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Place dossier plate
SheetIL-CARBONDALE-IL · Carbondale, IL 21,813 pop · income 2nd pct · 17 tracts
Nearest income peer: Marshall, AR (+ $18 income $)
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 Carbondale
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Carbondale on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Lake Bruce · lowest
29,643
Lake Bruce · lowest
29,643 median HH income
16.5% of the leader · rank #1
Benton Harbor · near
29,652
Benton Harbor · near
29,652 median HH income
16.5% of the leader · rank #2
Carbondale · this city
29,670
Carbondale · this city
29,670 median HH income
16.5% of the leader · rank #3
Marshall · near
29,688
Marshall · near
29,688 median HH income
16.5% of the leader · rank #4
Hardin · near
29,688
Hardin · near
29,688 median HH income
16.5% of the leader · rank #5
Spavinaw · near
29,688
Spavinaw · near
29,688 median HH income
16.5% of the leader · rank #6
Massapequa · highest
179,844
Massapequa · highest
179,844 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, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Carbondale on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. 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: 21,813.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Carbondale - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Carbondale places in the 2nd percentile for household income and the 4th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
2nd
percentile, household income
19th
percentile, home value
18th
percentile, median rent
4th
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: Carbondale, IL
Illinois's Carbondale is a small city, with 21,813 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. The typical household in Carbondale brings in $29,670 a year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 20.6%. Home values in Carbondale run a median of $124,800, and the median resident age is 24.9 years. About 46.3% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 49.3% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 2 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Construction Slowdown), down 50% from five years earlier. Carbondale's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: FBI UCR figures show 4689.7 crimes per 100,000 residents, above the national average (reporting is voluntary across agencies, so treat this as reporting activity rather than a definitive danger score).
Illinois tracks close to the national cost-of-living baseline: the state registers 100.0 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Near Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,063 per month. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Illinois's average monthly utility costs around $240 (state average). Commute times here average 13.5 minutes, with 64.0% driving alone and 9.9% working from home, per Census ACS commuting data. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 54.5 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Carbondale'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 work and mobility to within-city variation to population change to schools and households to housing and income to comparison shortlist to reported crime; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Carbondale, city-specific coverage includes local building permits, commute-mode shares, annual population history, within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
What does the journey to work look like in Carbondale?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 64.0%. The reported mean trip to work is 13.5 minutes.
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
What can 17 Census tracts reveal inside Carbondale?
PlainCities matches 17 Census tracts to this city.
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
Is Carbondale growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -474 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -2.1% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 2 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Carbondale?
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. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
Within Illinois, the closest population matches are Darien (21,855 residents, $109,354 income); Geneva (21,299 residents, $136,621 income); Yorkville (22,350 residents, $108,775 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Pascagoula, MS (21,812 residents); Suwanee, GA (21,811 residents); Merrick, NY (21,816 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.
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.
Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Carbondale?
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.
The NCES join finds 7 public schools within the city match. 46.3% 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.
Poverty estimate
20.6%
Bachelor's degree+
46.3%
Matched public schools
7
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
How far does income reach against housing in Carbondale?
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. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 4.2 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 20.6%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
4.2×
Home value
$124,800
Household income
$29,670
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Carbondale?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 4689.7 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 106% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
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.
Total reported rate
4689.7
Violent rate
1004.9
Property rate
3684.7
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 20.6% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
100.0 (US=100)
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Illinois average
F
City profile score · Carbondale, IL
23/100
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.
Bachelor's+ share A-
46.3%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; 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.
Poverty rate F
20.6%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$29,670
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime F
1,005 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Carbondale profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 81/100 (A-) · 46.3%
Cost of living: 40/100 (D) · 100.0 index
Poverty rate: 12/100 (F) · 20.6%
Household income: 0/100 (F) · $29,670
Violent crime: 0/100 (F) · 1,005 /100k
Where Carbondale sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Carbondale's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Carbondale highlighted among 9 peers.Read the chart values
Carbondale, IL (this city): home $124,800, crime 4,690/100k
Pascagoula, MS : home $132,500, crime 5,197/100k
Suwanee, GA : home $439,700, crime 3,235/100k
Darien, IL : home $386,400, crime 958/100k
Geneva, IL : home $415,800, crime 584/100k
Yorkville, IL : home $314,200, crime 462/100k
Bloomingdale, IL : home $363,100, crime 1,459/100k
Montgomery, IL : home $270,700, crime 1,027/100k
Villa Park, IL : home $313,100, crime 1,748/100k
How does Carbondale compare to other US cities?
Carbondale measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income2% higher than other cities
Home value19% pricier than other cities
Median rent18% pricier than other cities
Safety4% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
National percentiles can mask local variation. Looking only at Illinois, Carbondale ranks #445 of 455 Illinois cities by lowest crime rate - a narrower, more locally useful cut than the national comparison above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Carbondale 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 Carbondale near the bottom of Illinois's cities
Among the 1,336 Illinois cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Carbondale ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Carbondale only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#1,302 of 1,311
1st percentile in Illinois
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,336
0th percentile in Illinois
Median Home Value
#616 of 1,315
53rd percentile in Illinois
Poverty Rate
#106 of 1,335
92nd percentile in Illinois
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#132 of 1,336
90th 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
2nd percentile nationally for median household income · 4th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Carbondale's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Carbondale'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 Carbondale's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$124,800Among the most affordablemore affordable than 81% 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
Carbondale's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.2×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#11,255 of 15,516
More affordable than 27% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,143 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 4.2×, Carbondale sits in the moderate band:
national rank #11,255 of 15,516 and #2,143 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
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
$29,670Carbondale, IL median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Carbondale, 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 Carbondale, IL.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)46.3%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)20.6%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)49.3%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
21,813
Median Income
$29,670
Median Home Value
$124,800
Median Age
24.9
Poverty Rate
20.6%
Labor force participation
49.3%
Bachelor's Degree+
46.3%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
4689.7
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
1004.9
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
3684.7
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
7
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Carbondale's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
22,285 residents
2021
22,211 residents
2022
21,948 residents
2023
21,883 residents
2024
21,970 residents
2025
21,811 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
2
housing units authorized
Single-Family
2
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
0.1
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
4
4
0
$0.6M
2020
4
4
0
$0.6M
2021
4
4
0
$0.6M
2022
3
3
0
$0.5M
2023
2
2
0
$0.3M
2024
2
2
0
$0.7M
Permit volume decreased 50% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
13.5 minutes
Drive Alone
64.0%
Carpool
10.1%
Public Transit
2.6%
Walk
10.2%
Work from Home
9.9%
Other
3.2%
Based on 8,773 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 Carbondale. 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 Carbondale 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 Carbondale sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Carbondale 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 BPS 2024, 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.