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Place dossier plate
SheetIL-PLAINFIELD-IL · Plainfield, IL 45,705 pop · income 93rd pct · 21 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 Plainfield
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Plainfield on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Haltom City · lowest
56,156
Haltom City · lowest
56,156 median HH income
32.5% of the leader · rank #1
Stepney · near
142,250
Stepney · near
142,250 median HH income
82.4% of the leader · rank #2
Hillcrest · near
142,260
Hillcrest · near
142,260 median HH income
82.4% of the leader · rank #3
Plainfield · this city
142,265
Plainfield · this city
142,265 median HH income
82.4% of the leader · rank #4
North Massape… · near
142,274
North Massape… · near
142,274 median HH income
82.4% of the leader · rank #5
Hillsborough · near
142,275
Hillsborough · near
142,275 median HH income
82.4% of the leader · rank #6
Keller · highest
172,654
Keller · highest
172,654 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 Plainfield 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: 45,705.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Plainfield - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Plainfield places in the 93rd percentile for household income and the 75th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
93rd
percentile, household income
77th
percentile, home value
18th
percentile, median rent
75th
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: Plainfield, IL
Illinois's Plainfield is a small city, with 45,705 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Plainfield households earn a median of $142,265 annually, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 2.6%. Typical homes in Plainfield are valued around $398,000, and the median resident age is 37.3 years. 54.9% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 69.6% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 460 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Building Boom), up 128% from five years earlier. Plainfield reports a comparatively low crime rate: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 741.0 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. 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 Plainfield'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 within-city variation to population change to comparison shortlist to housing and income to reported crime to work and mobility to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Plainfield, city-specific coverage includes within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, matched public-school count, commute-mode shares, annual population history.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
1. Within-city variation
What can 21 Census tracts reveal inside Plainfield?
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.
PlainCities matches 21 Census tracts to this city.
Is Plainfield 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 +5,088 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +11.3% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 460 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Which cities make useful reference points for Plainfield?
Within Illinois, the closest population matches are Elmhurst (45,538 residents, $145,374 income); Glenview (47,682 residents, $138,758 income); Lombard (43,722 residents, $97,253 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Haltom City, TX (45,681 residents); Wentzville, MO (45,734 residents); Altamonte Springs, FL (45,657 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Plainfield?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 2.8 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 2.6%, 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. Income and home value move within the same broad scale here. The useful next check is not a generic affordability label, but whether similar-size cities offer a materially different income, housing, or commute trade-off.
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.
Reported crime
What can the FBI record say about safety in Plainfield?
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 741.0 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 68% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
683.1
Violent rate
58.0
Total reported rate
741.0
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
What does the journey to work look like in Plainfield?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. Remote work has a visible role in the local pattern. That can reduce commute exposure for some workers, but it says nothing about job availability or broadband quality; read it alongside income and housing rather than as a stand-alone lifestyle score.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 70.6%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Public transit
1.6%
Work from home
21.3%
Drive alone
70.6%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 23,410 workers age 16+.
What does the education layer cover for Plainfield?
The NCES join finds 29 public schools within the city match. 54.9% 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.
Matched public schools
29
Bachelor's degree+
54.9%
Poverty estimate
2.6%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Illinois average
B+
City profile score · Plainfield, IL
77/100
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.
Household income A+
$142,265
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share A
54.9%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime A-
58 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Poverty rate A-
2.6%
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.
Plainfield profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 94/100 (A+) · $142,265
Bachelor's+ share: 88/100 (A) · 54.9%
Violent crime: 82/100 (A-) · 58 /100k
Poverty rate: 81/100 (A-) · 2.6%
Cost of living: 40/100 (D) · 100.0 index
Where Plainfield sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Plainfield'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 - Plainfield highlighted among 12 peers.Read the chart values
Plainfield, IL (this city): home $398,000, crime 741/100k
Haltom City, TX : home $194,600, crime 2,075/100k
Wentzville, MO : home $302,700, crime 854/100k
Altamonte Springs, FL : home $263,600, crime 2,652/100k
Hackensack, NJ : home $370,300, crime 2,271/100k
Keller, TX : home $557,700, crime 733/100k
Elmhurst, IL : home $532,800, crime 883/100k
Glenview, IL : home $598,800, crime 1,361/100k
Lombard, IL : home $321,200, crime 1,717/100k
Buffalo Grove, IL : home $392,900, crime 738/100k
Moline, IL : home $141,900, crime 3,718/100k
Belleville, IL : home $131,000, crime 2,344/100k
How does Plainfield compare to other US cities?
Plainfield measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income93% higher than other cities
Home value77% pricier than other cities
Median rent18% pricier than other cities
Safety75% 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: Plainfield ranks #179 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 Plainfield 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 Plainfield near the bottom of Illinois's cities
Among the 1,336 Illinois cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Plainfield ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Plainfield only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#60 of 1,311
95th percentile in Illinois
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,336
0th percentile in Illinois
Median Home Value
#68 of 1,315
95th percentile in Illinois
Poverty Rate
#1,066 of 1,335
20th percentile in Illinois
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#87 of 1,336
93rd 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
93rd percentile nationally for median household income · 75th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Plainfield's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Plainfield'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 Plainfield's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$398,00023rd percentilemore affordable than 23% 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
Plainfield's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.8×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#5,575 of 15,516
More affordable than 64% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#652 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 2.8×, Plainfield sits in the affordable band:
national rank #5,575 of 15,516 and #652 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
$142,265Plainfield, IL median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Plainfield, 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 Plainfield, IL.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)54.9%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)2.6%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)69.6%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
45,705
Median Income
$142,265
Median Home Value
$398,000
Median Age
37.3
Poverty Rate
2.6%
Labor force participation
69.6%
Bachelor's Degree+
54.9%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
741.0
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
58.0
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
683.1
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
29
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Plainfield's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
44,955 residents
2021
45,610 residents
2022
46,311 residents
2023
47,579 residents
2024
48,825 residents
2025
50,043 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
460
housing units authorized
Single-Family
460
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
10.1
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
202
202
0
$52.5M
2020
256
256
0
$66.6M
2021
356
356
0
$81.1M
2022
419
419
0
$101.2M
2023
390
390
0
$92.9M
2024
460
460
0
$111.7M
Permit volume increased 128% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
70.6%
Carpool
4.5%
Public Transit
1.6%
Walk
0.4%
Work from Home
21.3%
Other
1.6%
Based on 23,410 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 Plainfield. 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 Plainfield 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 Plainfield sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Plainfield 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.