Like all states, Illinois has certain places that are going on hard times. These Illinois places have an above-average percentage of people living in poverty, out of work, or not making as much as they should be.
Even as the economy continues to improve, it’s worthwhile to look at the places in each state struggling to make ends meet. So we set our sites on locating the poorest places in Illinois.
To do so, we used Saturday Night Science to analyze the newest Census data from the American Community Survey for the 330 cities in Illinois with more than 5,000 people.
$32,128 median income · 37.4% poverty · #1 lowest income in Illinois
Located in
Williamson County, Illinois
Carbondale, unfortunately, ranks as the poorest place in Illinois thanks to combination of low pay and and a lack of jobs.
The city of 22,158 people averages the lowest median household income in Illinois and the 2nd highest poverty rate. At the very least, the cost of living ranks in the bottom 15% of place in the state, so things like housing are relatively affordable.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$39,833 median income · 41.5% poverty · #3 lowest income in Illinois
Located in
Cook County, Illinois
The second poorest city in Illinois is Riverdale.
The city ranks as having the highest incidence of poverty and 3rd lowest median household income. However, the unemployment rate ‘only’ ranks as the 3rd highest in the Prairie State.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$35,700 median income · 32.8% poverty · #2 lowest income in Illinois
Located in
St. Clair County, Illinois
Placing as the third poorest city, East St. Louis’s median income ranks as the 2nd lowest.
And that’s a sign that there’s a relatively substantial jump in the quality of the economy from second to third place on our list. The poverty rate is 32.8% and ranks near the bottom of places in the state.
But what makes up for the relatively low incomes of the city is its low cost of living. The income you do make here goes further than in most parts of the Prairie State.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$43,415 median income · 29.0% poverty · #5 lowest income in Illinois
Located in
Saline County, Illinois
Harrisburg ranks as the fourth poorest place in Illinois.
The town ranks as having the 5th lowest median household income and the 5th highest incidence of poverty in the state.
That being said, there’s still a ton of cultural diversity in the city as it hosts many events throughout the year.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$45,346 median income · 28.0% poverty · #8 lowest income in Illinois
Located in
Champaign County, Illinois
The fifth poorest city in Illinois is Urbana.
The city ranks as having the 8th lowest median income in the state. However, an extremely low cost of living prevents a good number of folks from living in poverty as the poverty rate only ranks as the 7th highest in Illinois.
Still not the best news for Urbana.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$44,411 median income · 25.1% poverty · #7 lowest income in Illinois
Located in
McDonough County, Illinois
Macomb ranks as the sixth poorest place in the Prairie State.
It ranks as having the 13th highest incidence of poverty and the 22nd highest unemployment rate.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$47,898 median income · 29.0% poverty · #16 lowest income in Illinois
Located in
Franklin County, Illinois
West Frankfort places as the seventh poorest city in Illinois.
The city of over 7,118 ranks as having the 6th highest incidence of poverty in the state. However, it has a very low cost of living which helps to pay the bills each month.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$42,429 median income · 22.6% poverty · #4 lowest income in Illinois
Located in
Cook County, Illinois
Harvey ranks as the eighth poorest city in Illinois.
The big issue for the town is the unemployment rate which ranks as one of the highest in the state.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$45,957 median income · 24.5% poverty · #10 lowest income in Illinois
Located in
Vermilion County, Illinois
Danville couldn’t stay out of the top ten poorest places in Illinois; it ranks number 9.
While the median income is the 10th lowest, there are a substantial number of people that live below the poverty line. Overall, Danville ranks as having the 15th most people living in poverty of all the places we analyzed in Illinois.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$47,514 median income · 25.5% poverty · #14 lowest income in Illinois
Located in
Kankakee County, Illinois
And rounding out the top ten poorest cities in Illinois is Kankakee.
The city of 23,996 people ranks in the bottom 20% for both median income and poverty rate in the Prairie State.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Illinois’s statewide median.
Illinois statewide median: $83,390
Illinois statewide median: 11.8%
Illinois statewide median: 5.8%
On the map
Where poverty hits hardest in Illinois
Saturday Night Science
How we determined the poorest places in Illinois for 2026
The first thing that comes to most people’s minds when they think about determining the poorest places is to simply the poverty rate. That is, the number of people living below a federally established level of income for a household of a certain size.
However, we don’t think that one statistic wholly encompasses what it means to be one of the “poorest places”. So we used Saturday Night Science to look at this set of criteria from the newly released 2020-2024 American Community Survey:
- Poverty Level
- Median Household Income
After we collected the data for all 330 places with more than 5,000 people in Illinois, we ranked each place from 1 to 330 for each of the criteria, with 1 being the poorest.
We then averaged all the rankings for a place into a “Poor Score” with the place having the lowest overall Poor Score, Carbondale, crowned the “Poorest Place In Illinois For 2026”. The median Illinois home is 55 years old — old enough that it pays to compare home warranty plans before something expensive breaks.
The full plate
Detailed list of the poorest places to live in Illinois
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Poor Score | Population | Median income | Poverty | Unemployment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carbondale | 1.50 | 22,158 | $32,128 | 37.4% | 10.4% |
| 2 | Riverdale | 2.00 | 10,340 | $39,833 | 41.5% | 16.1% |
| 3 | East St. Louis | 2.50 | 17,999 | $35,700 | 32.8% | 17.3% |
| 4 | Harrisburg | 5.00 | 8,372 | $43,415 | 29.0% | 9.5% |
| 5 | Urbana | 7.50 | 39,341 | $45,346 | 28.0% | 4.7% |
| 6 | Macomb | 10.00 | 14,894 | $44,411 | 25.1% | 10.4% |
| 7 | West Frankfort | 11.00 | 7,118 | $47,898 | 29.0% | 15.2% |
| 8 | Harvey | 12.00 | 20,230 | $42,429 | 22.6% | 13.4% |
| 9 | Danville | 12.50 | 28,595 | $45,957 | 24.5% | 8.3% |
| 10 | Kankakee | 13.00 | 23,996 | $47,514 | 25.5% | 7.6% |
| 11 | DeKalb | 13.00 | 40,443 | $46,481 | 24.9% | 10.2% |
| 12 | Charleston | 14.50 | 17,062 | $49,300 | 26.3% | 6.1% |
| 13 | Vandalia | 15.00 | 5,796 | $45,469 | 22.2% | 6.0% |
| 14 | Rock Falls | 16.00 | 8,587 | $49,600 | 25.6% | 6.6% |
| 15 | Centralia | 16.00 | 11,856 | $47,807 | 24.3% | 11.2% |
| 16 | Du Quoin | 19.00 | 5,726 | $54,409 | 29.6% | 11.1% |
| 17 | Chicago Heights | 22.50 | 26,736 | $54,798 | 26.9% | 14.6% |
| 18 | Mount Carmel | 24.50 | 6,854 | $47,009 | 20.3% | 4.5% |
| 19 | East Alton | 26.00 | 5,689 | $48,815 | 20.8% | 3.3% |
| 20 | Champaign | 26.00 | 89,996 | $56,118 | 25.9% | 4.8% |
| 21 | Mattoon | 27.00 | 16,586 | $51,597 | 21.3% | 6.5% |
| 22 | Calumet City | 29.00 | 35,100 | $55,369 | 23.4% | 10.6% |
| 23 | Galesburg | 29.50 | 29,481 | $48,297 | 19.1% | 5.0% |
| 24 | Rockford | 31.50 | 147,521 | $54,752 | 21.3% | 8.5% |
| 25 | Alton | 32.50 | 25,279 | $54,568 | 21.0% | 5.4% |
| 26 | Decatur | 33.00 | 69,815 | $51,592 | 19.4% | 8.3% |
| 27 | Freeport | 33.50 | 23,505 | $51,723 | 19.6% | 4.5% |
| 28 | Kewanee | 35.00 | 11,913 | $50,886 | 17.9% | 8.9% |
| 29 | Worth | 36.00 | 10,700 | $56,288 | 21.1% | 8.5% |
| 30 | Metropolis | 37.50 | 5,864 | $50,399 | 17.6% | 2.6% |
| 31 | Rantoul | 38.00 | 12,421 | $48,691 | 16.9% | 3.2% |
| 32 | Dolton | 38.50 | 20,825 | $57,887 | 21.7% | 12.8% |
| 33 | Murphysboro | 40.00 | 6,735 | $44,154 | 14.9% | 5.9% |
| 34 | Benton | 40.50 | 6,863 | $54,123 | 17.7% | 3.9% |
| 35 | North Chicago | 40.50 | 30,643 | $60,172 | 24.5% | 9.9% |
| 36 | Justice | 43.00 | 12,324 | $57,170 | 19.4% | 6.7% |
| 37 | Carlinville | 43.00 | 5,480 | $57,708 | 20.5% | 2.4% |
| 38 | Rock Island | 43.50 | 36,151 | $59,041 | 21.0% | 6.3% |
| 39 | Streator | 44.00 | 12,330 | $57,609 | 20.3% | 7.9% |
| 40 | Peoria | 44.50 | 112,169 | $59,410 | 21.0% | 7.5% |
| 41 | Markham | 46.00 | 11,355 | $57,302 | 18.0% | 8.7% |
| 42 | Mount Vernon | 46.00 | 14,090 | $55,357 | 17.3% | 6.3% |
| 43 | Litchfield | 47.00 | 6,834 | $53,958 | 16.3% | 6.4% |
| 44 | LaSalle | 48.00 | 9,498 | $57,732 | 18.8% | 5.0% |
| 45 | Canton | 51.00 | 13,144 | $53,254 | 15.2% | 7.2% |
| 46 | Pontoon Beach | 52.00 | 6,025 | $62,861 | 21.7% | 11.0% |
| 47 | Dixon | 52.00 | 14,910 | $59,406 | 17.8% | 5.2% |
| 48 | Lincoln | 52.50 | 13,281 | $57,340 | 17.0% | 2.9% |
| 49 | Pana | 52.50 | 5,217 | $46,168 | 13.3% | 6.4% |
| 50 | Quincy | 52.50 | 39,109 | $56,480 | 16.7% | 4.7% |
| 51 | East Moline | 55.00 | 20,904 | $61,779 | 19.8% | 3.4% |
| 52 | Mendota | 57.00 | 6,994 | $51,632 | 14.1% | 4.8% |
| 53 | Normal | 57.50 | 53,569 | $64,785 | 21.4% | 3.9% |
| 54 | Blue Island | 57.50 | 21,741 | $59,489 | 17.1% | 15.5% |
| 55 | Calumet Park | 59.00 | 6,855 | $53,556 | 14.1% | 15.4% |
| 56 | Park Forest | 59.50 | 21,156 | $61,072 | 17.6% | 8.7% |
| 57 | Monmouth | 59.50 | 8,581 | $61,138 | 17.7% | 3.6% |
| 58 | Sterling | 60.00 | 14,717 | $57,350 | 15.3% | 3.8% |
| 59 | Hazel Crest | 61.00 | 13,792 | $68,393 | 24.0% | 14.3% |
| 60 | Salem | 61.50 | 7,236 | $59,728 | 16.3% | 2.4% |
| 61 | Granite City | 65.50 | 26,549 | $59,205 | 14.8% | 5.7% |
| 62 | Jacksonville | 67.00 | 18,014 | $65,432 | 18.5% | 5.1% |
| 63 | Hoopeston | 67.50 | 5,034 | $60,861 | 15.6% | 7.6% |
| 64 | Paris | 68.50 | 8,276 | $53,927 | 12.5% | 5.0% |
| 65 | Marion | 70.00 | 16,836 | $56,912 | 13.3% | 3.5% |
| 66 | Chicago Ridge | 70.50 | 14,099 | $68,964 | 20.4% | 5.5% |
| 67 | Herrin | 71.00 | 12,226 | $59,975 | 14.5% | 5.9% |
| 68 | Hillsboro | 72.00 | 5,803 | $50,158 | 11.6% | 2.9% |
| 69 | Zion | 74.00 | 24,600 | $63,104 | 16.0% | 6.7% |
| 70 | Olney | 74.00 | 8,577 | $59,980 | 14.2% | 4.7% |
| 71 | Silvis | 74.50 | 7,955 | $62,375 | 15.4% | 3.7% |
| 72 | Springfield | 75.00 | 113,330 | $66,064 | 16.8% | 6.8% |
| 73 | Posen | 75.00 | 5,292 | $73,051 | 21.5% | 6.1% |
| 74 | Loves Park | 78.50 | 23,502 | $61,868 | 14.4% | 6.3% |
| 75 | Taylorville | 78.50 | 10,646 | $57,552 | 12.4% | 3.5% |
| 76 | Clinton | 79.50 | 6,985 | $62,323 | 14.5% | 3.7% |
| 77 | Beardstown | 79.50 | 6,169 | $60,587 | 13.7% | 4.6% |
| 78 | Sauk Village | 80.50 | 9,678 | $69,973 | 17.6% | 12.6% |
| 79 | Belleville | 81.00 | 41,370 | $63,535 | 14.6% | 6.1% |
| 80 | Belvidere | 82.00 | 24,752 | $64,528 | 14.6% | 7.0% |
| 81 | Pontiac | 83.50 | 11,294 | $61,279 | 13.1% | 4.2% |
| 82 | Pekin | 84.00 | 31,781 | $60,790 | 12.8% | 6.1% |
| 83 | Ottawa | 86.00 | 18,447 | $71,413 | 17.3% | 6.9% |
| 84 | Moline | 86.00 | 42,197 | $67,701 | 15.5% | 6.8% |
| 85 | Wood River | 86.00 | 10,279 | $62,703 | 13.9% | 2.9% |
| 86 | Maywood | 86.50 | 23,201 | $68,815 | 15.5% | 7.7% |
| 87 | Chester | 87.00 | 6,797 | $80,625 | 21.7% | 4.7% |
| 88 | Eureka | 88.00 | 5,007 | $56,048 | 10.8% | 7.7% |
| 89 | Princeton | 89.00 | 7,975 | $61,946 | 12.7% | 5.4% |
| 90 | Waukegan | 95.50 | 89,076 | $71,919 | 15.3% | 6.4% |
| 91 | Cicero | 96.00 | 82,797 | $70,842 | 14.6% | 5.0% |
| 92 | Marengo | 96.00 | 7,040 | $73,523 | 15.7% | 9.8% |
| 93 | Milan | 96.00 | 5,034 | $62,597 | 12.3% | 1.1% |
| 94 | Bethalto | 98.00 | 9,239 | $64,775 | 12.3% | 4.0% |
| 95 | Bridgeview | 100.00 | 16,849 | $66,655 | 12.8% | 7.6% |
| 96 | Steger | 100.00 | 9,418 | $66,575 | 12.6% | 5.5% |
| 97 | Effingham | 100.50 | 12,342 | $72,377 | 14.6% | 2.6% |
| 98 | Summit | 101.00 | 10,846 | $61,863 | 11.2% | 5.5% |
| 99 | Chicago | 101.50 | 2,711,226 | $77,902 | 16.8% | 8.0% |
| 100 | Melrose Park | 101.50 | 24,549 | $66,189 | 12.3% | 5.7% |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024. 330 cities with more than 5,000 residents.
Summary
The poorest cities in Illinois for 2026
Like we said earlier, when we set out to identify the poorest places in Illinois, we weren’t sure what we’d encounter, but it ended up being some of the best places to live in Illinois.
When you look at the data, the cities and places mentioned above meet the criteria for being at the very bottom of the income ladder for everyone that lives there. Not sold on Illinois? Take the two-minute Find Your Place quiz and see which state actually fits you.
