Photo: BonkerStonker29 · CC BY-SA 4.0Champaign reports more crime per resident than 82% of U.S. towns
On crimes reported to the FBI by Champaign’s police in 2023–2025, it grades C− for safety: #296 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 Champaign
Champaign reports less crime than every graded town next door
Of the 7 Illinois towns on Champaign’s borders, 1 have a Safety Grade: Urbana (D). Champaign City Township, Champaign Township, Hensley Township, Cunningham Township, Urbana Township and Savoy have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025. Neighbors ↓
A college town
Champaign is home to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, with 47,566 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 30% 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 Champaign’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.
For every 1,000 residents, about 21 property crimes reported
And about 4 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
Champaign’s police reported 1,172 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 4.3 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 | Champaign | Rest of Illinois | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 6.5 | 3.7 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 4.2 | 3.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 5.0 | 3.2 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 3.7 | 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 | Champaign property | Rest of Illinois property | Champaign violent | Rest of Illinois violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 17.2 | 20.6 | 6.5 | 3.7 |
| 2023 | 18.0 | 19.6 | 4.2 | 3.4 |
| 2024 | 22.8 | 19.8 | 5.0 | 3.2 |
| 2025 | 20.6 | 17.1 | 3.7 | 2.7 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
2,259 crimes reported in 2025
342 violent and 1,917 property, as reported to the FBI by Champaign’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
16 people died in crashes on Champaign’s roads in 2019–2023
Champaign had 16 fatal crashes in five years, in which 16 people died; 4 were pedestrians. 1 died in crash on an Interstate.
That is 3.6 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, below 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.
Champaign and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Champaign | C− | 4.3 | 20.5 |
| Champaign City Township | — | — | — |
| Champaign Township | — | — | — |
| Hensley Township | — | — | — |
| Cunningham Township | — | — | — |
| Urbana | D | 4.9 | 25.6 |
| Urbana Township | — | — | — |
| Savoy | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Champaign City Township, Champaign Township, Hensley Township, Cunningham Township, Urbana Township and Savoy have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025.
Illinois towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Champaign | C− | 4.3 | 20.5 |
| Arlington Heights | B+ | 0.6 | 8.5 |
| Cicero | C+ | 2.7 | 11.4 |
| Schaumburg | C+ | 0.8 | 20.2 |
| Waukegan | C | 3.9 | 14.2 |
| Evanston | C− | 1.4 | 27.4 |
The five graded Illinois towns closest to Champaign’s population (91,195), 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 Champaign. A citywide rate doesn’t show where incidents happen, and that can differ a lot from one part of the city to another.
- Visitors count too. Incidents involving people who work, shop or visit are counted against Champaign’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (92,875 in 2025); our figure for Champaign is 91,195 (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 Champaign
Is Champaign, IL safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Champaign reports more crime per resident than 82% of U.S. towns, a C− Safety Grade and #296 of 339 in Illinois. Its police reported 4.3 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 Champaign?
4.3 violent and 20.5 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 Champaign?
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 Champaign in 2025?
Champaign’s police reported 7 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 Champaign safer than Urbana?
Urbana reports more crime per resident than Champaign: Urbana grades D for safety and Champaign C−. Urbana’s police reported 4.9 violent and 25.6 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Champaign?
Champaign’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Champaign”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Champaign.
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.