county

Shelby County, IL

Demographic and economic profile of Shelby County, IL, sourced from the US Census Bureau (American Community Survey) via Data USA.

AI Overview

Shelby County is a rural Illinois county of about 20,900 residents with a heavily owner-occupied housing stock (78.5% homeownership) and low housing costs — median home values of $130,400 and median gross rent of $762/month. The workforce of roughly 12,700 active participants skews older (median age 45.3) with a 3.0% unemployment rate, though only 17.6% hold a bachelor's degree and labor force participation sits at 61.0%. The county has shed 4.4% of its population over five years, and a per capita income of $33,372 against a GDP per capita of $39,537 points to a modest but stable local economy.

Claude Sonnet 4.6 · generated Jul 6, 2026 · derived from cached Census, BEA & ACS data on this page

Population

20,867

Census ACS · as of 2023

Median Household Income

$72,095

Data USA · as of 2024

Median Age

45.3 yrs

Data USA · as of 2024

Population Growth (5-year)

-4.4% since 2018

Shelby County lost population at this rate over the prior 5-year ACS5 window.

Demographics

Race & Ethnicity

  • White Alone20,005 (96.5%)
  • Two Races Excluding Some Other Race, & Three or More Races322 (1.6%)
  • Two Races Including Some Other Race158 (0.8%)
  • Some Other Race Alone87 (0.4%)
  • American Indian & Alaska Native Alone65 (0.3%)
  • Black or African American Alone45 (0.2%)

Data USA · as of 2024

Top Languages Spoken at Home

  1. 1.Spanish186
  2. 2.Russian, Polish, or other Slavic158
  3. 3.Tagalog (incl. Filipino)30
  4. 4.French (incl. Cajun, Haitian)12
  5. 5.German or other West Germanic6

Census ACS · as of 2023

Population Under 18

21.4%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Working-Age (18–64)

55.2%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Population 65 and Over

23.5%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Foreign-Born Population

1.0%

Data USA · as of 2024

Veterans

1,695

Data USA · as of 2024

Economy

GDP per Capita

$39,537

Data USA · as of 2023

Cost of Living Index

—

Not yet cached

Per Capita Income

$33,372

Census ACS · as of 2023

Unemployment Rate

3.0%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Poverty Rate

10.0%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Top Industries

  1. 1.Educational Services, & Health Care & Social Assistance2,625
  2. 2.Manufacturing (Group)1,396
  3. 3.Retail Trade (Group)1,185
  4. 4.Professional, Scientific, & Management, & Administrative & Waste Management Services712
  5. 5.Other Services, Except Public Administration (Group)631

Data USA · as of 2024

Top Occupations

  1. 1.Management, Business, Science, & Arts Occupations3,277
  2. 2.Service Occupations2,151
  3. 3.Sales & Office Occupations1,912
  4. 4.Production, Transportation, & Material Moving Occupations1,784
  5. 5.Natural Resources, Construction, & Maintenance Occupations936

Data USA · as of 2024

Specialized Industries (Location Quotient)

  1. 1.Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing & Hunting, & Mining (LQ 4.11×)659
  2. 2.Wholesale Trade (LQ 1.66×)384
  3. 3.Manufacturing (LQ 1.47×)1,472
  4. 4.Other Services (LQ 1.40×)663
  5. 5.Retail Trade (LQ 1.22×)1,334

Census ACS · as of 2023

Housing

Median Home Value

$130,400

Census ACS · as of 2023

Median Gross Rent

$762/mo

Census ACS · as of 2023

Homeownership Rate

78.4%

Data USA · as of 2024

Home Value Distribution

  • $100,000 to $124,999878 (12.6%)
  • $300,000 to $399,999761 (10.9%)
  • $200,000 to $249,999674 (9.6%)
  • $60,000 to $69,999626 (8.9%)
  • $125,000 to $149,999618 (8.8%)
  • $150,000 to $174,999618 (8.8%)

Data USA · as of 2024

Education

Bachelor's Degree or Higher

17.6%

Census ACS · as of 2023

High School Diploma or Higher

94.5%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Workforce

Labor Force Participation

61.0%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Median Worker Earnings

$41,735

Census ACS · as of 2023

Mean Commute Time

20.8 min

Data USA · as of 2024

Households Without a Vehicle

4.6%

Census ACS · as of 2023

How People Get to Work

  • Drove Alone8,311 (83.8%)
  • Worked At Home649 (6.5%)
  • Carpooled605 (6.1%)
  • Walked204 (2.1%)
  • Bicycle109 (1.1%)
  • Other24 (0.2%)

Data USA · as of 2024

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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.