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Place dossier plate
SheetIL-CAVE-IN-ROCK-IL · Cave-In-Rock, IL 229 pop · income 2nd 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 Cave-In-Rock
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Cave-In-Rock on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Holy Cross · lowest
22,917
Holy Cross · lowest
22,917 median HH income
26.0% of the leader · rank #1
Merryville · near
26,554
Merryville · near
26,554 median HH income
30.1% of the leader · rank #2
Cave-In-Rock · this city
26,563
Cave-In-Rock · this city
26,563 median HH income
30.1% of the leader · rank #3
Napakiak · near
26,563
Napakiak · near
26,563 median HH income
30.1% of the leader · rank #4
East Ellijay · near
26,563
East Ellijay · near
26,563 median HH income
30.1% of the leader · rank #5
Sicily Island · near
26,563
Sicily Island · near
26,563 median HH income
30.1% of the leader · rank #6
New Holland · highest
88,125
New Holland · highest
88,125 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 Cave-In-Rock 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: 229.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Cave-In-Rock places in the 2nd percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
2nd
percentile, household income
18th
percentile, median rent
📝 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: Cave-In-Rock, IL
229 people live in Cave-In-Rock, Illinois - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Cave-In-Rock households earn a median of $26,563 annually, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 28.9%. The median resident age is 49.9 years. About 1.5% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 47.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 0 residential building permits were authorized in Cave-In-Rock (No Permits), per Census BPS data.
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. 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 Cave-In-Rock'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 population change to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Cave-In-Rock, city-specific coverage includes local building permits, annual population history, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
What does the journey to work look like in Cave-In-Rock?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 89.4%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
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.
Is Cave-In-Rock growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -6 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -2.6% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 0 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 Cave-In-Rock?
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.
Within Illinois, the closest population matches are Ellsworth (229 residents, $73,438 income); New Holland (229 residents, $88,125 income); Coatsburg (230 residents, $68,750 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Holy Cross, AK (229 residents); Orange Grove Mobile Manor, AZ (229 residents); Norwood, GA (229 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.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 28.9% (Highest-decile poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
100.0 (US=100)
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Illinois average
F
City profile score · Cave-In-Rock, IL
10/100
4 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.
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
28.9%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$26,563
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
1.5%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Cave-In-Rock profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 40/100 (D) · 100.0 index
Poverty rate: 1/100 (F) · 28.9%
Household income: 0/100 (F) · $26,563
Bachelor's+ share: 0/100 (F) · 1.5%
How does Cave-In-Rock compare to other US cities?
Where Cave-In-Rock sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income2% higher than other cities
Median rent18% pricier than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Cave-In-Rock 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 Cave-In-Rock near the bottom of Illinois's cities
Among the 1,336 Illinois cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Cave-In-Rock ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Cave-In-Rock only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#1,308 of 1,311
0th percentile in Illinois
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,336
0th percentile in Illinois
Poverty Rate
#33 of 1,335
98th percentile in Illinois
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#1,318 of 1,336
1st 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. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Income distribution context
$26,563Cave-In-Rock, IL median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Cave-In-Rock, 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 Cave-In-Rock, IL.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)1.5%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)28.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)47.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
229
Median Income
$26,563
Median Home Value
N/A
Median Age
49.9
Poverty Rate
28.9%
Labor force participation
47.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
1.5%
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Cave-In-Rock's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
228 residents
2021
227 residents
2022
224 residents
2023
225 residents
2024
223 residents
2025
222 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
Total Permits (2024)
0
housing units authorized
Single-Family
0
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
0
0
0
-
2020
0
0
0
-
2021
0
0
0
-
2022
0
0
0
-
2023
0
0
0
-
2024
0
0
0
-
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
89.4%
Carpool
0.0%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
4.8%
Work from Home
2.9%
Other
2.9%
Based on 104 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 Cave-In-Rock. 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 Cave-In-Rock 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 Cave-In-Rock sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Cave-In-Rock 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, 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.