Adams County, IL

County Profile

64,754 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Adams County, IL.

Several figures AreaProfile publishes are measured by county and nowhere finer — death rates by intent among them. On this page those describe the geography they are printed on, which is not true of the city and ZIP pages that inherit them.

57out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 42% of 1,453 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks

Data updated · 14 sources
OpportunityTop 21% of 1,463 counties measured70
Schools1,034th of 1,377 counties measured30
Growth1,433rd of 1,453 counties measured9
Housing affordabilityTop 18% of 1,462 counties measured81
Climate826th of 1,463 counties measured66
Physical resilienceTop 34% of 1,463 counties measured70
Access1,300th of 1,463 counties measured53
Economic stabilityTop 37% of 1,463 counties measured69
The quick read

Adams County ranks in the top 21% of counties measured for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 2.7% and median household income of $66,220.

In the public schools here, 26% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 14.7 students for every teacher.

Residential permitting has slowed: 14 units authorized over the past twelve months, 81% below the prior year.

These sentences are written by fixed rules from the measurements below — a statement appears because a number crossed a stated threshold, and the values behind it are stored with it. No figure anywhere on this site is invented, estimated or inferred to fill a gap. How this works.

At a glance

Population
64,754
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$66,220
Top 47% nationally
Density
76/sq mi
855.2 sq mi of land
Median age
41.4
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Adams County
Illinois
Micro area
Nearest major airport
SPI
81 mi · Abraham Lincoln Capital
Median home value
$162,600
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 2.7%, lower than in 95% of the 1,467 measured US counties.

Employment grew 0.6% over the past year, to 32,376 employed residents.

27% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 70% of measured US counties.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Income of new arrivalsfiling years 2022–2023$61,40857th percentileof 1,417filing years 2022–2023
Income of those who leftfiling years 2022–2023$64,16065th percentileof 1,417filing years 2022–2023
Median household income ±$3,4352024 ACS 5-Year$66,220Top 47%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,6282024 ACS 5-Year$37,595Top 36%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Per-capita personal income2023$60,197Top 37%of 1,3892023
Poverty rate ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year12.2%Top 44%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute ±0.6 min2024 ACS 5-Year18.3 minTop 9%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year27.5%Top 30%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Drove alone to work ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year79.5%64th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
EmploymentJuly 202632,376Bottom 48%of 1,467July 2026
Employment change (3 years)July 2026−0.9%Bottom 38%of 1,467July 2026
Employment change (year over year)July 2026+0.6%Top 26%of 1,467July 2026
Labor forceJuly 202633,28248th percentileof 1,467July 2026
Labor force participation ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year82.8%Top 14%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Public transit to work ±0.2%2024 ACS 5-Year0.4%69th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)July 2026−1.0%Top 10%of 1,467July 2026
Unemployment rateJuly 20262.7%Top 5%of 1,467July 2026
Worked from home ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year7.6%40th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year

Unemployment rate

2021/072022/072023/072024/072025/072026/074.72.7
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 2.7% in July 2026. It has been falling, over a series running from 2020-01 to 2026-07. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.

Median household income, successive ACS releases

202120222023202466k59k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $66,220 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.

26% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 29% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 14.7 students for every full-time teacher across 19 public schools, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
23
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
14.7
across 19 of them
Math proficiency
25.7%
Bottom 34% in Illinois
Reading proficiency
29.4%
Bottom 15% in Illinois
The 12 largest of 23 public schools, by enrollment.
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Quincy Sr High SchoolQuincy SD 1721,84718.823%31%
Quincy Jr High SchoolQuincy SD 1721,29517.317%25%
Lincoln-Douglas Elementary SchoolQuincy SD 17258815.138%35%
Thomas S Baldwin Elem SchQuincy SD 17256414.133%27%
Colonel George Iles Elem SchQuincy SD 17253513.429%30%
Sarah Atwater Denman ElemQuincy SD 17250112.829%23%
Dr. Abby Fox Rooney Elem SchQuincy SD 17250012.226%25%
Early ChildhoodQuincy SD 17243427.1——
Liberty Elementary SchoolLiberty CUSD 233614.037%47%
Unity Elementary SchoolCUSD 429614.125%15%
Liberty High SchoolLiberty CUSD 225312.037%42%
Seymour Elementary SchoolPayson CUSD 123311.122%27%

55.7% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with, not how the schools perform, so it is shown and not scored.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data, placed by ZIP code — which schools are in this place, not which one a particular address is zoned for. A dash in a proficiency column is a gap in the federal file, not a bad result. Proficiency is measured against Illinois’s own standard, so it is ranked within state. How to read school figures.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s house price index for the non-metropolitan parts of Illinois is up 45% over five years, and up 5.6% over the last year. It follows repeat sales of the same homes, so it measures price change rather than which homes happened to sell.

Homeowners here who pay a tax bill pay a median of $2,573 a year in real estate taxes, about 1.58% of the median home value.

HUD’s Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom, set near the 40th percentile of recent new leases, is $1,064, some 29% above the $828 tenants already here pay.

At HUD’s Fair Market Rent of $1,064 a month for a two-bedroom, keeping rent to 30% of income takes a household income of about $42,600 a year, about 64% of the median household income here of $66,220.

The typical renter household here spends 26% of its income on rent, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $828 a month.

A median home at $162,600 costs 2.1 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $78,173, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Rent as a share of income
26.3%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.1×
median home value ÷ owner household income
Market rent, two bedroom
$1,064
what a new lease costs · FY2026
Median gross rent
$828
what tenants now pay · 2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$162,600
2024 ACS 5-Year

The figures above are measured against Adams County’s median household income of $66,220, which describes the place rather than you. Enter your own and the ratio is recomputed against it. It stays in this browser.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price change (1 year)the non-metropolitan parts of Illinois’s figure2026 Q2+5.6%83rd percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price change (5 years)the non-metropolitan parts of Illinois’s figure2026 Q2+44.8%48th percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price change (10 years)the non-metropolitan parts of Illinois’s figure2026 Q2+68.1%12th percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price to income ±0.12024 ACS 5-Year2.1Top 26%of 3,2182024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year72.1%38th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±582024 ACS 5-Year30,30274th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Market rent, one bedroomFY2026$811Top 27%of 1,423FY2026
Market rent, three bedroomFY2026$1,327Top 29%of 1,423FY2026
Market rent, two bedroomFY2026$1,064Top 35%of 1,423FY2026
Median gross rent ±$432024 ACS 5-Year$828Top 41%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$4,1662024 ACS 5-Year$162,60039th percentileof 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Median property taxes ±$992024 ACS 5-Year$2,57378th percentileof 3,1722024 ACS 5-Year
Owner household income ±$4,6222024 ACS 5-Year$78,173Top 47%of 3,2182024 ACS 5-Year
Property tax rate ±0.07%2024 ACS 5-Year1.58%92nd percentileof 3,1262024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year26.3%Top 35%of 3,2172024 ACS 5-Year
Seasonal and second homes ±1372024 ACS 5-Year20637th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year0.7%17th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year7.2%34th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Vacant housing units ±3722024 ACS 5-Year2,38760th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year

These measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with. They compare housing cost with local earnings only: transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not in them. How to read affordability, the two rent figures.

Development Momentum

9/ 100
Ranks 1,433 of 1,453 published county profiles
The most recent move in permitting was downward, in a series running from 2022 to 2025. That is the direction of the recent run. The chart below compares the first year with the last, which can point the other way.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has fallen 2% since 2020, to 64,109 in 2024.

Permitting has turned downward after moving the other way the year before: 34 units authorized in 2025, 50% below the prior year.

New construction is predominantly single-family: of 14 units permitted over the past twelve months, none were in buildings of five or more homes.

Federal tax returns show that people moving in from elsewhere in the US and people moving out roughly balanced across Adams County in the most recent year. Households that moved in reported an average income of $61,408, close to the $64,160 of households that moved out.

At 0.2 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US counties.

Units permitted
14
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
0.2
Bottom 4% nationally
Year over year
−81%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings

Population, annual estimates

2020202120222023202466k64k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population. It has been falling for the last 4 years, over a series running from 2020 to 2024.

People moving in and out

Net migration
0.0%
of residents, in a year
Arrivals from another state
64%
of people moving in
Income of arrivals
$61,408
average per tax return
Income of those who left
$64,160
average per tax return

Where newcomers came from

  1. Marion County, MO 135 people · 8.2% of arrivals
  2. Pike County, IL 106 people · 6.4% of arrivals
  3. Lewis County, MO 82 people · 5.0% of arrivals
  4. Hancock County, IL 79 people · 4.8% of arrivals
  5. Brown County, IL 56 people · 3.4% of arrivals

Where people who left went

  1. Marion County, MO 151 people · 9.2% of departures
  2. Pike County, IL 84 people · 5.1% of departures
  3. Lewis County, MO 77 people · 4.7% of departures
  4. Hancock County, IL 60 people · 3.7% of departures
  5. Boone County, MO 47 people · 2.9% of departures

Based on the address on federal tax returns, compared with the same filers a year earlier. It counts people who file, and sees a move only when the address on a return changes. Domestic moves only: people arriving from abroad are left out. IRS Statistics of Income, filing years 2022–2023.

Housing units permitted per year

20222023202420257034
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2022 (−51%).

Weather & climate

6 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 86°F and January a low of 19°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 36.4 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 42, in the Good band, and no day in the year passed 100.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station QUINCY RGNL AP, 3.4 miles from this location.

Precipitation

JFMAMJJASOND4.5"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index2024 calendar year502024 calendar year
Annual precipitation1991-2020 Normals36.4"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low1991-2020 Normals19°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high1991-2020 Normals86°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months1991-2020 Normals61991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 1002024 calendar year02024 calendar year
Median air quality index2024 calendar year422024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing1991-2020 Normals50°F1991-2020 Normals

Air quality

Median air quality index
42
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
50
90th percentile index
Days above 100
0
unhealthy for sensitive groups

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. Air quality is measured by EPA monitors and published by county only where a monitor sits; a county without one shows nothing rather than an estimate, and a county reading is still the county’s. How to read climate and air quality.

Physical risk

70 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, cold wave and heat wave, with inland flooding alone responsible for 39% of it. heat wave is independently rated low or minimal nationally, so this describes how the loss is composed, not how large that hazard is.

Strong windModerate
DroughtModerate
Cold waveModerate
HailModerate
Inland floodingElevated
TornadoModerate

Low or minimal exposure: heat wave, landslide, lightning, earthquake, winter weather, ice storm, hurricane, wildfire, coastal flooding, tsunami, volcanic activity, avalanche.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). These are FEMA’s own figures for this county rather than a value derived from surrounding geographies. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offenses — they say nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Adams County has a modeled homicide rate of about 2.8 per 100,000 residents a year, because the CDC suppresses counts this small, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at about 12.4 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, since the figure counts suicides and accidents as well as homicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at about 13.4 per 100,000 residents in Adams County.

Homicide
2.8
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Firearm deaths, all intents
12.4
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Drug overdose
13.4
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Suicide
15.9
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides, so the firearm figure and the homicide figure above it count some of the same deaths twice over. They overlap and should not be added together.

Death rates are crude rates — deaths divided by population, not adjusted for age — except where a count was too small for the CDC to publish and it modeled the rate, which the card marks. They come from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC by county and not below it. So they describe Adams County as a whole. They are shown and not scored. How to read death rates.

What this profile does not cover

Each of these is absent for a reason, not by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them; the weighting is on the methodology page.

Reported crime
Offenses reported to police are published by department rather than by town, so AreaProfile shows a rate only on city profiles, and only where that city’s department submitted every month of a year. City profiles inside this area carry their own figure where their department reported a full year. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Cost of living
Price parities are published for metropolitan areas, and this place lies outside one.
Taxes
Income and sales taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Property taxes are shown in the housing section but are not part of the score. Cost of living is published where the Bureau of Economic Analysis measures it, though not for this place. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house.

Access

4 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest Abraham Lincoln Capital at 81 miles.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Broadband access ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year86.5%Bottom 47%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Distance to major airportNASR current cycle81 miBottom 9%of 1,463NASR current cycle
Major airports within 100 milesNASR current cycle4Top 43%of 1,463NASR current cycle
No internet access ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year9.3%Top 43%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Abraham Lincoln CapitalSPI81 mi8,001 ft
General Downing - Peoria IntlPIA92 mi10,104 ft
St Louis Lambert IntlSTL96 mi11,020 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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57
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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource period
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)
Demographics, IncomeInternal Revenue Service, Statistics of Income Division
U.S. Population Migration Data (county to county)
filing years 2022–2023
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 Normals
IncomeU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
Regional price parities and county personal income
2023
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
July 2026
Access, Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-Year
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimate
SafetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
March 2025 to February 2026; May 2025 to April 2026
SchoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2018-19 school year; 2024-25 school year
HousingU.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research
Fair Market Rents
FY2026
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar year
HousingU.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency
House Price Index (traditional, all-transactions)
2026 Q2
Current conditionsNOAA National Weather Service
National Weather Service current conditions
Live observation, read when the page opens

Profile recalculated September 26, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology, or every source with how often each updates.

Cities in Adams County, IL

ZIP areas

Only ZIP areas whose income or home value differ from their city’s by at least ten percent get a profile of their own, so this is a selection rather than every ZIP code in the county.