“It’s not East St. Louis anymore. It’s East Safe Louis. I need everybody to say ‘East Safe Louis.'” – East St. Louis Mayor Robert Eastern III, March 2023
The mayor cited a 31% drop in homicides since 2019. However, the US Census Bureau also claims a dramatic 30% drop in population between 2019 and 2021.
Despite the mayor’s absurd characterization, East St. Louis had a higher homicide rate in 2022 than in 2018, 2016, and much of the 2000s.
The population of East St. Louis once peaked at over 80k. Then Whites began fleeing the city in the 70s and 80s. The population was estimated at only 18.2k in 2021.
During the 1990s, East St. Louis was experiencing homicide rates as high as the 140s. It is now at least as deadly as it was in the 90s, except the average age is much higher.
East St. Louis Homicides:
2016: 28 (26,862, 104 per 100k)
2017: 37 (26,680, 139 per 100k)
2018: 24 (26,410, 91 per 100k)
2019: 36 (26,066, 138 per 100k)
2020: 34 (18,423, 185 per 100k)
2021: 32 (18,195, 176 per 100k)
2022: 25 (18,195*, 137 per 100k)
There were six homicides during the first two months of 2023.
There is no updated population estimate for 2022 yet.
East St. Louis Homicides & Non-fatal shooting from Illinois State Police
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | |
| Homicides | 36 | 34 | 32 | 25 |
| Nonfatal Shootings | 121 | 127 | 115 | 80 |
