Side-by-side metrics and state or size-class ranks use the same Census and FBI fields shown on this profile. Results stay in the URL so you can bookmark or share them.
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.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Walnut Hill 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: 135.
Walnut Hill has 135 residents in Illinois. Source: Census ACS.
0th
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: Walnut Hill, IL
Walnut Hill is a small town in Illinois, home to 135 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Home values in Walnut Hill run a median of $33,000, and the median resident age is 50.4 years. 10.9% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 40.8% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Illinois tracks close to the national cost-of-living baseline: the state registers 100.0 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Near Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. 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). The average commute for Walnut Hill workers runs 38.5 minutes, with 65.0% driving alone and 2.5% working from home. 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 Walnut Hill'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 work and mobility to comparison shortlist to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Walnut Hill, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles, matched public-school count; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
What does the journey to work look like in Walnut Hill?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 65.0%. The reported mean trip to work is 38.5 minutes.
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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Walnut Hill?
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.
Within Illinois, the closest population matches are Ferris (135 residents, $51,250 income); Hamburg (135 residents, $43,625 income); Hettick (135 residents, $50,500 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Rockingham, GA (135 residents); Wheeler, IN (135 residents); Franklin, IA (135 residents). These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
Is Walnut Hill growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -4 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -4.2% 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.
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.
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Illinois average
F
City profile score · Walnut Hill, IL
17/100
3 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.
Bachelor's+ share F
10.9%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
33.3%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income N/A
N/A
No ACS median household income on file for this place.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Walnut Hill profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 40/100 (D) · 100.0 index
Bachelor's+ share: 9/100 (F) · 10.9%
Poverty rate: 0/100 (F) · 33.3%
How does Walnut Hill compare to other US cities?
Where Walnut Hill sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Home value0% 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 Walnut Hill 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 Walnut Hill near the bottom of Illinois's cities
Among the 1,336 Illinois cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Walnut Hill ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Walnut Hill only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,336
0th percentile in Illinois
Median Home Value
#1,310 of 1,315
0th percentile in Illinois
Poverty Rate
#18 of 1,335
99th percentile in Illinois
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#1,042 of 1,336
22nd 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.
How Walnut Hill's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$33,000Among the most affordablemore affordable than 100% 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
Income distribution context
Median household income is not available for Walnut Hill in the current Census ACS release (common for very small places).
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)10.9%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)33.3%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)40.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
135
Median Income
N/A
Median Home Value
$33,000
Median Age
50.4
Poverty Rate
33.3%
Labor force participation
40.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
10.9%
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Walnut Hill's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
96 residents
2021
95 residents
2022
94 residents
2023
93 residents
2024
93 residents
2025
92 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
38.5 minutes
Drive Alone
65.0%
Carpool
32.5%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
2.5%
Based on 40 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 Walnut Hill. 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 Walnut Hill 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 Walnut Hill sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Walnut Hill 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.