Photo: Bradley Furlow · CC BY-SA 4.0Carbondale records more crime per resident than 96% of U.S. towns
Violent crime here is higher than in 97% of U.S. towns; property crime, higher than in 92%. Behind the grade sit 9.2 violent crimes and 31.4 incidents of property crime per 1,000 people a year, where the comparison is 3.1 and 18.8 in the rest of Illinois. Scored on crimes Carbondale’s police reported across 2023 to 2025, the town lands on D− for safety: #332 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 Carbondale
A college town
Carbondale is home to Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, with 9,352 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 37% 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 ↓
A job center
Carbondale has 15,570 jobs based in town for 21,811 residents (Census LEHD), so some reports involve people who work or shop there rather than residents. How to read it ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Carbondale’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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Carbondale | Rest of Illinois | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 7.9 | 3.7 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 7.8 | 3.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 10.0 | 3.2 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 9.7 | 2.7 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Carbondale’s police reported 600 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 9.2 per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.1 in the rest of Illinois and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Carbondale per 1,000 residents
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.
And about 10 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
Reported crime is steady
Show as a table
| Year | Carbondale property | Rest of Illinois property | Carbondale violent | Rest of Illinois violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 31.5 | 20.5 | 7.9 | 3.7 |
| 2023 | 33.2 | 19.5 | 7.8 | 3.4 |
| 2024 | 36.8 | 19.8 | 10.0 | 3.2 |
| 2025 | 24.5 | 17.1 | 9.7 | 2.7 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
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.
760 crimes reported in 2025
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
216 violent and 544 property, as reported to the FBI by Carbondale’s police.
11 people died in crashes on Carbondale’s roads in 2019–2023
Carbondale had 10 fatal crashes in five years, in which 11 people died; 3 were pedestrians.
That is 9.9 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for Illinois towns of 5,000–25,000 people (6.8, 412 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.
Carbondale and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carbondale | D− | 9.2 | 31.4 |
| Murphysboro Township | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Murphysboro Township has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025.
Illinois towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carbondale | D− | 9.2 | 31.4 |
| Darien | A− | 0.4 | 8.4 |
| Montgomery | B | 1.2 | 9.4 |
| Villa Park | B− | 1.6 | 12.9 |
| East Peoria | C− | 2.9 | 26.3 |
| Blue Island | C− | 3.9 | 25.8 |
The five graded Illinois towns closest to Carbondale’s population (21,811), by grade.
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
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 Carbondale. 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 Carbondale’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (22,213 in 2025); our figure for Carbondale is 21,811 (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 Carbondale
Is Carbondale, IL safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Carbondale reports more crime per resident than 96% of U.S. towns, a D− Safety Grade and #332 of 339 in Illinois. Its police reported 9.2 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 Carbondale?
9.2 violent and 31.4 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.
Who polices Carbondale?
Carbondale’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Carbondale”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Neighbors looking out for each other in Carbondale.
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.