Cook County homicides, overdose deaths fell in 2025, new data show

Tracking Chicago's crime in 2025

Chicago ended 2025 with the lowest number of murders in more than a half-century.  There were 416 people killed in the city last year.  Numbers have not been that low since 1965 when just under 400 people were killed.

COOK CO., Ill. - The number of homicides and opioid overdose deaths in Cook County dropped significantly in 2025, new data shows.

By the numbers:

Preliminary data show that Cook County recorded 687 opioid overdose deaths in 2025, a more than 40% drop from the previous year, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office.

The mark also represents a steep decline in overdose deaths since a COVID-era peak in 2022, when the county recorded just over 2,000 deaths.

Still, officials said, while the drop in deaths is encouraging, opioids still "remain the greatest cause of unnatural deaths in Cook County." Data show that about 82% of the opioid overdose deaths last year involved fentanyl, a deadly synthetic opioid. About half of those who died were identified as Black, 31% as white and 17% as Latino.

The age group most affected by opioid overdose deaths was 50 to 59-year-olds, who accounted for more than a quarter of deaths. The youngest opioid overdose victim was just 2 years old and the oldest was an 85-year-old.

Homicides also falling

Dig deeper:

Preliminary data show that the Medical Examiner’s Office handled 541 homicides in 2025, about a 30% drop from 2024 (792) and a more than 40% drop from the recent peak in 2021 when the county had nearly 1,100 homicides.

If the data hold, 2025 would be the first time since 2014 that Cook County has recorded fewer than 600 homicides in a calendar year, officials said.

The City of Chicago had 426 homicides, the lowest in a little over a decade.

Other municipalities had multiple homicides, including Dolton with seven, Cicero and Harvey each with six, and Chicago Heights with five.

Black residents accounted for 73% of the victims and Latinos accounted for about 18%, the data shows. 

There were 57 homicide victims under the age of 18, and 15 were under the age of 10.

There was an uptick in suicide deaths recorded in Cook County in 2025, with 480, according to the preliminary data.

In 2024, the county recorded 451 suicide deaths. Male victims accounted for 80% of the suicide deaths.