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Place dossier plate
SheetIL-BLUFFS-IL · Bluffs, IL 586 pop · income 54th pct
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Bluffs
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Bluffs on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Hopkins Park · lowest
34,792
Hopkins Park · lowest
34,792 median HH income
16.4% of the leader · rank #1
Bluffs · this city
72,917
Bluffs · this city
72,917 median HH income
34.5% of the leader · rank #2
Daisy · near
72,917
Daisy · near
72,917 median HH income
34.5% of the leader · rank #3
South Windham · near
72,917
South Windham · near
72,917 median HH income
34.5% of the leader · rank #4
New Market · near
72,917
New Market · near
72,917 median HH income
34.5% of the leader · rank #5
Algonquin · near
72,917
Algonquin · near
72,917 median HH income
34.5% of the leader · rank #6
Trout Valley · highest
211,563
Trout Valley · highest
211,563 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Bluffs on ACS population and median household income
. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 586.
Bluffs ranks in the 54th percentile for household income and the 99th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
54th
percentile, household income
3rd
percentile, home value
18th
percentile, median rent
99th
percentile, safety
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Bluffs, IL
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 586 residents in Bluffs, a small town within Illinois. The typical household in Bluffs brings in $72,917 a year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 6.3%. Bluffs's housing stock carries a median value of $78,700, and the median resident age is 48.8 years. 18.4% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 54.5% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Bluffs reports a comparatively low crime rate: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 0.0 total incidents per 100,000 residents here, below the national average (agency reporting is voluntary, so this measures reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
Illinois tracks close to the national cost-of-living baseline: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Illinois at 100.0 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Near Average). Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,063 monthly. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Illinois run around $240, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 54.5 out of 100 (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Bluffs's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from comparison shortlist to population change to work and mobility to reported crime to housing and income to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Bluffs, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, matched public-school count, commute-mode shares, FBI reported-crime rates.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Which cities make useful reference points for Bluffs?
Within Illinois, the closest population matches are Hopkins Park (587 residents, $34,792 income); Trout Valley (584 residents, $211,563 income); Ohio (582 residents, $54,688 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Yarnell, AZ (586 residents); Juliaetta, ID (586 residents); Weston, ID (586 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching.
Recent estimates point downward. A falling count can reflect migration, household size, annexation boundaries, or estimation noise, so it is a prompt to inspect the full series rather than a claim about local economic health.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -27 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -4.4% change. No comparable local building-permit series is available here, so population change should not be read as a housing-supply measure. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
What does the journey to work look like in Bluffs?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. The profile is strongly car-oriented, so a relocation comparison should put trip distance, vehicle access, and household fuel costs ahead of a citywide commute average. The same-state peer links offer a more relevant benchmark than a national label.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 86.2%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Bluffs?
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 0.0 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 100% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Bluffs?
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 1.1 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 6.3%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. The ratio makes housing the clearest place to start this profile, but a low multiple can coexist with slow demand, older stock, or household-level hardship. Compare the home-value distribution and same-state peer table before treating it as an advantage.
Household income
$72,917
Home value
$78,700
Value / income
1.1×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
The NCES join finds 3 public schools within the city match. 18.4% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
Matched public schools
3
Bachelor's degree+
18.4%
Poverty estimate
6.3%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Above median income · poverty 6.3% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
100.0 (US=100)
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Illinois average
C
City profile score · Bluffs, IL
56/100
5 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Violent crime A+
0 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Poverty rate C
6.3%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income C-
$72,917
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Cost of living D
100.0 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Bachelor's+ share F
18.4%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Bluffs profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Violent crime: 97/100 (A+) · 0 /100k
Poverty rate: 57/100 (C) · 6.3%
Household income: 52/100 (C-) · $72,917
Cost of living: 40/100 (D) · 100.0 index
Bachelor's+ share: 30/100 (F) · 18.4%
How does Bluffs compare to other US cities?
Here's how Bluffs stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income54% higher than other cities
Home value3% pricier than other cities
Median rent18% pricier than other cities
Safety99% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
A national percentile can hide a lot of local variation: narrowed to Illinois alone, Bluffs ranks #4 of 455 Illinois cities by lowest crime rate - a different, more locally useful comparison than stacking it against the entire country.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Bluffs against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Illinois only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Illinois-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Bluffs near the bottom of Illinois's cities
Among the 1,336 Illinois cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Bluffs ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Bluffs only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#533 of 1,311
59th percentile in Illinois
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,336
0th percentile in Illinois
Median Home Value
#1,081 of 1,315
18th percentile in Illinois
Poverty Rate
#738 of 1,335
44th percentile in Illinois
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#656 of 1,336
51st percentile in Illinois
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within Illinois only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
54th percentile nationally for median household income · 99th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Bluffs's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Bluffs's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Bluffs's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$78,700Among the most affordablemore affordable than 97% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Bluffs's home-value-to-income ratio: 1.1×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#62 of 15,516
More affordable than 100% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#62 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 1.1×, Bluffs sits in the affordable band:
national rank #62 of 15,516 and #62 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
The multiple is comparatively compact among tracked cities, but a low ratio can still coexist with slow demand or household-level hardship.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$72,917Bluffs, IL median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Bluffs, IL median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Bluffs, IL.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)18.4%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)6.3%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)54.5%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
586
Median Income
$72,917
Median Home Value
$78,700
Median Age
48.8
Poverty Rate
6.3%
Labor force participation
54.5%
Bachelor's Degree+
18.4%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
0.0
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
0.0
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
0.0
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Schools
Total Schools
3
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Bluffs's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
619 residents
2021
606 residents
2022
596 residents
2023
593 residents
2024
596 residents
2025
592 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
86.2%
Carpool
9.7%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
2.4%
Other
1.7%
Based on 289 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Illinois statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $240
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Illinois at $240 (electricity about $100 , water and sewer about $50 ).
These are Illinois statewide averages, not a meter reading for Bluffs. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Illinois's BEA cost-of-living index is 100.0 (Near Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Bluffs is $1,063/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Illinois statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 54.5 / 100 (Low).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Illinois statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Bluffs sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Bluffs compares to similar-size Illinois cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, FBI UCR, NCES CCD, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.