Sterling, IL is higher-crime than most U.S. cities, and earns a C PlainCrime safety grade, where violent crime runs 9% below the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Sterling, IL shows violent crime at 319.4 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 1,333.3 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 9% below the U.S. average. PlainCrime assigns grade C from those rates. Figures are voluntary agency submissions joined to population denominators; incomplete coverage can move the number.
C safety grade
319.4/100K violent
1333.3/100K property
-9% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Sterling, IL
Comparable rate records
Sterling's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the Illinois cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Sterling's 319.4 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Machesney Park (319.6), Steger (315.6), Oak Park (323.5), East Moline (315.0). 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
Sterling reported a higher violent-crime rate than most comparable Illinois cities
At 319.4 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Sterling ranks 82 of 506 — above 424 of the 505 other Illinois cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +220.5% 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 19.3% of the 238 Part I offenses reported in Sterling for 2024, against a median of 11.2% across comparable Illinois cities — a gap of 8.1 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.
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window higher
Across 4 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 264.6 per 100,000 in 2020 to 319.4 in 2024 (+20.7%). The highest observed value was 347.4 in 2022 and the lowest 242.5 in 2023. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Property counts dominate Sterling'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.
Mid-size municipal totals above are reported offenses, not safety advice for any single block. Reporting completeness still varies by year and agency.
Sterling's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 5.9 Census sq mi, Sterling logged 32.3 property and 7.7 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
Sterling leans on larceny-theft at 51% of reported offenses, with a moderate mix index of 3,242.
Violent offenses are 19% of the municipal total; property offenses still dominate the count.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (5.9 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
+31.7%
242.5 → 319.4/100K
Property Crime Rate
-1.8%
1358 → 1333.3/100K
Property offenses lead Sterling's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs US avg
vs IL
Property Crime
192
1333.3
1711
1664.8
Larceny-Theft
121
840.3
-
-
Burglary
48
333.3
-
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
23
159.7
-
-
Arson
1
6.9
-
-
Violent Crime
46
319.4
352
277.5
Aggravated Assault
26
180.6
-
-
Rape
14
97.2
-
-
Murder
3
20.8
-
-
Robbery
3
20.8
-
-
Sterling 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.
Sterling property crime rate trend
Lead series · fell 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
Sterling: 319 violent, 1333 property per 100,000 (grade C)
Channahon: 77 violent, 494 property per 100,000 (grade A)
Lindenhurst: 35 violent, 154 property per 100,000 (grade A+)
Swansea: 41 violent, 744 property per 100,000 (grade A)
Chatham: 103 violent, 494 property per 100,000 (grade A)
Morris: 315 violent, 1513 property per 100,000 (grade C)
Mount Vernon: 247 violent, 1089 property per 100,000 (grade B)
Antioch: 40 violent, 530 property per 100,000 (grade A+)
Glen Carbon: 65 violent, 1103 property per 100,000 (grade A)
Sterling Police Department
Reporting agency for Sterling NIBRS-participating
Sterling Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Sterling's 238 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 Sterling in population. Their populations run from 13,870 to 14,907, against 14,400 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
In 2024, Sterling reported 46 violent crimes and 192 property crimes, for a total of 238 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Sterling?
From 2023 to 2024, Sterling's violent crime rate increased by 31.7%, and the property crime rate decreased by 1.8%.
What is the most common crime in Sterling?
The most common crime type in Sterling is larceny-theft, accounting for 50.8% of all reported crimes (121 incidents in 2024).
Mid-size read: Sterling figures are FBI UCR CIUS Table 8 (vintage 2024), population-adjusted per 100,000.
Denominators are the reporting-year population on the municipal row. Incomplete years are dropped from rankings. Confirm at FBI Crime Data Explorer and Census.gov QuickFacts.
Disclaimer (mid-size municipal): figures are informational, not advice. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program is the source. Consult a professional before decisions.
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program CIUS Table 8 municipal crime rates · 2024 Sterling, IL rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.