The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Jacksonville, IL
Jacksonville is a city of 20,100 in Morgan County, about 30 miles west of Springfield · Updated November 2026
Is Jacksonville, IL safe?
Yes. An overall CrimeGrade™ of A means crime in Jacksonville is low. Most US neighborhoods have little crime too, so Jacksonville sits near the middle: 58% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime, and 42% in neighborhoods with less. Violent and property crime both grade A here. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Jacksonville run from A+ to C+, so check the map below.
A
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 872 of 1,000About as safe as the typical US neighborhoodi What this means
58% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Jacksonville as a whole, and 42% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Jacksonville scores 872.
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 Jacksonville, IL at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Jacksonville, 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 Jacksonville
Burglaries run high for an A-graded city. Jacksonville has 4.0 burglaries a year per 1,000 residents; for the typical resident of an A-graded US city, the figure is 1.2.
Vehicle theft runs low. Jacksonville has 1.3 car thefts a year per 1,000 residents, about half the US rate of 2.7.
The safest and least safe parts of Jacksonville
Most of Jacksonville grades well: 97% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and the rest in areas graded C. Grades across Jacksonville run from A+ to C+; 47% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
97%
A or B 97%C 3%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Jacksonville, the northwest side has the least crime and the center the most.
Is crime going up in Jacksonville?
Reported crime in Jacksonville has fallen since 2019: violent crime is down 29% and property crime down 34%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 4.2 to 2.9 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 31 to 20 (US: 18). Neither changed much from 2023 to 2024.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
JacksonvilleUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Jacksonville. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Jacksonville
Violent, US
Property, Jacksonville
Property, US
2016
-22%
+4%
+3%
+15%
2017
-6%
+4%
+16%
+12%
2018
-16%
+0%
-9%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
-11%
+4%
-20%
-8%
2021
-28%
+6%
-37%
-10%
2022
-43%
+5%
-30%
-6%
2023
-34%
+2%
-35%
-7%
2024
-30%
-4%
-34%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Jacksonville
CrimeGrade™ estimates Jacksonville has about 41 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 11% 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 Jacksonville, about 33% 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 Jacksonville
Jacksonville has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Jacksonville, 60% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often at homes: 56% of them, against 34% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (60%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Homes (54%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Homes (56%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Homes (56%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (48%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Shares of the crimes reported to police, 2022 to 2024. Reports with no time recorded are left out of the times.
How Jacksonville compares with nearby cities
Jacksonville has the most crime of its 1 nearest cities.
Empty homes, parking lots and walkability in Jacksonville
Two things set Jacksonville apart: it has 14.2% of its homes standing empty, against 7.1% nationally, and 3.7 parking-lot spaces per resident, against 2.0 nationally. Places like that tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson, and burglary and vandalism run high here.
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson.14.2% of homesUS: 7.1%Higher than for 95% of US city residents
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.3.7 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 93% 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+ (18 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 53% of US city residents
Show all 6
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.16.4 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 92% of US city residents
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 Jacksonville: F (0 of 100).NoneUS: noneLower than for 84% of US city residents
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.61 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Higher than for 76% of US city residents
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 Jacksonville
Crime costs Jacksonville about $1,091 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 9% less 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 $25 million a year, or $1,232 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$1.3 million
$65
Rape
$820,000
$41
Robbery
$130,000
$7
Assault
$2.7 million
$134
Burglary
$710,000
$36
Theft
$1.3 million
$65
Vehicle theft
$390,000
$19
Arson
$93,000
$5
Vandalism
$1.2 million
$61
Total
$8.7 million
$430
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 Jacksonville 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 Jacksonville, IL average a SchoolGrade of B: 45% of students test proficient, against 23% projected for schools like them. Overall, they greatly exceed expectations. See schools in Jacksonville on SchoolGrade
