Mermaid House Hotel · Photo: Robert Lawton · CC BY-SA 2.5Lebanon sees less property crime per resident than 86% of U.S. towns
The crimes the grade counts held steady per resident from 2023 to 2025. In a usual year, 0.9 violent crime and 3.9 incidents of property crime are logged per 1,000 inhabitants; in the rest of Illinois, 3.1 and 18.8. Overall, it grades A− for safety (#71 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 Lebanon
A college town
Lebanon is home to McKendree University, with 1,505 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 Lebanon’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 lower than in most U.S. towns; property crime is the stronger of the two.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Lebanon | Rest of Illinois | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 1.1 | 3.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.9 | 3.2 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.9 | 2.7 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Lebanon’s police reported 13 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.9 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 Lebanon 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 1 violent crime, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
How crime in Lebanon has moved
Show as a table
| Year | Lebanon property | Rest of Illinois property | Lebanon violent | Rest of Illinois violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 4.6 | 19.5 | 1.1 | 3.4 |
| 2024 | 2.2 | 19.8 | 0.9 | 3.2 |
| 2025 | 4.8 | 17.1 | 0.9 | 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, 2023–2025, against the rest of Illinois.
26 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.
4 violent and 22 property, as reported to the FBI by Lebanon’s police.
One person died in crashes on Lebanon’s roads in 2019–2023
Lebanon had 1 fatal crash in five years, in which one person died; 1 was a pedestrian.
That is about what is typical for Illinois towns of 2,500–5,000 people: at their median rate (7.1 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Lebanon’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Lebanon’s own rate (4.5) is context, not a ranking.
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.
Lebanon and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lebanon | A− | 0.9 | 3.9 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Illinois towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lebanon | A− | 0.9 | 3.9 |
| Pinckneyville | A | 0.5 | 2.4 |
| Palos Park | A | 0.0 | 4.6 |
| Fox River Grove | A | 0.4 | 3.8 |
| Marseilles | B+ | 1.5 | 4.7 |
| Colona | B− | 1.2 | 13.3 |
The five graded Illinois towns closest to Lebanon’s population (4,884), 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 Lebanon. 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 Lebanon’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (4,599 in 2025); our figure for Lebanon is 4,884 (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 Lebanon
Is Lebanon, IL safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Lebanon reports less crime per resident than 82% of U.S. towns, an A− Safety Grade and #71 of 339 in Illinois. Its police reported 0.9 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 Lebanon?
0.9 violent and 3.9 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 Lebanon?
Lebanon’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Lebanon”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Lebanon.
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.