What is the population of Sterling city?

Sterling city has 14,670 residents on Census ACS 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, ranking #168 of 1,462 in Illinois.

What is the median household income in Sterling city?

Median household income in Sterling city is $52,647 a year, 33% below the national figure of $78,538.

How much does it cost to rent or buy in Sterling city?

Median gross rent is $780 a month and the median home value is $107,800, so rent absorbs about 17.8% of median household income.

Is Sterling city affordable compared with the rest of the US?

Homes cost about 2× the local median income here versus roughly 3.9× nationally, so Sterling city is more affordable to buy in than the typical US market, and rent takes 17.8% of median income against the 30% cost-burden line.

Aerial view of a dense city center, illustrating the US cities ZIP code directory

Illinois · Census place 72546

Sterling, IL population, income and ZIP codes

Quick answer

The population of the city of Sterling, Illinois (Sterling, IL — Census place “Sterling city”) is 14,670 residents, ranking #168 of 1462 places in Illinois. Median household income is $52,647, the median home is worth $107,800 and median gross rent runs $780 a month. Looking for the Sterling Illinois ZIP code list? 1 ZIP codes serve Sterling, IL: 61081.

Population: 14,670Sterling city residents
Median household income: $52,647Past 12 months, inflation adjusted
Median home value: $107,800Owner-occupied units
Median gross rent: $780Rent plus utilities, monthly
Median age: 42.6 yrsAll residents
Homeownership rate: 61.8%Owner-occupied households

Sterling ZIP codes (Illinois)

Census ZCTAs whose delivery area overlaps Sterling.

The Sterling IL ZIP code list below covers 1 ZIP code. Open any one for its population, income, housing and rent profile.

61081

What the numbers mean in Sterling city

Housing cost measured against local earnings.

A household earning the Sterling city median would spend about 17.8% of gross income on the median rent. The 30% mark is the federal threshold for cost burden, so anything above it signals a stretched rental market. The median home costs 2.0× the median household income; nationally that ratio sits near 4.5×. Poverty affects 16.4% of residents and 61.8% of households own their home.

Source: US Census Bureau, ACS 2019-2023 5-year estimates · rates as published for 2019-2023 ACS 5-year

Sterling city, IL in context

How this area compares with national benchmarks.

Sterling city is a mid-size town in Illinois, with 14,670 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #168 of 1,462 ranked by population — larger than 88% of them. The median age here is 42.6 years against 39.1 nationally, a slightly older profile than the country as a whole. Places under 65,000 residents only appear in the five-year release, never the one-year file, so these values pool sixty months of responses and lag the current year by design.

Households in Sterling city earn a median of $52,647 a year, 33% below the national figure of $78,538 and 29% below the $74,244 median for the 698 Illinois cities we cover. Median household income counts every pre-tax dollar arriving at an address — wages, self-employment, Social Security, pensions, interest and public assistance — for everyone living there, so multi-earner households pull the figure up even where individual pay is modest. Poverty reaches 16.4% of residents here, above the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in Sterling city is valued at $107,800, 64.5% below the national figure and 40% below the $179,100 peer median, while median gross rent runs $780 a month, 44.5% below the national figure, or roughly $9,360 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 17.8% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is cheap relative to what people here earn. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 2×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so purchase prices are unusually low against local pay, the pattern in places where supply is plentiful and wage growth has been flat. 61.8% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, so the market leans more heavily on renters. Gross rent folds in the utilities a tenant pays separately, so it is closer to the real monthly outlay than a headline rent figure.

No figure on this page is estimated by us; each one comes straight from the published ACS tables for this area. Small-area estimates still carry wider margins of error than state or national figures, so check the linked ACS tables before relying on them for lending, appraisal or legal work.

Compare with nearby places

Places of similar size in Illinois.

More Illinois coverage.

Frequently asked questions

Common questions about this area.

What is the population of Sterling city?: Sterling city has 14,670 residents on Census ACS 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, ranking #168 of 1,462 in Illinois.
What is the median household income in Sterling city?: Median household income in Sterling city is $52,647 a year, 33% below the national figure of $78,538.
How much does it cost to rent or buy in Sterling city?: Median gross rent is $780 a month and the median home value is $107,800, so rent absorbs about 17.8% of median household income.
Is Sterling city affordable compared with the rest of the US?: Homes cost about 2× the local median income here versus roughly 3.9× nationally, so Sterling city is more affordable to buy in than the typical US market, and rent takes 17.8% of median income against the 30% cost-burden line.
How current is this Sterling city data?: All figures come from the US Census Bureau American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year five-year estimates. Places under 65,000 residents only appear in the five-year release, never the one-year file, so these values pool sixty months of responses and lag the current year by design.