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Place dossier plate
SheetIL-UNIVERSITY-PARK-IL · University Park, IL 7,109 pop · income 44th 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 University Park
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest University Park on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
West Frankfort · lowest
48,143
West Frankfort · lowest
48,143 median HH income
33.6% of the leader · rank #1
Minot AFB · near
65,571
Minot AFB · near
65,571 median HH income
45.8% of the leader · rank #2
University Pa… · this city
65,580
University Pa… · this city
65,580 median HH income
45.8% of the leader · rank #3
River Oaks · near
65,582
River Oaks · near
65,582 median HH income
45.8% of the leader · rank #4
Jacksboro · near
65,587
Jacksboro · near
65,587 median HH income
45.8% of the leader · rank #5
Wilsall · near
65,588
Wilsall · near
65,588 median HH income
45.8% of the leader · rank #6
Ridgefield · highest
143,286
Ridgefield · highest
143,286 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 University Park 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: 7,109.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
University Park - the verdict
Nationally, University Park sits in the 44th percentile for household income and the 32nd percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
44th
percentile, household income
23rd
percentile, home value
18th
percentile, median rent
32nd
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: University Park, IL
University Park is a small town in Illinois, home to 7,109 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in University Park brings in $65,580 a year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 11.8%. Typical homes in University Park are valued around $137,800, and the median resident age is 32.4 years. Educational attainment runs 24.3% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 55.5% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 1 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Low Activity). Crime here tracks close to the national norm: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 2025.9 incidents per 100,000 residents, near 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. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Illinois run around $240, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. 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 University Park'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 reported crime to comparison shortlist to work and mobility to schools and households to population change to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For University Park, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, local building permits.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
What can the FBI record say about safety in University Park?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 2025.9 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 11% 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for University Park?
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 Sandwich (7,121 residents, $77,027 income); Marengo (7,123 residents, $72,586 income); Benton (7,076 residents, $51,349 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Sturgis, SD (7,111 residents); Hudson, NH (7,105 residents); Ridgefield, CT (7,103 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 journey to work look like in University Park?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 70.8%. 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.
What does the education layer cover for University Park?
The matched institution count is small, so district boundaries and schools outside the city line may matter more than the municipal count suggests. Use the number as a coverage cue, then verify attendance zones with the district before making a household decision.
The NCES join finds 2 public schools within the city match. 24.3% 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.
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 University Park growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -112 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -1.6% 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.
2020 estimate
7,131
2025 estimate
7,019
Period change
-1.6%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
How far does income reach against housing in University Park?
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 2.1 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 11.8%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
2.1×
Home value
$137,800
Household income
$65,580
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Below median income · poverty 11.8% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
100.0 (US=100)
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Illinois average
F
City profile score · University Park, IL
39/100
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.
Bachelor's+ share D
24.3%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income D
$65,580
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); 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.
Poverty rate F
11.8%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime F
302 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
University Park profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 47/100 (D) · 24.3%
Household income: 43/100 (D) · $65,580
Cost of living: 40/100 (D) · 100.0 index
Poverty rate: 33/100 (F) · 11.8%
Violent crime: 33/100 (F) · 302 /100k
Where University Park sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
University Park'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 - University Park highlighted among 10 peers.Read the chart values
University Park, IL (this city): home $137,800, crime 2,026/100k
Sturgis, SD : home $236,400, crime 1,984/100k
Hudson, NH : home $330,700, crime 1,258/100k
Ridgefield, CT : home $843,200, crime 305/100k
Heber Springs, AR : home $152,900, crime 2,209/100k
Mentor-on-the-Lake, OH : home $171,200, crime 679/100k
Sandwich, IL : home $239,600, crime 305/100k
Marengo, IL : home $206,100, crime 708/100k
Greenville, IL : home $119,800, crime 1,122/100k
Clinton, IL : home $101,200, crime 2,123/100k
How does University Park compare to other US cities?
Where University Park sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income44% higher than other cities
Home value23% pricier than other cities
Median rent18% pricier than other cities
Safety32% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
A national percentile can hide a lot of local variation: narrowed to Illinois alone, University Park ranks #364 of 455 Illinois cities by lowest crime rate - a different, more locally useful comparison than stacking it against the entire country.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares University Park 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 University Park near the bottom of Illinois's cities
Among the 1,336 Illinois cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, University Park ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares University Park only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#696 of 1,311
47th percentile in Illinois
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,336
0th percentile in Illinois
Median Home Value
#554 of 1,315
58th percentile in Illinois
Poverty Rate
#368 of 1,335
72nd percentile in Illinois
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#424 of 1,336
68th 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
44th percentile nationally for median household income · 32nd percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
University Park's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
University Park'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 University Park's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$137,800Among the most affordablemore affordable than 77% 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
University Park's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.1×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#2,008 of 15,516
More affordable than 87% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#1,903 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.1×, University Park sits in the affordable band:
national rank #2,008 of 15,516 and #1,903 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
$65,580University Park, IL median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context University Park, 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 University Park, IL.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)24.3%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)11.8%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)55.5%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
7,109
Median Income
$65,580
Median Home Value
$137,800
Median Age
32.4
Poverty Rate
11.8%
Labor force participation
55.5%
Bachelor's Degree+
24.3%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
2025.9
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
301.7
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1724.1
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
2
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
University Park's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
7,131 residents
2021
7,099 residents
2022
7,033 residents
2023
7,035 residents
2024
7,048 residents
2025
7,019 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Low Activity
Total Permits (2024)
1
housing units authorized
Single-Family
1
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
0.1
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
0
0
0
-
2020
0
0
0
-
2021
0
0
0
-
2022
0
0
0
-
2023
1
1
0
$0.3M
2024
1
1
0
$0.4M
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
70.8%
Carpool
7.7%
Public Transit
4.7%
Walk
1.2%
Work from Home
6.9%
Other
8.7%
Based on 2,753 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 University Park. 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 University Park 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 University Park sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How University Park 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.