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Place dossier plate
SheetIL-OLMSTED-IL · Olmsted, IL 257 pop · income 4th 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 Olmsted
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Olmsted on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Olmsted · this city · lowest
34,375
Olmsted · this city · lowest
34,375 median HH income
36.2% of the leader · rank #1
Orchard Hill · near
34,375
Orchard Hill · near
34,375 median HH income
36.2% of the leader · rank #2
Pinehurst · near
34,375
Pinehurst · near
34,375 median HH income
36.2% of the leader · rank #3
Plevna · near
34,375
Plevna · near
34,375 median HH income
36.2% of the leader · rank #4
Rolling Fork · near
34,375
Rolling Fork · near
34,375 median HH income
36.2% of the leader · rank #5
Buckner · highest
94,861
Buckner · highest
94,861 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #6
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 Olmsted 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: 257.
Nationally, Olmsted sits in the 4th percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
4th
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: Olmsted, IL
Illinois's Olmsted is a small town, with 257 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. The typical household in Olmsted brings in $34,375 a year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 13.0%. The median resident age is 57.4 years. Educational attainment runs 5.7% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 36.0% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
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). Natural-hazard exposure scores 54.5 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Olmsted'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 population change to work and mobility to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Olmsted, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits, 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.
1. Population change
Is Olmsted 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 -19 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -6.7% change. No comparable local building-permit series is available here, so population change should not be read as a housing-supply measure. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
What does the journey to work look like in Olmsted?
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 84.1%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Which cities make useful reference points for Olmsted?
Within Illinois, the closest population matches are Fillmore (257 residents, $47,375 income); Alexander (258 residents); Oakford (258 residents, $65,813 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Buckner, AR (257 residents); Bethune, CO (257 residents); Bloomington, ID (257 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.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 13.0% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
100.0 (US=100)
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Illinois average
F
City profile score · Olmsted, IL
17/100
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
13.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$34,375
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
5.7%
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).
Olmsted profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 40/100 (D) · 100.0 index
Poverty rate: 28/100 (F) · 13.0%
Household income: 0/100 (F) · $34,375
Bachelor's+ share: 0/100 (F) · 5.7%
How does Olmsted compare to other US cities?
Here's how Olmsted stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income4% 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 Olmsted 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 Olmsted near the bottom of Illinois's cities
Among the 1,336 Illinois cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Olmsted ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Olmsted only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#1,292 of 1,311
1st percentile in Illinois
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,336
0th percentile in Illinois
Poverty Rate
#319 of 1,335
76th percentile in Illinois
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#1,230 of 1,336
8th 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
4th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Income distribution context
$34,375Olmsted, IL median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Olmsted, 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 Olmsted, IL.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)5.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)13.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)36.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
257
Median Income
$34,375
Median Home Value
N/A
Median Age
57.4
Poverty Rate
13.0%
Labor force participation
36.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
5.7%
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Olmsted's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
284 residents
2021
280 residents
2022
273 residents
2023
273 residents
2024
268 residents
2025
265 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
84.1%
Carpool
10.1%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
1.4%
Other
4.4%
Based on 69 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 Olmsted. 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 Olmsted 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 Olmsted sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Olmsted 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 ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.