The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Champaign County, IL
Champaign County is home to 208,700 residents and includes Champaign and Urbana · Updated November 2026
Is Champaign County, IL safe?
Yes. An overall CrimeGrade™ of A- means crime in Champaign County is low. Most US neighborhoods have little crime too, so Champaign County sits near the middle: 48% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime, and 52% in neighborhoods with less. Violent and property crime both grade A- here. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Champaign County run from A+ to F, so check the map or the safest and least safe places below.
A-
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 829 of 1,000About as safe as the typical US neighborhoodi What this means
48% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Champaign County as a whole, and 52% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Champaign County scores 829.
Crime is concentrated in a small share of places, so most neighborhoods score high on the 0 to 1,000 scale. That is why a score in the 800s can still mean more crime than most US neighborhoods.
How to read the map: each area's color compares its crime with the people, homes and cars there, on one national scale, from green for the least crime to red for the most. Each area gets its own color, so a busy shopping center can show red while the homes beside it stay green. The interactive maps load faster on a strong connection. Compare high speed internet in Champaign County, IL at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Champaign County, and anyone thinking about buying or renting a home there.
Business and enterprise customers: this free map shows neighborhood areas. CrimeGrade™ business reports map crime at about 66-meter detail and estimate it for one address and type of business. See business reports
What stands out in Champaign County
Burglaries run high for an A-graded county. Champaign County has 4.4 burglaries a year per 1,000 residents; for the typical resident of an A-graded US county, the figure is 1.4.
The safest and most dangerous places in Champaign County
Most of Champaign County grades well: 88% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and 7% in areas graded D or F. Grades across Champaign County run from A+ to F; 45% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
88%
A or B 88%C 5%D or F 7%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Cities and towns in Champaign County with at least 1,000 residents. Ranked by overall CrimeGrade™; beside each grade is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer), and the other numbers are residents.
Across the county, the southeast side has the least crime and the Champaign and Urbana areas the most.
Is crime going up in Champaign County?
Since 2019, reported violent crime in Champaign County is down 18%, while property crime has held about steady. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 5.1 to 4.2 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 21 to 20 (US: 18). Neither changed much from 2023 to 2024.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
Champaign CountyUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police departments across Champaign County. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Champaign County
Violent, US
Property, Champaign County
Property, US
2016
-4%
+4%
+33%
+15%
2017
-12%
+4%
+19%
+12%
2018
-11%
+0%
+1%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
+6%
+4%
-23%
-8%
2021
+0%
+6%
-30%
-10%
2022
+14%
+5%
-4%
-6%
2023
-16%
+2%
-6%
-7%
2024
-18%
-4%
-4%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Champaign County
CrimeGrade™ estimates Champaign County has about 42 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 14% more than the US as a whole and close to Illinois.
Overall crime
Violent crime
Property crime
Reported crimes a year, per 1,000 residents. These figures include simple assaults and vandalism, which the FBI's violent and property crime rates leave out.
Assault is the most common crime in Champaign County, about 40% of everything reported, and it also accounts for the largest share of what crime costs here.
Each CrimeGrade™ compares a crime with what it affects: people for assaults and robbery, homes for burglary, parked cars for vehicle theft. Rates count crimes per 1,000 residents.
Select a crime's name to see its map above. CrimeGrade™ business reports map each crime at about 66-meter detail.
Where and when crime happens in Champaign County
These figures come from the reports of the police departments across Champaign County, 2022 to 2024.
In Champaign County, 56% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often in parking lots and garages: 44% of them, against 31% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (56%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Car theft
Homes (34%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (44%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Homes (48%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Robbery
Streets and sidewalks (31%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (49%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Shares of the crimes reported to police, 2022 to 2024. Reports with no time recorded are left out of the times.
How Champaign County compares with nearby counties
Champaign County has more crime than 8 of its 10 nearest counties. Piatt County and Ford County have the least crime nearby.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from Champaign County. Beside each overall CrimeGrade™ is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer).
Compared with counties of similar size and density, Champaign County has more crime than 60% of them.
Transit, empty homes and walkability in Champaign County
One thing sets Champaign County apart: it has 12 buses and trains an hour at the evening rush, where most Americans have none nearby. Places like that tend to report more theft and robbery, and robbery runs high here.
Transit serviceBuses and trains an hour at the evening rush. Places with busy transit tend to report more theft and robbery. BestNeighborhood's Transit Grade for Champaign County: D- (10 of 100).12 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 88% of Americans
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary and arson.9.4% of homesUS: 7.1%Higher than for 83% of Americans
Walk GradeBestNeighborhood's grade for getting through daily life on foot, traced along real walking routes to shops, schools and parks. Walkable places tend to report more theft. 69% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.C- (26 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 81% of Americans
Show all 6
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery.25% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 63% of Americans
Lit at nightSatellite images show which neighborhoods are lit at night, a sign of busy streets and businesses. Brightly lit places tend to report more theft and vandalism.86% where people liveUS: 78%Lower than for 53% of Americans
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.10.3 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Lower than for 52% of Americans
These traits tend to go with more or less crime; none of them causes it on its own. Sources: Census job counts and housing figures, OpenStreetMap and Overture business listings, CrimeGrade™ parking estimates, NASA night-light imagery, US Forest Service tree cover, EPA transit data and BestNeighborhood's Walk Grade.
What crime costs Champaign County
Crime costs Champaign County about $1,154 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, about the same as the US figure of $1,205. The total is about $97 million a year.
Cost of crime per resident, per year
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, which comes almost entirely from violent crime, the full cost rises to about $284 million a year, or $1,360 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$12 million
$56
Rape
$7.5 million
$36
Robbery
$3.8 million
$18
Assault
$39 million
$185
Burglary
$8.3 million
$40
Theft
$12 million
$57
Vehicle theft
$5.4 million
$26
Arson
$640,000
$3
Vandalism
$9.7 million
$47
Total
$97 million
$467
How CrimeGrade™ works
A CrimeGrade™ shows how much crime an area has compared with the rest of the country, from A+ for the least crime to F for the most. Every neighborhood in the US is graded on the same scale, so a B in Champaign County means the same as a B anywhere else.
CrimeGrade™ starts from the crimes people report to police and measures each kind of crime against what it affects: people for assaults, homes for burglaries, parked cars for car thefts.
The rates on this page count crimes for every 1,000 people who live here, the way police departments report them.
Comparisons with US neighborhoods use the Census Bureau's block groups, small areas of about 1,400 residents, and count the people who live in each. The figures count crimes reported to police; many crimes, shoplifting above all, never are. Behind the grades, CrimeGrade™ tested 21,607 factors from 125 data families. For business owners, paid CrimeGrade™ location reports estimate crime at a single address for each type of business.
Where the numbers come from
Crime reports that police departments file with the FBI
State crime records and city crime data, where they are published
Published research on what crime costs victims and communities
These are estimates of reported crime for whole areas, not a record of what happened on any one street. CrimeGrade™ updates them once a year and provides them free and without guarantee. Check local sources before you rely on them for a decision.
Schools in Champaign County, IL average a SchoolGrade of B-: 44% of students test proficient, against 26% projected for schools like them. Overall, they exceed expectations. See schools in Champaign County on SchoolGrade
