City profile · Illinois · Census ACS 2023

Justice, IL

Justice's Census ACS profile: residents, income, housing, and the joined public-record layers available for this place.

12,372
Residents
$58,514
Median income
$235,200
Median home
$1,063
Median rent (state)
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Side-by-side metrics and state or size-class ranks use the same Census and FBI fields shown on this profile. Results stay in the URL so you can bookmark or share them.

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Starting with Justice, IL - add up to three more cities on the compare page.

See how it ranks

State rank, size-class rank, and four peer cities for Justice.

Place dossier plate

Sheet IL-JUSTICE-IL · Justice, IL 12,372 pop · income 33rd pct

POP-TOWN · INC-MID · COL-PAR · SAFE-UNK · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · HOME-MID · BOOK-UNK

  • POP-TOWN 12,372
  • INC-MID $58,514
  • COL-PAR 100.0
  • SAFE-UNK Safety pending
  • RANK-LOWER 33rd
  • PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Livonia
  • HOME-MID $235,200
  • BOOK-UNK Tracts pending

Nearest income peer: Livonia, LA (+ $2 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 Justice

Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Justice on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.

median HH income

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.

Source U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 5-Year Estimates As of 2026-08-08

Compare beyond this state

Nationwide peers by population, income

Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Justice 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: 12,372.

4 peers

Similar household income

Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS median household income. This city: $58,514. Population peers are excluded.

4 peers

Justice - the verdict

Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Justice places in the 33rd percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.

33rd
percentile, household income
52nd
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: Justice, IL

12,372 people live in Justice, Illinois - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Justice report a median income of $58,514 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 15.1%. Typical homes in Justice are valued around $235,200, and the median resident age is 37.0 years. About 19.1% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 65.3% of working-age residents are in the labor force.

The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 12 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Building Boom), up 500% from five years earlier.

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. 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 Justice'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 schools and households 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 Justice, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, local building permits, commute-mode shares, matched public-school count. No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles; 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 Justice?

Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 77.0%. 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. 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.

Compare commute patterns →

2. Housing and income

How far does income reach against housing in Justice?

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 4.0 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 15.1%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.

Compare the housing trade-off →

3. Schools and households

What does the education layer cover for Justice?

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 4 public schools within the city match. 19.1% 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.

See how the family ranking is built →

4. Comparison shortlist

Which cities make useful reference points for Justice?

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 Kewanee (12,280 residents, $49,668 income); Streator (12,274 residents, $54,953 income); Herrin (12,271 residents, $58,501 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Palmer, MA (12,372 residents); Eureka, MO (12,371 residents); Escanaba, MI (12,374 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.

Open a side-by-side comparison →

Other supported questions

Why these stay compact

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.

Population change

Is Justice growing, shrinking, or holding steady?

Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -283 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -2.3% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 12 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.

2020 estimate
12,568
2025 estimate
12,285
Period change
-2.3%

Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.

See the national growth ranking →

Population

12,372 residents

Small city (10k–49k)

Median Household Income

$58,514 /yr

Below median income · poverty 15.1% (High poverty)

Cost of Living Index (state)

100.0 (US=100)

Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Illinois average

City profile score · Justice, IL

31/100

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.

Household income F
$58,514

Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.

Bachelor's+ share F
19.1%

Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.

Poverty rate F
15.1%

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).

Justice profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions) 4-axis radar comparing 1 series across Cost of living, Household income, Bachelor's+ share, Poverty rate. Cost of livingHousehold incomeBachelor's+ sharePoverty rate 31 F
Justice profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)
Read the chart values
  • Cost of living: 40/100 (D) · 100.0 index
  • Household income: 32/100 (F) · $58,514
  • Bachelor's+ share: 32/100 (F) · 19.1%
  • Poverty rate: 22/100 (F) · 15.1%

How does Justice compare to other US cities?

Justice measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.

Household income 33% higher than other cities
Home value 52% pricier than other cities
Median rent 18% 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 Justice 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 Justice near the bottom of Illinois's cities

Among the 1,336 Illinois cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Justice ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Justice only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.

Median Household Income
#874 of 1,311
33rd percentile in Illinois
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,336
0th percentile in Illinois
Median Home Value
#262 of 1,315
80th percentile in Illinois
Poverty Rate
#240 of 1,335
82nd percentile in Illinois
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#620 of 1,336
53rd 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.

33rdIncome percentile
Gauge source note

33rd percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.

How Justice's home value compares nationally

Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)

$235,200 48th percentile more affordable than 48% of 15,600 US cities

Show national distribution $0–$25,000: 5 US cities (0%). Below this entry. $25,000–$50,000: 54 US cities (0%). Below this entry. $50,000–$75,000: 352 US cities (2%). Below this entry. $75,000–$100,000: 1,086 US cities (7%). Below this entry. $100,000–$125,000: 1,516 US cities (10%). Below this entry. $125,000–$150,000: 1,170 US cities (8%). Below this entry. $150,000–$175,000: 1,278 US cities (8%). Below this entry. $175,000–$200,000: 1,229 US cities (8%). Below this entry. $200,000–$225,000: 1,035 US cities (7%). Below this entry. $225,000–$250,000: 976 US cities (6%). This entry sits in this band. $250,000–$275,000: 754 US cities (5%). Above this entry. $275,000–$300,000: 712 US cities (5%). Above this entry. $300,000–$325,000: 521 US cities (3%). Above this entry. $325,000–$350,000: 526 US cities (3%). Above this entry. $350,000–$375,000: 465 US cities (3%). Above this entry. $375,000–$400,000: 393 US cities (3%). Above this entry. $400,000–$425,000: 317 US cities (2%). Above this entry. $425,000–$450,000: 300 US cities (2%). Above this entry. $450,000–$475,000: 307 US cities (2%). Above this entry. $475,000–$500,000: 250 US cities (2%). Above this entry. $500,000–$525,000: 160 US cities (1%). Above this entry. $525,000–$550,000: 156 US cities (1%). Above this entry. $550,000–$575,000: 172 US cities (1%). Above this entry. $575,000–$600,000: 172 US cities (1%). Above this entry. $600,000–$625,000: 163 US cities (1%). Above this entry. $625,000–$650,000: 167 US cities (1%). Above this entry. $650,000–$675,000: 135 US cities (1%). Above this entry. $675,000–$700,000: 101 US cities (1%). Above this entry. $700,000–$725,000: 95 US cities (1%). Above this entry. $725,000–$750,000: 71 US cities (0%). Above this entry. $750,000–$775,000: 65 US cities (0%). Above this entry. $775,000–$800,000: 70 US cities (0%). Above this entry. $800,000–$825,000: 57 US cities (0%). Above this entry. $825,000–$850,000: 67 US cities (0%). Above this entry. $850,000–$875,000: 60 US cities (0%). Above this entry. $875,000–$900,000: 58 US cities (0%). Above this entry. $900,000–$925,000: 47 US cities (0%). Above this entry. $925,000–$950,000: 37 US cities (0%). Above this entry. $950,000–$975,000: 31 US cities (0%). Above this entry. $975,000–$1,000,000: 470 US cities (3%). Above this entry. $1,000,000–$1,025,000: 0 US cities (0%). Above this entry. Justice $0 $1,025,000 every US city, bucketed by value

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

Justice's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.0×

ACS median home value divided by median household income.

Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#10,763 of 15,516
More affordable than 31% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,005 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)

At 4.0×, Justice sits in the moderate band: national rank #10,763 of 15,516 and #2,005 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

$58,514 Justice, IL median household income (Census ACS)

Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Household income distribution - Justice, IL Justice, IL's median household income ($58,514) against the U.S. national quintile-share pattern. The Lorenz curve and quintile bars are national context, not Justice, IL-specific shares. $ Household Income Distribution Justice, IL median $58,514/yr, vs. U.S. national quintile pattern QUINTILE SHARE OF AGGREGATE INCOME Lowest 20% 3.4% Second 20% 9.2% Middle 20% 15.1% Fourth 20% 23.2% Top 20% 49.1% LORENZ CURVE cumulative income vs. population 100% 0% 100% pop. 0%
Justice, 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 Justice, IL.

Key socioeconomic indicators

Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+) 19.1%

Census ACS S1501, educational attainment

Poverty rate (households below FPL) 15.1%

Census ACS S1701, poverty status

Labor force participation (adults 16+) 65.3%

Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force

Population
12,372
Median Income
$58,514
Median Home Value
$235,200
Median Age
37.0
Poverty Rate
15.1%
Labor force participation
65.3%
Bachelor's Degree+
19.1%

Schools

Total Schools
4
Public schools in this city

Population Change

PEP vintage

Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025

See the fastest-growing cities →
12,000 residents12,200 residents12,400 residents12,600 residents12,800 residents 202020212022202320242025 12,568 residents 12,285 residents ▼ -2.3%
Justice's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.
Read the chart as text
Period Population
2020 12,568 residents
2021 12,358 residents
2022 12,209 residents
2023 12,185 residents
2024 12,276 residents
2025 12,285 residents

Housing Supply

BPS source

Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized

📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
12
housing units authorized
Single-Family
5
detached homes
Multifamily
7
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
1
permits per 1,000 residents

5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)

Year Total
2019 2
2020 8
2021 11
2022 1
2023 4
2024 12

Permit volume increased 500% from 2019 to 2024.

Commute Patterns

Commute source

How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023

Drive Alone
77.0%
Carpool
8.6%
Public Transit
4.3%
Walk
1.5%
Work from Home
7.6%
Other
1.0%

Based on 6,016 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 Justice. 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 Justice 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 Justice sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.

How Justice 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.

City Population Median Household Income
Justice (this city) 12,372 $58,514
Kewanee 12,280 $49,668
Streator 12,274 $54,953
Herrin 12,271 $58,501
NCES CCD Census BPS 2024
Primary sources on this page

Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, 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.

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Citation & verification links Data sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainCities

Primary sources: Census ACS, FBI UCR, NOAA Climate Normals, NCES. Joins use OMB Bulletin 23-01 / FIPS keys.

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Estimate caveats

ACS and UCR figures are citywide estimates with vintage lags; they do not replace a local visit, school visit, or insurance quote.

Editorial standards, provenance, and how to cite this page

Every figure on PlainCities is rendered directly from Census ACS source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on Census ACS source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.

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