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Place dossier plate
SheetIL-COAL-VALLEY-IL · Coal Valley, IL 4,142 pop · income 80th 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 Coal Valley
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Coal Valley on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Caseyville · lowest
57,919
Caseyville · lowest
57,919 median HH income
23.2% of the leader · rank #1
Brunersburg · near
104,773
Brunersburg · near
104,773 median HH income
41.9% of the leader · rank #2
Tilghmanton · near
104,778
Tilghmanton · near
104,778 median HH income
41.9% of the leader · rank #3
Coal Valley · this city
104,781
Coal Valley · this city
104,781 median HH income
41.9% of the leader · rank #4
Rockcreek · near
104,785
Rockcreek · near
104,785 median HH income
41.9% of the leader · rank #5
Fountain Hills · near
104,788
Fountain Hills · near
104,788 median HH income
41.9% of the leader · rank #6
Kildeer · highest
250,001
Kildeer · highest
250,001 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 Coal Valley 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: 4,142.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Coal Valley - the verdict
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Coal Valley lands in the 80th percentile for household income and the 71st percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
80th
percentile, household income
45th
percentile, home value
18th
percentile, median rent
71st
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: Coal Valley, IL
Coal Valley is a small town in Illinois, home to 4,142 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Coal Valley report a median income of $104,781 per year, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 1.8%. Typical homes in Coal Valley are valued around $208,700, and the median resident age is 46.7 years. Educational attainment runs 33.2% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 58.1% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 1 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Construction Slowdown), down 67% from five years earlier. Coal Valley reports a comparatively low crime rate: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 815.8 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: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Illinois scores 100.0 (Near Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. 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). 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 Coal Valley'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 housing and income to schools and households to comparison shortlist to population change to work and mobility to reported crime; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Coal Valley, city-specific coverage includes local building permits, annual population history, matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Coal Valley?
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.
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 2.0 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 1.8%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
What does the education layer cover for Coal Valley?
The matched institution count is small, so district boundaries and schools outside the city line may matter more than the municipal count suggests. Use the number as a coverage cue, then verify attendance zones with the district before making a household decision.
The NCES join finds 1 public school within the city match. 33.2% 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Coal Valley?
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 Wonder Lake (4,141 residents, $102,829 income); Rosemont (4,145 residents, $69,153 income); Caseyville (4,170 residents, $57,919 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Newport, SC (4,142 residents); Gibson, AR (4,141 residents); Lambertville, NJ (4,141 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.
Is Coal Valley growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -9 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -0.2% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 1 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
The recent population line is broadly flat. That makes the composition of change more important than the headline count: housing turnover, household size, and age structure can shift even when the total barely moves.
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.
Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Coal Valley?
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.
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.
Drive alone
86.2%
Work from home
7.6%
Public transit
0.0%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 1,863 workers age 16+.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Coal Valley?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 815.8 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 64% lower 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
815.8
Violent rate
26.3
Property rate
789.5
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Illinois average
B
City profile score · Coal Valley, IL
73/100
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+
26 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Poverty rate A
1.8%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income B+
$104,781
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share C+
33.2%
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.
Coal Valley profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Violent crime: 90/100 (A+) · 26 /100k
Poverty rate: 87/100 (A) · 1.8%
Household income: 79/100 (B+) · $104,781
Bachelor's+ share: 63/100 (C+) · 33.2%
Cost of living: 40/100 (D) · 100.0 index
Where Coal Valley sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Coal Valley'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 - Coal Valley highlighted among 8 peers.Read the chart values
Coal Valley, IL (this city): home $208,700, crime 816/100k
Lambertville, NJ : home $534,100, crime 480/100k
Southport, NC : home $394,900, crime 1,157/100k
Dimmitt, TX : home $88,500, crime 346/100k
Wonder Lake, IL : home $242,300, crime 515/100k
Rosemont, IL : home $403,600, crime 7,116/100k
Caseyville, IL : home $94,900, crime 1,380/100k
Kildeer, IL : home $697,900, crime 781/100k
How does Coal Valley compare to other US cities?
Coal Valley measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income80% higher than other cities
Home value45% pricier than other cities
Median rent18% pricier than other cities
Safety71% 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, Coal Valley ranks #198 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 Coal Valley 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 Coal Valley near the bottom of Illinois's cities
Among the 1,336 Illinois cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Coal Valley ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Coal Valley only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#189 of 1,311
86th percentile in Illinois
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,336
0th percentile in Illinois
Median Home Value
#328 of 1,315
75th percentile in Illinois
Poverty Rate
#1,138 of 1,335
14th percentile in Illinois
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#258 of 1,336
81st 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
80th percentile nationally for median household income · 71st percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Coal Valley's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Coal Valley'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 Coal Valley's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$208,700Among the most affordablemore affordable than 55% 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
Coal Valley's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.0×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#1,599 of 15,516
More affordable than 90% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#1,532 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.0×, Coal Valley sits in the affordable band:
national rank #1,599 of 15,516 and #1,532 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
$104,781Coal Valley, IL median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Coal Valley, 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 Coal Valley, IL.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)33.2%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)1.8%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)58.1%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
4,142
Median Income
$104,781
Median Home Value
$208,700
Median Age
46.7
Poverty Rate
1.8%
Labor force participation
58.1%
Bachelor's Degree+
33.2%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
815.8
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
26.3
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
789.5
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
1
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Coal Valley's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
3,868 residents
2021
3,844 residents
2022
3,823 residents
2023
3,829 residents
2024
3,855 residents
2025
3,859 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
1
housing units authorized
Single-Family
1
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
0.2
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
3
3
0
$0.4M
2020
8
8
0
$3.1M
2021
9
9
0
$3.5M
2022
5
5
0
$1.4M
2023
6
6
0
$1.8M
2024
1
1
0
$0.4M
Permit volume decreased 67% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
86.2%
Carpool
5.5%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
7.6%
Other
0.7%
Based on 1,863 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 Coal Valley. 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 Coal Valley 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 Coal Valley sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Coal Valley 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.