Fairbury, IL is safer than most U.S. cities, and earns an A+ PlainCrime safety grade, where violent crime runs 76% below the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Fairbury, IL shows violent crime at 84.4 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 112.5 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 76% below the U.S. average. PlainCrime assigns grade A+ from those rates. Figures are voluntary agency submissions joined to population denominators; incomplete coverage can move the number.
A+ safety grade
84.4/100K violent
112.5/100K property
-76% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Fairbury, IL
Small-count caution
The violent-crime count is small enough that the derived rate is unstable
Fairbury reported 3 violent offences in 2024 against a population of 3,555. At this volume one additional or one fewer report moves the per-100,000 rate noticeably, so the figure is better read as a data point than as a precise measurement, and year-to-year swings here are expected.
Offense mix
Violent offenses make up an unusually large share of the reported mix
Violent offenses are 42.9% of the 7 Part I offenses reported in Fairbury for 2024, against a median of 11.2% across comparable Illinois cities — a gap of 31.6 points. Offense mix is shaped by which agencies report and how incidents are classified as well as by the underlying offenses, so it describes the reported record rather than a settled difference in conditions.
Property-offense composition
Burglary and vehicle theft carry more of the property total than they do across the cohort
Larceny-theft is 25.0% of reported property offenses in Fairbury, against a cohort median of 70.3%. The remainder is burglary (2) and motor vehicle theft (1). Composition differences of this size usually track what kinds of places and property are present in a jurisdiction.
Comparable rate records
Fairbury's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the Illinois cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Fairbury's 84.4 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Oregon (84.5), Libertyville (83.9), Jerseyville (84.9), Naperville (83.7). These are same-year agency submissions that pass the same completeness screen, not a claim that the cities have identical conditions. They make the cohort position above checkable against named records instead of a generic state average.
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window lower
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 138.8 per 100,000 in 2020 to 84.4 in 2024 (-39.2%). The highest observed value was 167.1 in 2023 and the lowest 0.0 in 2022. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Position in the state cohort
Fairbury sits mid-pack among comparable Illinois cities
At 84.4 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Fairbury ranks 285 of 506 — above 221 of the 505 other Illinois cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is -16.2% against the cohort median of 100.7. Cities that did not report, or that reported implausibly low totals, are excluded from this cohort rather than counted as low-crime.
Fairbury's FBI UCR Table 8 municipal row keeps violent and property totals in a closer balance. Per-100,000 rates use the reporting-year population on that row; incomplete reporters stay out of rate rankings. A citywide figure rarely describes any single neighbourhood inside the municipal boundary.
Based on 3 reported violent incidents in a population of 3,555. At this volume, one additional or one fewer report can shift the rate and letter grade noticeably; small-city crime counts are inherently more volatile year to year than large-city counts, so treat this grade as a data point, not a precise ranking.
Small-city offense counts above are voluntary UCR submissions, not neighbourhood advice. Year-to-year swings can look large when the population base is modest.
Fairbury's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 1.8 Census sq mi, Fairbury logged 2.2 property and 1.6 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
Fairbury's 5 active offense types stay diversified (mix index 2,245); burglary still leads at 29%.
Violent offenses are 43% of the municipal total - a violence-heavy book for a small city.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (1.8 sq mi); mix index is HHI x 10,000 on the offense-type shares above. Distinct from the per-100K rates in the hero.
Violent rate moved most (2023→2024)
Violent Crime Rate
-49.5%
167.1 → 84.4/100K
Property Crime Rate
+34.6%
83.6 → 112.5/100K
Fairbury's 2024 offense mix (violent and property)
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs US avg
Property Crime
4
112.5
1711
Burglary
2
56.3
-
Larceny-Theft
1
28.1
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
1
28.1
-
Arson
0
0
-
Violent Crime
3
84.4
352
Aggravated Assault
2
56.3
-
Rape
1
28.1
-
Murder
0
0
-
Robbery
0
0
-
Fairbury Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Fairbury violent crime rate trend
Secondary series · fell · 2020-2024 · FBI UCR
Violent crime rate (2024)
84.4/100K↓49.5%vs 2023
Fairbury property crime rate trend
Lead series · fell across 5 comparable years · FBI UCR
Property crime rate (2024)
112.5/100K↑34.6%vs 2023
Year
Coverage
Population
Violent Rate
Property Rate
Total Crimes
2020
Comparable
3,602
138.8
555.2
25
2021
Comparable
3,576
28
111.9
5
2022
Comparable
3,585
0
83.7
3
2023
Comparable
3,590
167.1
83.6
9
2024
Comparable
3,555
84.4
112.5
7
Fairbury Police Department
Reporting agency for Fairbury NIBRS-participating
Fairbury Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Fairbury's 7 reported offenses (5-year span 2020-2024).
This agency reports via NIBRS, the incident-based system that captures more detail per offense (multiple crimes per incident, victim/offender data) than the older summary counts.
Similar-Size Cities in Illinois
Crime rates read differently at different scales, so these are the Illinois cities closest to Fairbury in population. Their populations run from 3,448 to 3,619, against 3,555 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
In 2024, Fairbury reported 3 violent crimes and 4 property crimes, for a total of 7 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Fairbury?
From 2023 to 2024, Fairbury's violent crime rate decreased by 49.5%, and the property crime rate increased by 34.6%.
What is the most common crime in Fairbury?
The most common crime type in Fairbury is burglary, accounting for 28.6% of all reported crimes (2 incidents in 2024).
Small-city read: Fairbury is sourced from FBI UCR Table 8 for 2024; rates use that row's population.
Small-city rows use the same per-100,000 formula; a few unreported years can leave gaps in the trend table. Verify the agency's submission on FBI.gov UCR.
Disclaimer (small city): UCR counts here are informational only. They are not a victimization probability. Source: FBI UCR Program.
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program CIUS Table 8 municipal crime rates · 2024 Fairbury, IL rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.