Peru, IL is higher-crime than most U.S. cities, and earns a B PlainCrime safety grade, where violent crime runs 36% below the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Peru, IL shows violent crime at 226 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 1,664.3 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
226/100K violent
1664.3/100K property
-36% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Peru, IL
Small-count caution
The violent-crime count is small enough that the derived rate is unstable
Peru reported 22 violent offences in 2024 against a population of 9,734. 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
Peru's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the Illinois cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Peru's 226.0 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Auburn (226.7), Olney (224.8), Oakbrook Terrace (224.6), Mahomet (227.7). 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
Peru reported a higher violent-crime rate than most comparable Illinois cities
At 226.0 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Peru ranks 124 of 506 — above 382 of the 505 other Illinois cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +126.8% 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.
Property-offense composition
Larceny-theft dominates the property total more than it does across the cohort
Larceny-theft is 93.8% of reported property offenses in Peru, against a cohort median of 70.2%. The remainder is burglary (8) and motor vehicle theft (2). Composition differences of this size usually track what kinds of places and property are present in a jurisdiction.
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window higher
Across 4 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 206.9 per 100,000 in 2020 to 226.0 in 2024 (+9.2%). The highest observed value was 226.0 in 2024 and the lowest 82.5 in 2023. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Property counts dominate Peru'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 22 reported violent incidents in a population of 9,734. 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.
Peru's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 10.3 Census sq mi, Peru logged 15.7 property and 2.1 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
Peru's 2024 book concentrates in larceny-theft (83% of 184 offenses; mix index 6,921).
Violent offenses are only 12% of the municipal total - a property-led book.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (10.3 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
+173.9%
82.5 → 226/100K
Property Crime Rate
-5.6%
1763.3 → 1664.3/100K
Property offenses lead Peru's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs US avg
Property Crime
162
1664.3
1711
Larceny-Theft
152
1561.5
-
Burglary
8
82.2
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
2
20.5
-
Arson
1
10.3
-
Violent Crime
22
226
352
Aggravated Assault
14
143.8
-
Rape
8
82.2
-
Murder
0
0
-
Robbery
0
0
-
Peru Crime Trend (2020-2024)
The chart omits 2021 rather than drawing an unsupported zero or partial-coverage dip. The table preserves the year and marks the gap.
Peru property crime rate trend
Lead series · rose across 4 comparable years · FBI UCR
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are the U.S. national averagesRead the chart as a list
Peru: 226 violent, 1664 property per 100,000 (grade B)
Highland: 131 violent, 604 property per 100,000 (grade A)
Hawthorn Woods: 0 violent, 137 property per 100,000 (grade A+)
Riverdale: 709 violent, 2857 property per 100,000 (grade F)
La Salle: 53 violent, 149 property per 100,000 (grade A+)
Sauk Village: 406 violent, 1336 property per 100,000 (grade C)
Winfield: 59 violent, 345 property per 100,000 (grade A+)
Harvard: 139 violent, 622 property per 100,000 (grade A)
Taylorville: 207 violent, 1190 property per 100,000 (grade B)
Peru Police Department
Reporting agency for Peru NIBRS-participating
Peru Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Peru's 184 reported offenses (4-year span 2020-2024, with internal gaps).
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 Peru in population. Their populations run from 9,323 to 10,171, against 9,734 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
In 2024, Peru reported 22 violent crimes and 162 property crimes, for a total of 184 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Peru?
From 2023 to 2024, Peru's violent crime rate increased by 173.9%, and the property crime rate decreased by 5.6%.
What is the most common crime in Peru?
The most common crime type in Peru is larceny-theft, accounting for 82.6% of all reported crimes (152 incidents in 2024).
Small-city read: Peru 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.