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Place dossier plate
SheetIL-SHELBYVILLE-IL · Shelbyville, IL 4,248 pop · income 26th pct · 6 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 Shelbyville
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Shelbyville on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Hatillo zona… · lowest
21,182
Hatillo zona… · lowest
21,182 median HH income
14.4% of the leader · rank #1
Shelbyville · this city
54,400
Shelbyville · this city
54,400 median HH income
37.0% of the leader · rank #2
Beechmont · near
54,400
Beechmont · near
54,400 median HH income
37.0% of the leader · rank #3
Coudersport · near
54,402
Coudersport · near
54,402 median HH income
37.0% of the leader · rank #4
Nelson · near
54,408
Nelson · near
54,408 median HH income
37.0% of the leader · rank #5
French Lick · near
54,412
French Lick · near
54,412 median HH income
37.0% of the leader · rank #6
Sherman · highest
147,025
Sherman · highest
147,025 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 Shelbyville 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: 4,248.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Shelbyville - the verdict
Shelbyville ranks in the 26th percentile for household income and the 93rd percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
26th
percentile, household income
14th
percentile, home value
18th
percentile, median rent
93rd
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: Shelbyville, IL
Shelbyville is a small town in Illinois, home to 4,248 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Shelbyville brings in $54,400 a year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 8.4%. Shelbyville's housing stock carries a median value of $111,200, and the median resident age is 45.0 years. About 18.1% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 63.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 1 residential building permits were authorized in Shelbyville (Construction Slowdown), down 90% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Shelbyville reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 287.0 incidents per 100,000 residents, below the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects 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. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,063 per month statewide. Monthly utility costs average around $240 across Illinois, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. 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 Shelbyville'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 comparison shortlist to schools and households to within-city variation to reported crime to housing and income to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Shelbyville, city-specific coverage includes local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates, commute-mode shares, annual population history, matched public-school count.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
Is Shelbyville growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -103 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -2.2% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 1 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Shelbyville?
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.
Within Illinois, the closest population matches are West Peoria (4,246 residents, $57,450 income); Hometown (4,244 residents, $59,265 income); Sullivan (4,253 residents, $62,845 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Larksville, PA (4,248 residents); Wilbraham, MA (4,247 residents); Hatillo zona urbana, PR (4,247 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.
What does the education layer cover for Shelbyville?
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. 18.1% 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.
What can 6 Census tracts reveal inside Shelbyville?
PlainCities matches 6 Census tracts to this city.
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.
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 Shelbyville?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 287.0 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 87% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
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.
Total reported rate
287.0
Violent rate
88.3
Property rate
198.7
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
How far does income reach against housing in Shelbyville?
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.
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 2.0 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 8.4%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
2.0×
Home value
$111,200
Household income
$54,400
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
What does the journey to work look like in Shelbyville?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 78.7%. 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.
Drive alone
78.7%
Work from home
4.9%
Public transit
0.9%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 2,211 workers age 16+.
Below median income · poverty 8.4% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
100.0 (US=100)
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Illinois average
D
City profile score · Shelbyville, IL
43/100
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 B
88 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Poverty rate D
8.4%
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.
Bachelor's+ share F
18.1%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$54,400
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Shelbyville profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Violent crime: 74/100 (B) · 88 /100k
Poverty rate: 46/100 (D) · 8.4%
Cost of living: 40/100 (D) · 100.0 index
Bachelor's+ share: 29/100 (F) · 18.1%
Household income: 26/100 (F) · $54,400
Where Shelbyville sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Shelbyville'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 - Shelbyville highlighted among 9 peers.Read the chart values
Shelbyville, IL (this city): home $111,200, crime 287/100k
Larksville, PA : home $145,700, crime 235/100k
Wilbraham, MA : home $361,600, crime 1,439/100k
West Jefferson, OH : home $180,000, crime 1,107/100k
Hometown, IL : home $152,000, crime 1,742/100k
Sullivan, IL : home $95,600, crime 142/100k
Lawrenceville, IL : home $77,600, crime 117/100k
Anna, IL : home $128,200, crime 3,253/100k
Sherman, IL : home $291,300, crime 197/100k
How does Shelbyville compare to other US cities?
Shelbyville measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income26% higher than other cities
Home value14% pricier than other cities
Median rent18% pricier than other cities
Safety93% 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: Shelbyville ranks #63 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 Shelbyville 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 Shelbyville near the bottom of Illinois's cities
Among the 1,336 Illinois cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Shelbyville ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Shelbyville only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#981 of 1,311
25th percentile in Illinois
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,336
0th percentile in Illinois
Median Home Value
#714 of 1,315
46th percentile in Illinois
Poverty Rate
#568 of 1,335
57th percentile in Illinois
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#666 of 1,336
50th 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
26th percentile nationally for median household income · 93rd percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Shelbyville's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Shelbyville'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 Shelbyville's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$111,200Among the most affordablemore affordable than 86% 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
Shelbyville's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.0×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#1,789 of 15,516
More affordable than 88% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#1,709 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.0×, Shelbyville sits in the affordable band:
national rank #1,789 of 15,516 and #1,709 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
$54,400Shelbyville, IL median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Shelbyville, 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 Shelbyville, IL.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)18.1%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)8.4%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)63.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
4,248
Median Income
$54,400
Median Home Value
$111,200
Median Age
45.0
Poverty Rate
8.4%
Labor force participation
63.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
18.1%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
287.0
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
88.3
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
198.7
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
4
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Shelbyville's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
4,640 residents
2021
4,637 residents
2022
4,597 residents
2023
4,561 residents
2024
4,536 residents
2025
4,537 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
1
housing units authorized
Single-Family
1
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
0.2
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
10
10
0
$0.9M
2020
16
0
16
$3.0M
2021
4
4
0
$0.9M
2022
2
2
0
$0.3M
2023
1
1
0
$0.3M
2024
1
1
0
$0.3M
Permit volume decreased 90% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
78.7%
Carpool
6.3%
Public Transit
0.9%
Walk
4.4%
Work from Home
4.9%
Other
4.8%
Based on 2,211 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 Shelbyville. 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 Shelbyville 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 Shelbyville sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Shelbyville 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.