Olney, IL carries a PlainCrime B safety grade with violent crime 36% below the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Olney, IL shows violent crime at 224.8 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 1,041.1 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 36% below the U.S. average. PlainCrime assigns grade B from those rates. Figures are voluntary agency submissions joined to population denominators; incomplete coverage can move the number.
B safety grade
224.8/100K violent
1041.1/100K property
-36% vs U.S.
The verdict
Olney earns a B safety grade: violent crime runs 36% below the U.S. average, placing it higher-crime than most U.S. cities.
B
PlainCrime safety grade
-36%
violent crime vs. U.S. average
41st
percentile of 7,769 U.S. cities
1,041.1
property crimes per 100K
Based on 19 reported violent incidents in a population of 8,453. 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.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Olney, IL
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window higher
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 81.1 per 100,000 in 2020 to 224.8 in 2024 (+177.1%). The highest observed value was 333.8 in 2023 and the lowest 81.1 in 2020. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Small-count caution
The violent-crime count is small enough that the derived rate is unstable
Olney reported 19 violent offences in 2024 against a population of 8,453. 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.
Comparable rate records
Olney's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the Illinois cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Olney's 224.8 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Oakbrook Terrace (224.6), Olympia Fields (223.6), Peru (226.0), Auburn (226.7). 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.
Position in the state cohort
Olney reported a higher violent-crime rate than most comparable Illinois cities
At 224.8 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Olney ranks 125 of 506 — above 381 of the 505 other Illinois cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +125.5% against the cohort median of 99.7. Cities that did not report, or that reported implausibly low totals, are excluded from this cohort rather than counted as low-crime.
Offense mix
Violent offenses make up an unusually large share of the reported mix
Violent offenses are 17.8% of the 107 Part I offenses reported in Olney for 2024, against a median of 11.2% across comparable Illinois cities — a gap of 6.5 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 counts dominate Olney's FBI UCR Table 8 municipal row. Per-100,000 rates use the reporting-year population on that row; cities that fail the completeness test stay out of rate rankings. A citywide figure rarely describes any single neighbourhood inside the municipal boundary.
Based on 19 reported violent incidents in a population of 8,453. 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.
Property rate moved most (2023→2024)
Property Crime Rate
-43.3%
1835.7 → 1041.1/100K
Violent Crime Rate
-32.7%
333.8 → 224.8/100K
Property offenses lead Olney's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs US avg
vs IL
Property Crime
88
1041.1
1711
1664.8
Larceny-Theft
60
709.8
-
-
Burglary
23
272.1
-
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
5
59.2
-
-
Arson
2
23.7
-
-
Violent Crime
19
224.8
352
277.5
Aggravated Assault
17
201.1
-
-
Rape
2
23.7
-
-
Murder
0
0
-
-
Robbery
0
0
-
-
Olney Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Olney property crime rate trend
Lead series · rose across 5 comparable years · FBI UCR
Property crime rate (2024)
1,041.1/100K↓43.3%vs 2023
Olney violent crime rate trend
Secondary series · rose · 2020-2024 · FBI UCR
Violent crime rate (2024)
224.8/100K↓32.7%vs 2023
Year
Coverage
Population
Violent Rate
Property Rate
Total Crimes
2020
Comparable
8,631
81.1
324.4
35
2021
Comparable
8,627
115.9
765
76
2022
Comparable
8,681
207.3
1681.8
164
2023
Comparable
8,389
333.8
1835.7
182
2024
Comparable
8,453
224.8
1041.1
107
How Olney sits among IL peers
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are the U.S. national averages
Reporting Agency
Olney Police Department NIBRS-participating
Olney's crime figures on this page originate from Olney Police Department's submission to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting Program.
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 Olney in population. Their populations run from 8,277 to 8,592, against 8,453 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
These Illinois cities report the closest violent-crime rates to Olney's 224.8/100K (same FBI UCR vintage rules; size peers above are excluded so the two lists stay distinct).
Olney has a violent crime rate of 224.8 per 100,000 residents and a property crime rate of 1041.1 per 100,000, based on 2024 FBI UCR data.
Is Olney, IL safe? ▼
Olney receives a safety grade of B (Above Average), with a safety score of 69/100. The violent crime rate is 36% below the national average and 19% below the Illinois average.
What is the population of Olney, IL? ▼
The reporting population for Olney is 8,453 as of 2024.
How many crimes were reported in Olney? ▼
In 2024, Olney reported 19 violent crimes and 88 property crimes, for a total of 107 reported offenses.
How do Olney's reported offenses compare with its population? ▼
In 2024, Olney recorded about one reported offense per 79 residents and one reported violent offense per 445 residents. These ratios count reported offenses, not distinct victims, and are not a person's probability of victimization.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Olney? ▼
From 2023 to 2024, Olney's violent crime rate decreased by 32.7%, and the property crime rate decreased by 43.3%.
What is the most common crime in Olney? ▼
The most common crime type in Olney is larceny-theft, accounting for 56.1% of all reported crimes (60 incidents in 2024).
Small-city read: Olney 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.