Photo: TCP04 · CC BY 4.0Sullivan reports more crime per resident than 95% of U.S. towns
On crimes reported to the FBI by Sullivan’s police in 2023–2025, it grades D for safety: #149 of 172 graded towns in Missouri.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of MO” is every other Missouri 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’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 higher than in most U.S. towns; violent crime is the closer of the two to typical.
For every 1,000 residents, about 41 property crimes reported
And about 5 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
Sullivan’s police reported 100 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 4.9 per 1,000 residents a year, against 5.8 in the rest of Missouri and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Show as a table
| Year | Sullivan | Rest of Missouri | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 5.1 | 6.4 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 4.1 | 5.9 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 5.9 | 6.0 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 4.6 | 5.4 | 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 Missouri.
Show as a table
| Year | Sullivan property | Rest of Missouri property | Sullivan violent | Rest of Missouri violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 52.7 | 31.8 | 5.1 | 6.4 |
| 2023 | 46.1 | 28.8 | 4.1 | 5.9 |
| 2024 | 51.0 | 26.9 | 5.9 | 6.0 |
| 2025 | 40.5 | 22.8 | 4.6 | 5.4 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
313 crimes reported in 2025
32 violent and 281 property, as reported to the FBI by Sullivan’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
11 people died in crashes on Sullivan’s roads in 2019–2023
Sullivan had 9 fatal crashes in five years, in which 11 people died; 1 was a pedestrian. 5 died in crashes on an Interstate.
That is 34.9 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for Missouri towns of 5,000–25,000 people (7.6, 123 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.
Sullivan and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sullivan | D | 4.9 | 45.9 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Missouri towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sullivan | D | 4.9 | 45.9 |
| Cottleville | A+ | 0.3 | 0.9 |
| Willard | B+ | 2.1 | 4.7 |
| Bonne Terre | B− | 2.7 | 8.7 |
| Cameron | C | 3.9 | 13.3 |
| De Soto | D | 4.9 | 32.3 |
The five graded Missouri towns closest to Sullivan’s population (6,942), 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 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 (6,930 in 2025); our figure for Sullivan is 6,942 (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, MO safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Sullivan reports more crime per resident than 95% of U.S. towns, a D Safety Grade and #149 of 172 in Missouri. Its police reported 4.9 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 5.8 in the rest of Missouri and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Sullivan?
4.9 violent and 45.9 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Missouri reports 5.8 and 26.2; 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
Neighbors looking out for each other in Sullivan.
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.