Photo: artistmac · CC BY-SA 2.0Belleville reports more crime per resident than 80% of U.S. towns
On crimes reported to the FBI by Belleville’s police in 2023–2025, it grades C− for safety: #294 of 339 graded towns in Illinois.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of IL” is every other Illinois city and town in the FBI’s tables; the U.S. figure is the FBI’s national estimate as published, averaged over the three years. The FBI publishes no national homicide or robbery rate in our data, so those compare with all U.S. cities and towns in its tables.
What stands out about safety in Belleville
2 of the 2 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 8 Illinois towns on Belleville’s borders, 2 have a Safety Grade: Smithton (A+), Swansea (B+). St. Clair Township, Stookey Township, Centreville Township, East St. Louis and Shiloh Valley Township have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025. Freeburg reported to the FBI for 2023 and 2024 but not 2025. Neighbors ↓
A college town
Belleville is home to Southwestern Illinois College, with 6,736 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 5% of residents are enrolled in college (Census). Students who live in town count as residents, so they are part of the per-resident rate. How to read it ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Belleville’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Both violent and property crime are higher than in most U.S. towns; property crime is the closer of the two to typical. Its property rate (17.2) is below the FBI’s national estimate (17.6) but higher than in most individual towns: the national figure is weighted by people, and the grade counts towns.
For every 1,000 residents, about 16 property crimes reported
And about 5 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
Violent crime per 1,000 residents, 2025
Property crime per 1,000 residents, 2025
Crimes reported to police in 2025 per resident; one person can be the victim of more than one, and some reports involve visitors.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Belleville’s police reported 576 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 4.8 per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.1 in the rest of Illinois and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Show as a table
| Year | Belleville | Rest of Illinois | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 4.0 | 3.7 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 4.1 | 3.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 5.3 | 3.2 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 4.8 | 2.7 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Reported crime is steady
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings. Per 1,000 residents, 2022–2025, against the rest of Illinois.
Show as a table
| Year | Belleville property | Rest of Illinois property | Belleville violent | Rest of Illinois violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 13.8 | 20.6 | 4.0 | 3.7 |
| 2023 | 17.1 | 19.5 | 4.1 | 3.4 |
| 2024 | 18.1 | 19.8 | 5.3 | 3.2 |
| 2025 | 16.2 | 17.1 | 4.8 | 2.7 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
843 crimes reported in 2025
193 violent and 650 property, as reported to the FBI by Belleville’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
15 people died in crashes on Belleville’s roads in 2019–2023
Belleville had 15 fatal crashes in five years, in which 15 people died; 5 were pedestrians.
That is 7.3 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for Illinois towns of 25,000–100,000 people (5.1, 150 towns).
Deaths are counted where the crash happened, not where the people lived: a highway through town adds through-traffic deaths, and residents’ own risk on roads elsewhere isn’t here. Town rates sit below state and U.S. rates because a third of fatal crashes happen outside any town. Road safety is described here and is not part of the Safety Grade. Source: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2019–2023.
Belleville and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Belleville | C− | 4.8 | 17.2 |
| St. Clair Township | — | — | — |
| Stookey Township | — | — | — |
| Swansea | B+ | 0.7 | 8.3 |
| Centreville Township | — | — | — |
| East St. Louis | — | — | — |
| Shiloh Valley Township | — | — | — |
| Freeburg | — | — | — |
| Smithton | A+ | 0.2 | 2.0 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. St. Clair Township, Stookey Township, Centreville Township, East St. Louis and Shiloh Valley Township have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025. Freeburg reported to the FBI for 2023 and 2024 but not 2025.
Illinois towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Belleville | C− | 4.8 | 17.2 |
| Bartlett | A | 0.4 | 3.4 |
| Oswego | A− | 0.6 | 5.3 |
| Carol Stream | A− | 0.7 | 7.0 |
| DeKalb | C− | 3.6 | 24.0 |
| Urbana | D | 4.9 | 25.6 |
The five graded Illinois towns closest to Belleville’s population (40,237), by grade.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- It’s reported crime. Only incidents reported to and recorded by police appear here. Many crimes are never reported to police.
- One number for all of Belleville. A town-wide rate doesn’t show where incidents happen, and that can differ a lot from one part of town to another.
- Visitors count too. Incidents involving people who work, shop or visit are counted against Belleville’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (40,142 in 2025); our figure for Belleville is 40,237 (2025 Census estimate).
- Gaps are real gaps. A missing year means the department didn’t report a full year, not that nothing happened.
How the grade is calculated, for every town: How TownRatings grades safety →
Questions about safety in Belleville
Is Belleville, IL safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Belleville reports more crime per resident than 80% of U.S. towns, a C− Safety Grade and #294 of 339 in Illinois. Its police reported 4.8 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.1 in the rest of Illinois and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Belleville?
4.8 violent and 17.2 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Illinois reports 3.1 and 18.8; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is crime going up or down in Belleville?
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings.
How many homicides were there in Belleville in 2025?
Belleville’s police reported 3 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 7.5 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is Belleville safer than Swansea?
Swansea reports less crime per resident than Belleville: Swansea grades B+ for safety and Belleville C−. Swansea’s police reported 0.7 violent and 8.3 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Belleville?
Belleville’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Belleville”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Belleville.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Crime: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program, Crime Data Explorer: offenses known to law enforcement by city, 2025, and state and national rates. Counts are crimes reported to police, not convictions. The Safety Grade is our own summary of that data, not an official rating. Road deaths: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2019–2023. This isn’t an official statement of public safety. In an emergency, call 911.