Cook County reports major declines in homicides, opioid overdoses in 2025

The Cook County medical examiner’s office is reporting a significant decline in the number of homicides and opioid overdose deaths in 2025.

Additionally, the agency is reporting a 4.2% drop in the number of deaths countywide last year, according to data released Friday.

While preliminary, current figures show a 31.7% decrease in the number of homicides from 2024 to 2025 in the county, going from 792 two years ago to 541 last year.

It’s the first time the county has recorded fewer than 600 homicides since 2014, officials said.

Among the homicide deaths, 426 took place in Chicago. The remaining 21% were investigated by suburban police departments.

According to the medical examiner’s data, 448 of the 2025 homicides were gun-related.

Among the homicide deaths, 73% were Black and 18% were Latino. Men made up the vast majority of homicide deaths as well, accounting for 83% of them.

The medical examiner also reported that 57 homicide deaths were individuals under the age of 18, including 15 under the age of 10 in 2025.

The medical examiner’s office is awaiting toxicology testing results for 180 cases, but currently is reporting 687 confirmed opioid overdose deaths in 2025. That’s down 41.2% from the 1,169 opioid overdoses in 2024.

Of the confirmed opioid deaths last year, currently 82% were fentanyl related, the agency reported.

Almost three-quarters of all opioid overdose deaths last year were men.

“The year’s youngest opioid overdose death in Cook County was a 2-year-old girl from Chicago and the oldest was an 85-year-old woman from Harwood Heights,” the report stated.

While down overall, deaths in the county are still above pre-pandemic levels. Prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, the county was averaging about 6,200 deaths a year, officials said. In 2020, the county recorded 16,041 deaths.

Preliminary data also shows a slight uptick in suicides countywide, increasing from 451 in 2024 to 480 last year. The county has averaged about 480 suicide deaths each year over the past seven years, records show.