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Southern side of courthouse square in SullivanPhoto: Nyttend · Public domain
A
Safety in Sullivan · FBI data, 2023–2025

Sullivan reports less crime per resident than 93% of U.S. towns

On crimes reported to the FBI by Sullivan’s police in 2023–2025, it grades A for safety: #20 of 339 graded towns in Illinois.

Violent crime
1.0
per 1,000 a year · Well below rest of IL (3.1)
U.S. (FBI national estimate) 3.6
Property crime
0.5
per 1,000 a year · Well below rest of IL (18.8)
U.S. (FBI national estimate) 17.6
Crimes reported
19
13 violent · 6 property
2023–2025
Trend
→ Steady
2023 to 2025
within ordinary swings

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 · In brief

What stands out about safety in Sullivan

A job center

Sullivan has 2,618 jobs based in town for 4,310 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.

Safety Grade

What’s behind Sullivan’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.

Where Sullivan sits
B+ Violent 1.0A+ Property 0.5
All U.S. towns we grade (7,426)Less crime than 93%
More reported crimeLess reported crime
Illinois towns we grade (339)Less crime than 94% · #20 of 339
Places of 1,000–5,000 people (2,448)Less crime than 87%
A fairly firm grade. Built on 19 reported crimes over three years. Ordinary swings could put Sullivan anywhere from A to A+.

How TownRatings grades safety →

Violent crime

Violent crime, by year and by type

Sullivan’s police reported 13 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 1.0 per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.1 in the rest of Illinois and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.

1,000 neighbors · one year

For every 1,000 residents, fewer than 1 property crime reported

And about 1 violent crime, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.

Property crime (0.2)Violent crime (0.9)Everyone else

Violent crime per 1,000 residents, 2025

Sullivan0.9
Rest of IL2.7
U.S. (FBI)3.3

Property crime per 1,000 residents, 2025

Sullivan0.2
Rest of IL17.1
U.S. (FBI)15.5

Crimes reported to police in 2025 per resident; one person can be the victim of more than one, and some reports involve visitors.

Trend

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
YearSullivan propertyRest of Illinois propertySullivan violentRest of Illinois violent
20221.820.52.13.7
20230.519.51.43.4
20240.719.80.73.2
20250.217.10.92.7

Crimes per 1,000 residents

What gets reported

5 crimes reported in 2025

4 violent and 1 property, as reported to the FBI by Sullivan’s police.

2025 offenses reported

Larceny / theft1
Burglary0
Vehicle theft0
Aggravated assault4
Robbery0
Rape0
Homicide0
Arson0
4
violent crimes
1
property crimes

Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.

On the roads

One person died in crashes on Sullivan’s roads in 2019–2023

Sullivan 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 Sullivan’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Sullivan’s own rate (4.6) is context, not a ranking.

1
people died in crashes, 2019–2023
1
pedestrian among them
0
cyclists among them
4.6
per 100,000 a year · Illinois towns of 2,500–5,000: 7.1

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.

Next door

Sullivan and its neighbors

How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.

Sullivan
A rangeB rangeC rangeD rangeNot graded
TownGradeViolentProperty
SullivanA1.00.5

Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.

Illinois towns of a similar size

TownGradeViolentProperty
SullivanA1.00.5
LakewoodA+0.22.3
Stone ParkA0.81.1
PeotoneA−0.75.4
AuburnB+1.75.3
CaseyvilleC+3.010.4

The five graded Illinois towns closest to Sullivan’s population (4,310), by grade.

How to read these numbers

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 Sullivan. 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 Sullivan’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
  • Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (4,273 in 2025); our figure for Sullivan is 4,310 (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 Sullivan

Is Sullivan, IL safe?

On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Sullivan reports less crime per resident than 93% of U.S. towns, an A Safety Grade and #20 of 339 in Illinois. Its police reported 1.0 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 Sullivan?

1.0 violent and 0.5 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 Sullivan?

Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings.

Who polices Sullivan?

Sullivan’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Sullivan”. Its figures are the ones on this page.

Heads-up board

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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.