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Place dossier plate
SheetIL-POPLAR-GROVE-IL · Poplar Grove, IL 4,202 pop · income 73rd 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 Poplar Grove
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Poplar Grove on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Anna · lowest
36,238
Anna · lowest
36,238 median HH income
14.5% of the leader · rank #1
Peoria · near
93,403
Peoria · near
93,403 median HH income
37.4% of the leader · rank #2
Howey-in-the-… · near
93,403
Howey-in-the-… · near
93,403 median HH income
37.4% of the leader · rank #3
Poplar Grove · this city
93,409
Poplar Grove · this city
93,409 median HH income
37.4% of the leader · rank #4
Millville · near
93,409
Millville · near
93,409 median HH income
37.4% of the leader · rank #5
Cambridge · near
93,424
Cambridge · near
93,424 median HH income
37.4% of the leader · rank #6
Kildeer · highest
250,001
Kildeer · highest
250,001 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 Poplar Grove 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: 4,202.
Poplar Grove ranks in the 73rd percentile for household income nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS.
73rd
percentile, household income
56th
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: Poplar Grove, IL
Poplar Grove is a small town in Illinois, home to 4,202 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Poplar Grove households earn a median of $93,409 annually, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 2.3%. Poplar Grove's housing stock carries a median value of $253,500, and the median resident age is 37.3 years. About 25.7% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 62.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 12 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Construction Slowdown), down 29% from five years earlier.
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. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,063 per month. 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 Poplar Grove'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 housing and income to work and mobility 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 Poplar Grove, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, local building permits, annual population history, 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
How far does income reach against housing in Poplar Grove?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 2.7 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 2.3%, 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Poplar Grove?
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 81.3%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
What does the education layer cover for Poplar Grove?
The NCES join finds 5 public schools within the city match. 25.7% 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Poplar Grove?
Within Illinois, the closest population matches are Paxton (4,201 residents, $60,470 income); Scott AFB (4,195 residents, $91,115 income); Sherman (4,211 residents, $147,025 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Clarion, PA (4,202 residents); Cold Spring, MN (4,201 residents); Charleroi, PA (4,203 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.
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 Poplar Grove 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 +146 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +2.9% 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.
Period change
+2.9%
2025 estimate
5,206
2020 estimate
5,060
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Illinois average
C+
City profile score · Poplar Grove, IL
63/100
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.
Poverty rate A-
2.3%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income B
$93,409
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share C-
25.7%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
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.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Poplar Grove profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 84/100 (A-) · 2.3%
Household income: 73/100 (B) · $93,409
Bachelor's+ share: 51/100 (C-) · 25.7%
Cost of living: 40/100 (D) · 100.0 index
How does Poplar Grove compare to other US cities?
Where Poplar Grove sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income73% higher than other cities
Home value56% 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 Poplar Grove 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 Poplar Grove near the bottom of Illinois's cities
Among the 1,336 Illinois cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Poplar Grove ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Poplar Grove only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#277 of 1,311
79th percentile in Illinois
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,336
0th percentile in Illinois
Median Home Value
#225 of 1,315
83rd percentile in Illinois
Poverty Rate
#1,088 of 1,335
18th percentile in Illinois
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#389 of 1,336
71st 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
73rd percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Poplar Grove's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$253,50044th percentilemore affordable than 44% 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
Poplar Grove's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.7×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#5,099 of 15,516
More affordable than 67% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#4,467 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.7×, Poplar Grove sits in the affordable band:
national rank #5,099 of 15,516 and #4,467 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
$93,409Poplar Grove, IL median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Poplar Grove, 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 Poplar Grove, IL.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)25.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)2.3%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)62.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
4,202
Median Income
$93,409
Median Home Value
$253,500
Median Age
37.3
Poverty Rate
2.3%
Labor force participation
62.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
25.7%
Schools
Total Schools
5
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Poplar Grove's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
5,060 residents
2021
5,084 residents
2022
5,109 residents
2023
5,147 residents
2024
5,180 residents
2025
5,206 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
12
housing units authorized
Single-Family
12
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
2.9
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
17
17
0
$4.6M
2020
18
18
0
$1.8M
2021
21
21
0
$2.1M
2022
16
16
0
$1.6M
2023
9
9
0
$0.8M
2024
12
12
0
$1.1M
Permit volume decreased 29% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
81.3%
Carpool
12.8%
Public Transit
0.6%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
4.6%
Other
0.7%
Based on 1,864 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 Poplar Grove. 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 Poplar Grove 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 Poplar Grove sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Poplar Grove 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, 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.