield Park community experienced almost 1,000 shootings during the past five years of Chicago's crime wave, which is approximately one shooting every other day, 

In the 1950s, West Garfield Park was a middle class neighborhood with successful businesses along West Madison Street. However, commercial life evaporated through the latter half of the 20th century as the neighborhood descended into crime, drugs, and murder. By the 1990s, gangs and gun crime were commonplace, and after a lull during the early 2000s, it returned so severely that West Garfield Park became known as "America's Mass Shooting Capital." 

Between 2010 and 2020, the homicide rate in Chicago's 11th District, which serves West Garfield Park, exploded by 114%, reaching a per-capita murder rate of 146.8 per 100,000 residents. This shocking figure exceeds the murder rate of Tijuana, Mexico, which is often cited as the most violent city on earth with 138 murders per 100,000 residents. This extremity reflects the localization of Chicago's violence. In 2021, just five police districts — including the 11th, home of Garfield — accounted for 42% of Chicago's homicides.

Much of West Garfield Park's violence stems from gang activity fueled by an overwhelming number of firearms that create territorial battles so intense that gang members risk death simply by entering or passing through certain blocks. Consequently, many of them lead lives so isolated that they haven't even been downtown.