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Place dossier plate
SheetIL-EAST-ST-LOUIS-IL · East St. Louis, IL 18,278 pop · income 3rd 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 East St. Louis
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest East St. Louis on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Nogal · lowest
30,982
Nogal · lowest
30,982 median HH income
16.5% of the leader · rank #1
East St. Louis · this city
30,992
East St. Louis · this city
30,992 median HH income
16.5% of the leader · rank #2
Longville · near
31,000
Longville · near
31,000 median HH income
16.5% of the leader · rank #3
Hickory Valley · near
31,000
Hickory Valley · near
31,000 median HH income
16.5% of the leader · rank #4
Sherwood Shor… · near
31,000
Sherwood Shor… · near
31,000 median HH income
16.5% of the leader · rank #5
El Mangó comu… · near
31,000
El Mangó comu… · near
31,000 median HH income
16.5% of the leader · rank #6
Syosset · highest
187,936
Syosset · highest
187,936 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 East St. Louis 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: 18,278.
Nationally, East St. Louis sits in the 3rd percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
3rd
percentile, household income
1st
percentile, home value
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: East St. Louis, IL
Illinois's East St. Louis is a small town, with 18,278 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. East St. Louis households earn a median of $30,992 annually, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 31.1%. East St. Louis's housing stock carries a median value of $52,700, and the median resident age is 45.1 years. About 14.7% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 41.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 0 residential units were authorized in 2024 (No Permits).
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. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,063 per month statewide. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Illinois's average monthly utility costs around $240 (state average). 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 East St. Louis'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 housing and income to comparison shortlist to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For East St. Louis, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, local building permits, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in East St. Louis?
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.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 70.7%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
How far does income reach against housing in East St. Louis?
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 1.7 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 31.1%, 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for East St. Louis?
Within Illinois, the closest population matches are Sycamore (18,243 residents, $80,837 income); Franklin Park (18,233 residents, $76,009 income); Shorewood (18,218 residents, $122,648 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Syosset, NY (18,274 residents); Lenoir, NC (18,282 residents); Lake Ronkonkoma, NY (18,289 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.
Is East St. Louis growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
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 -749 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -4.1% 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.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 31.1% (Highest-decile poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
100.0 (US=100)
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Illinois average
F
City profile score · East St. Louis, IL
14/100
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.
Bachelor's+ share F
14.7%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$30,992
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
31.1%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
East St. Louis profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 40/100 (D) · 100.0 index
Bachelor's+ share: 19/100 (F) · 14.7%
Household income: 0/100 (F) · $30,992
Poverty rate: 0/100 (F) · 31.1%
How does East St. Louis compare to other US cities?
Where East St. Louis sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income3% higher than other cities
Home value1% pricier 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 East St. Louis 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 East St. Louis near the bottom of Illinois's cities
Among the 1,336 Illinois cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, East St. Louis ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares East St. Louis only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#1,299 of 1,311
1st percentile in Illinois
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,336
0th percentile in Illinois
Median Home Value
#1,271 of 1,315
3rd percentile in Illinois
Poverty Rate
#24 of 1,335
98th percentile in Illinois
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#839 of 1,336
37th 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
3rd percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How East St. Louis's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$52,700Among the most affordablemore affordable than 99% 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
East St. Louis's home-value-to-income ratio: 1.7×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#745 of 15,516
More affordable than 95% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#17 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 1.7×, East St. Louis sits in the affordable band:
national rank #745 of 15,516 and #17 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
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
$30,992East St. Louis, IL median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context East St. Louis, 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 East St. Louis, IL.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)14.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)31.1%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)41.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
18,278
Median Income
$30,992
Median Home Value
$52,700
Median Age
45.1
Poverty Rate
31.1%
Labor force participation
41.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
14.7%
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
East St. Louis's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
18,431 residents
2021
18,228 residents
2022
17,959 residents
2023
17,909 residents
2024
17,941 residents
2025
17,682 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
14
0
14
$0.6M
2021
0
0
0
-
2022
0
0
0
-
2023
139
29
110
$61.8M
2024
0
0
0
-
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
70.7%
Carpool
16.2%
Public Transit
2.5%
Walk
1.9%
Work from Home
6.6%
Other
2.1%
Based on 6,149 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 East St. Louis. 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 East St. Louis 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 East St. Louis sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How East St. Louis 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.