Photo: Jon Platek · CC BY-SA 3.0More property crime is recorded per resident in Vandalia than in 60% of U.S. towns
In a usual year, 1.8 violent crimes and 13.8 incidents of property crime are logged per 1,000 inhabitants; in the rest of Illinois, 3.1 and 18.8. Vandalia’s overall Safety Grade is B− (#214 of 339 graded towns in Illinois): close to the middle of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025. Per resident, the graded crimes were up 23% from 2023 to 2025.
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 Vandalia
Reported crime is rising
Crime reported per resident rose from 2023 to 2025 by more than ordinary year-to-year swings, on the grade’s own score. Trend ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Vandalia’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; violent crime is the closer of the two to typical. Its violent rate (1.8) is below the FBI’s national estimate (3.6) but higher than in most individual towns: the national figure is weighted by people, and the grade counts towns. Its property rate (13.8) 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.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Vandalia property | Rest of Illinois property | Vandalia violent | Rest of Illinois violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 12.0 | 20.5 | 0.0 | 3.7 |
| 2023 | 14.1 | 19.5 | 1.4 | 3.4 |
| 2024 | 11.9 | 19.8 | 0.4 | 3.2 |
| 2025 | 15.4 | 17.1 | 3.5 | 2.7 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Reported crime per resident rose from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings. Per 1,000 residents, 2022–2025, against the rest of Illinois.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Vandalia | Rest of Illinois | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 0.0 | 3.7 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 1.4 | 3.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.4 | 3.2 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 3.5 | 2.7 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Vandalia’s police reported 39 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 1.8 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 Vandalia 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 4 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
139 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.
26 violent and 113 property, as reported to the FBI by Vandalia’s police.
Four people died in crashes on Vandalia’s roads in 2019–2023
Vandalia had 4 fatal crashes in five years, in which four people died. Most of these deaths (2 of 4) were on an Interstate passing through, so they say more about through-traffic than about the town’s own streets.
That is about what is typical for Illinois towns of 5,000–25,000 people: at their median rate (6.8 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Vandalia’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Vandalia’s own rate (13.8) 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.
Vandalia and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vandalia | B− | 1.8 | 13.8 |
| Sharon Township | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Sharon Township has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025.
Illinois towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vandalia | B− | 1.8 | 13.8 |
| Elburn | A | 0.4 | 5.2 |
| University Park | C | 3.4 | 17.1 |
| Salem | C | 3.8 | 15.7 |
| Murphysboro | D | 5.4 | 29.7 |
| North Riverside | D | 1.8 | 48.5 |
The five graded Illinois towns closest to Vandalia’s population (7,108), 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 Vandalia. 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 Vandalia’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (7,334 in 2025); our figure for Vandalia is 7,108 (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 Vandalia
Is Vandalia, IL safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Vandalia reports more crime per resident than 55% of U.S. towns, a B− Safety Grade and #214 of 339 in Illinois. Its police reported 1.8 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 Vandalia?
1.8 violent and 13.8 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 Vandalia?
Vandalia’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Vandalia”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Vandalia.
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.