The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Decatur, IL
Decatur is a city of 75,400 in Macon County and the main city of the Decatur metro area, home to 101,800 · Updated November 2026
Is Decatur, IL safe?
Crime in Decatur is moderate, with an overall CrimeGrade™ of B+. Most US neighborhoods have little crime: 69% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime than Decatur. Violent and property crime both grade B+ here. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Decatur run from A+ to F, so check the map below.
B+
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 701 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
31% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Decatur as a whole, and 69% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Decatur scores 701.
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 Decatur, IL at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Decatur, 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 Decatur
Burglaries run high for a B-graded city. Decatur has 8.7 burglaries a year per 1,000 residents; for the typical resident of a B-graded US city, the figure is 2.7.
The safest and least safe parts of Decatur
Most of Decatur grades well: 75% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and 14% in areas graded D or F. Grades across Decatur run from A+ to F; 33% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
75%11%14%
A or B 75%C 11%D or F 14%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Decatur, the southwest side has the least crime and the center the most.
Is crime going up in Decatur?
Since 2019, reported violent crime in Decatur is up 12%, while property crime has held about steady. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 5.3 to 6.0 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts stayed at about 28 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, violent crime fell 12% and property crime rose 11%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
DecaturUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Decatur. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Decatur
Violent, US
Property, Decatur
Property, US
2016
+2%
+4%
+32%
+15%
2017
+17%
+4%
+20%
+12%
2018
+18%
+0%
+4%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
+30%
+4%
-1%
-8%
2021
+59%
+6%
-7%
-10%
2022
+33%
+5%
-9%
-6%
2023
+28%
+2%
-7%
-7%
2024
+12%
-4%
+3%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Decatur
CrimeGrade™ estimates Decatur has about 58 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 57% more than the US as a whole and 37% more than 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.
The largest share of crime reported in Decatur is assault, about 34% of the total. It also makes up 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 Decatur
Decatur has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Decatur, 59% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often at homes: 40% of them, against 34% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (59%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Homes (45%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Homes (40%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Homes (56%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Robbery
Streets and sidewalks (45%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (52%)
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 Decatur compares with nearby cities
Decatur has the most crime of its 7 nearest cities.
Parking lots, empty homes and walkability in Decatur
Two things set Decatur apart: it has 4.2 parking-lot spaces per resident, against 2.0 nationally, and 13.9% of its homes standing empty, against 7.1% nationally. Places like that tend to report more theft; here theft sits near the national middle.
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.4.2 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 95% of US city residents
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson.13.9% of homesUS: 7.1%Higher than for 95% of US city residents
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 and assault. 81% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D (16 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 54% of US city residents
Show all 6
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 Decatur: F (0 of 100).NoneUS: noneLower than for 84% of US city residents
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.5% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 73% of US city residents
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.50 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Higher than for 62% of US city residents
BestNeighborhood, a sister site of CrimeGrade™, ranks the neighborhoods of Decatur on shops, parks, home prices, getting around and more.
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 Decatur
Crime costs Decatur about $1,509 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 25% more than the US figure of $1,205.
Cost of crime per resident, per year
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, which comes almost entirely from violent crime, the full cost comes to about $150 million a year, or $1,995 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$7.8 million
$104
Rape
$2.0 million
$26
Robbery
$2.0 million
$26
Assault
$18 million
$232
Burglary
$5.9 million
$79
Theft
$5.5 million
$73
Vehicle theft
$4.3 million
$57
Arson
$770,000
$10
Vandalism
$5.3 million
$70
Total
$51 million
$678
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 Decatur 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 Decatur, IL average a SchoolGrade of D+: 34% of students test proficient, against 22% projected for schools like them. Overall, they don't meet expectations. See schools in Decatur on SchoolGrade
