Burglary reports in Los Angeles vs Chicago

One offense label, two municipal feeds

The join keeps primary type Burglary and compares Los Angeles (21,410) with Chicago (17,300). Los Angeles holds about 55.3% of the paired count; Chicago holds about 44.7%. The gap is 4,110 reports. Those percentages describe this two-city table only. They do not describe national burglary, and they do not adjust for population, housing stock, or the number of years in each harvest.

Each city publishes its own incident file. Los Angeles uses LAPD coding on the City of Los Angeles open-data portal. Chicago uses IUCR primary types on the City of Chicago portal. Both strings say Burglary. The legal definitions, attempt flags, and residential-versus-commercial splits are not identical, so 21,410 and 17,300 should be read as two agency totals sitting next to each other, not as a single standardized series.

What Los Angeles counts as burglary

The Los Angeles side is 21,410 rows with primary type Burglary. In LAPD coding that typically means unlawful entry of a structure, not a street robbery and not a theft from a vehicle parked at the curb. Attempted burglary may sit inside the same primary type or in a related label depending on how the officer coded the event. This packet does not split attempts from completed reports, so no attempt subtotal is quoted.

A pin on a Los Angeles block is a report location, usually a range rather than a named household. The 21,410 figure is a harvest count of the Burglary type hub, not a court docket. See burglary in Los Angeles for the live table and the Los Angeles crime hub for other types beside it.

What Chicago counts as burglary

The Chicago side is 17,300 rows with IUCR primary type Burglary. Illinois and IUCR treat burglary as entering a building without authority with intent to commit a theft or felony. Robbery is a different primary type. Theft without that entry is a different primary type. The 17,300 rows are only burglary.

Chicago’s 77 official community areas are the geography labels on that feed. Dense counts can reflect apartment stock or commercial strips as much as reporting volume. This packet has no community-area split, so none is quoted. See burglary in Chicago for the overlay and the Chicago crime hub for citywide context.

Why 21,410 versus 17,300 is not a safety score

Los Angeles has 4,110 more burglary-coded reports than Chicago in these harvests. That difference is a file statistic. It is not a statement that Los Angeles is more dangerous, that Chicago is safer, or that residents in one city experience more break-ins per household. Population, unit density, tourist housing, commercial burglary coding, and how often people call the police all move raw counts without appearing in this packet.

Correlation between city and count is not causation. A later news story that uses a different window, drops attempts, or folds burglary from vehicle into burglary will not match 21,410 or 17,300. Cite the agency and the primary type when you quote either number.

How to read the paired burglary table

Use the two type hubs for filters. The Los Angeles burglary table holds the 21,410 rows. The Chicago burglary table holds the 17,300 rows. This ties page does not merge those files into one searchable grid. All crime ties lists other offense-and-city joins built the same way.

Arrest flags, when present, are not convictions. Property-loss dollars are not packet facts. Stay with the report counts. If a charging document later uses a different statute, that change may never appear on the public incident row.

What this burglary pair leaves out on purpose

Neither 21,410 nor 17,300 is adjusted for population, housing units, or the number of months in each harvest. This packet has no those denominators, so no rate is published. A later story that divides by census population is doing extra math this page does not contain. Forced-entry versus unlocked-entry, residential versus commercial, and attempt versus completed may exist as IUCR or LAPD codes on the source rows. They are not packet facts here, so no subtotal is quoted.

Vehicle burglary, if a department files it as a separate type, is not inside these Burglary totals. Robbery remains a different primary type on both hubs. Adding 21,410 to 17,300 gives 38,710 for this pair only; it is not a national burglary census. Keep LAPD named for Los Angeles and Chicago Police Department named for Chicago when you footnote both numbers.

Unfounded reports can remain on a portal until the source file updates. An arrest flag is not a conviction and is not proof that property was recovered. Loss dollars are not in these facts. If a charging document later uses a different statute, the public incident row may not change. LocalCrimeVault does not recode either feed into the other’s definition. Use burglary in Los Angeles, burglary in Chicago, the two city hubs, and all crime ties for the unjoined views.

Questions

How many burglary reports does Los Angeles have compared with Chicago?

This index includes 21,410 Los Angeles incidents coded as Burglary and 17,300 Chicago incidents with the same primary-type label. Combined they are 38,710 rows. Los Angeles is about 55.3% of that pair; Chicago is about 44.7%. Counts are police reports, not convictions.

Is Los Angeles more dangerous than Chicago for burglary?

This page does not rank cities as safer or worse. 21,410 and 17,300 are harvest counts from different municipal feeds. They are not rates, not household risk scores, and not court outcomes. Coding rules differ by agency.

Are these burglary figures convictions?

No. Both totals are incident reports from city open-data portals. An arrest flag is not a conviction. Unfounded reports may remain until the source file is updated. LocalCrimeVault does not reclassify charges.

Do Los Angeles and Chicago define burglary the same way?

Both feeds use a Burglary primary type, typically unlawful entry of a structure. LAPD and CPD/IUCR coding still differ on attempts, residential splits, and related theft labels. Read 21,410 and 17,300 as two agency totals, not one standardized count.