Pope County, IL
Demographic and economic profile of Pope County, IL, sourced from the US Census Bureau (American Community Survey) via Data USA.
AI Overview
Pope County is a small, rural Illinois county of 3,757 residents with an aging population (median age 53.9) and a labor force participation rate of just 42.9%, reflecting its limited employment base and a GDP per capita of $17,411. The workforce is predominantly high-school educated (91.7% HS or higher; 16.8% hold a bachelor's degree), with median worker earnings of $34,898 and an unemployment rate of 3.0%. Housing costs are exceptionally low—median home value of $165,300 and median gross rent of $438/month—though the county has shed 11.6% of its population over the past five years.
Claude Sonnet 4.6 · generated Jul 6, 2026 · derived from cached Census, BEA & ACS data on this page
Population Growth (5-year)
-11.6% since 2018
Pope County lost population at this rate over the prior 5-year ACS5 window.
Demographics
Race & Ethnicity
- White Alone3,323 (88.9%)
- Black or African American Alone179 (4.8%)
- Two Races Excluding Some Other Race, & Three or More Races97 (2.6%)
- American Indian & Alaska Native Alone78 (2.1%)
- Two Races Including Some Other Race56 (1.5%)
- Some Other Race Alone5 (0.1%)
Top Languages Spoken at Home
- 1.Spanish75
- 2.Other Indo-European9
- 3.Russian, Polish, or other Slavic5
- 4.Other Asian and Pacific Island1
Economy
Cost of Living Index
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Not yet cached
Top Industries
- 1.Educational Services, & Health Care & Social Assistance405
- 2.Retail Trade (Group)187
- 3.Construction (Group)139
- 4.Transportation & Warehousing, & Utilities135
- 5.Public Administration (Group)119
Top Occupations
- 1.Management, Business, Science, & Arts Occupations589
- 2.Service Occupations237
- 3.Sales & Office Occupations221
- 4.Production, Transportation, & Material Moving Occupations180
- 5.Natural Resources, Construction, & Maintenance Occupations133
Housing
Education
Workforce
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More on FDI Connect
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Data: US Census Bureau American Community Survey, served via Data USA and the Census Bureau API. See each metric tile for the specific dataset.