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Place dossier plate
SheetIL-MONTICELLO-IL · Monticello, IL 6,332 pop · income 70th pct · 4 tracts
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 Monticello
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Monticello on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Marion · lowest
27,767
Marion · lowest
27,767 median HH income
13.8% of the leader · rank #1
Byers · near
88,607
Byers · near
88,607 median HH income
44.1% of the leader · rank #2
Monticello · this city
88,611
Monticello · this city
88,611 median HH income
44.1% of the leader · rank #3
Punaluu · near
88,611
Punaluu · near
88,611 median HH income
44.1% of the leader · rank #4
Lakeridge · near
88,611
Lakeridge · near
88,611 median HH income
44.1% of the leader · rank #5
Tylersburg · near
88,611
Tylersburg · near
88,611 median HH income
44.1% of the leader · rank #6
Lucas Valley-… · highest
200,938
Lucas Valley-… · highest
200,938 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 Monticello 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: 6,332.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Monticello - the verdict
Monticello ranks in the 70th percentile for household income and the 95th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
70th
percentile, household income
42nd
percentile, home value
18th
percentile, median rent
95th
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: Monticello, IL
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 6,332 residents in Monticello, a small town within Illinois. Median household income here is $88,611 per year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 4.9%. Monticello's housing stock carries a median value of $196,000, and the median resident age is 42.9 years. 38.4% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 62.0% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 20 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Rapid Growth), up 33% from five years earlier. Monticello reports a comparatively low crime rate: per-100,000 total crime stands at 231.7 in FBI UCR data, below the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not 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. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,063 monthly. Monthly utility costs average around $240 across Illinois, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. 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 Monticello'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 schools and households to within-city variation to comparison shortlist to reported crime to work and mobility to housing and income to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Monticello, city-specific coverage includes within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history, matched public-school count, commute-mode shares, local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
What does the education layer cover for Monticello?
The NCES join finds 3 public schools within the city match. 38.4% 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.
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.
What can 4 Census tracts reveal inside Monticello?
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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Monticello?
Within Illinois, the closest population matches are Countryside (6,294 residents, $78,132 income); Johnsburg (6,374 residents, $106,827 income); Volo (6,398 residents, $145,906 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Forest Hills, PA (6,332 residents); Lucas Valley-Marinwood, CA (6,331 residents); De Soto, KS (6,333 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. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Monticello?
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.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 231.7 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 90% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
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 Monticello?
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.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 90.7%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Public transit
0.0%
Work from home
7.2%
Drive alone
90.7%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 3,228 workers age 16+.
How far does income reach against housing in Monticello?
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 2.2 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 4.9%, 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.
Household income
$88,611
Home value
$196,000
Value / income
2.2×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Is Monticello growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Recent estimates point upward. Growth can increase housing demand and service needs, but the permit record must move in the same direction before calling it a supply response; the two series measure different things.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +133 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +2.2% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 20 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Period change
+2.2%
2025 estimate
6,080
2020 estimate
5,947
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Above median income · poverty 4.9% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
100.0 (US=100)
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Illinois average
B-
City profile score · Monticello, IL
68/100
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+
0 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share B
38.4%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income B-
$88,611
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate B-
4.9%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
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.
Monticello profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Violent crime: 97/100 (A+) · 0 /100k
Bachelor's+ share: 72/100 (B) · 38.4%
Household income: 68/100 (B-) · $88,611
Poverty rate: 66/100 (B-) · 4.9%
Cost of living: 40/100 (D) · 100.0 index
Where Monticello sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Monticello'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 - Monticello highlighted among 8 peers.Read the chart values
Monticello, IL (this city): home $196,000, crime 232/100k
Forest Hills, PA : home $182,200, crime 908/100k
Shrewsbury, MO : home $266,600, crime 10,320/100k
Marion, SC : home $119,400, crime 6,190/100k
Countryside, IL : home $330,700, crime 2,606/100k
Chillicothe, IL : home $128,500, crime 1,095/100k
Braidwood, IL : home $205,900, crime 454/100k
Pontoon Beach, IL : home $137,900, crime 1,953/100k
How does Monticello compare to other US cities?
Monticello measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income70% higher than other cities
Home value42% pricier than other cities
Median rent18% pricier than other cities
Safety95% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just Illinois and the picture shifts: Monticello ranks #49 of 455 Illinois cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Monticello 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 Monticello near the bottom of Illinois's cities
Among the 1,336 Illinois cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Monticello ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Monticello only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#303 of 1,311
77th percentile in Illinois
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,336
0th percentile in Illinois
Median Home Value
#368 of 1,315
72nd percentile in Illinois
Poverty Rate
#850 of 1,335
36th percentile in Illinois
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#202 of 1,336
85th 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
70th percentile nationally for median household income · 95th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Monticello's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Monticello'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 Monticello's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$196,000Among the most affordablemore affordable than 58% 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
Monticello's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.2×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#2,518 of 15,516
More affordable than 84% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,356 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.2×, Monticello sits in the affordable band:
national rank #2,518 of 15,516 and #2,356 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
$88,611Monticello, IL median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Monticello, 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 Monticello, IL.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)38.4%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)4.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)62.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
6,332
Median Income
$88,611
Median Home Value
$196,000
Median Age
42.9
Poverty Rate
4.9%
Labor force participation
62.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
38.4%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
231.7
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
0.0
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
231.7
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
3
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Monticello's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
5,947 residents
2021
6,002 residents
2022
5,980 residents
2023
6,019 residents
2024
6,010 residents
2025
6,080 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Rapid Growth
Total Permits (2024)
20
housing units authorized
Single-Family
20
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
3.2
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
15
15
0
$4.2M
2020
25
23
2
$7.2M
2021
13
13
0
$3.8M
2022
20
20
0
$6.8M
2023
19
19
0
$6.8M
2024
20
20
0
$7.5M
Permit volume increased 33% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
90.7%
Carpool
1.8%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.3%
Work from Home
7.2%
Based on 3,228 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 Monticello. 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 Monticello 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 Monticello sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Monticello 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.