LaSalle County, IL

County Profile

108,714 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for LaSalle 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 44% of 1,453 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks

Data updated · 13 sources
Opportunity1,112th of 1,463 counties measured42
Schools748th of 1,377 counties measured47
Growth1,110th of 1,453 counties measured36
Housing affordabilityTop 25% of 1,462 counties measured79
Climate1,167th of 1,463 counties measured60
Physical resilienceTop 18% of 1,463 counties measured81
Access1,091st of 1,463 counties measured67
Economic stability844th of 1,463 counties measured55
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable counties measured: unemployment is 4.2% and the Opportunity signal places LaSalle County in the bottom 24%.

In the public schools here, 26% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 12.6 students for every teacher.

Rent takes 27% of renter income here, below the 30% threshold conventionally called cost-burdened, and the median home is 1.9 times what its owners earn.

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
108,714
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$73,045
Top 30% nationally
Density
96/sq mi
1,135.1 sq mi of land
Median age
42.2
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
LaSalle County
Illinois
Micro area
Nearest major airport
BMI
60 mi · Central Il Rgnl/Bloomington-Normal
Median home value
$161,900
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.2% — higher than in all but 47% of the 1,467 measured US counties.

Employment fell 1.4% over the past year, to 47,207 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Income of new arrivalsfiling years 2022–2023$55,65741st percentileof 1,417filing years 2022–2023
Income of those who leftfiling years 2022–2023$59,74456th percentileof 1,417filing years 2022–2023
Median household income ±$2,8902024 ACS 5-Year$73,045Top 30%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,2832024 ACS 5-Year$39,375Top 28%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Per-capita personal income2023$56,180Bottom 49%of 1,3892023
Poverty rate ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year13.6%Bottom 45%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute ±0.8 min2024 ACS 5-Year26.9 minBottom 42%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year20.5%Bottom 41%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Drove alone to work ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year83.0%86th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
EmploymentJuly 202647,207Top 41%of 1,467July 2026
Employment change (3 years)July 2026−4.4%Bottom 9%of 1,467July 2026
Employment change (year over year)July 2026−1.4%Bottom 33%of 1,467July 2026
Labor forceJuly 202649,28759th percentileof 1,467July 2026
Labor force participation ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year77.5%Top 40%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Public transit to work ±0.1%2024 ACS 5-Year0.2%52nd percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)July 2026−1.2%Top 6%of 1,467July 2026
Unemployment rateJuly 20264.2%Bottom 47%of 1,467July 2026
Worked from home ±0.7%2024 ACS 5-Year5.1%18th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year

Unemployment rate

2021/072022/072023/072024/072025/072026/077.74.2
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 4.2% in July 2026. It has been falling for the last 2 months, 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

202120222023202473k63k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $73,045 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 34% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 12.6 students for every full-time teacher across 43 public schools, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
53
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
12.6
across 43 of them
Math proficiency
26.1%
Bottom 38% in Illinois
Reading proficiency
33.6%
Bottom 38% in Illinois
The 12 largest of 53 public schools, by enrollment.
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Ottawa Township High SchoolOttawa Twp HSD 1401,22313.727%32%
La Salle-Peru Twp High SchoolLa Salle-Peru Twp HSD 1201,16713.126%37%
Streator Twp High SchoolStreator Twp HSD 4076413.917%22%
Northwest Elem SchoolLa Salle ESD 12265011.47%19%
Northlawn Jr High SchoolStreator ESD 4461415.721%24%
Northview Elem SchoolPeru ESD 12459413.542%47%
Marseilles Elementary SchoolMarseilles ESD 15052812.619%20%
Northbrook SchoolMendota CCSD 28952613.834%42%
Mendota Twp High SchoolMendota Twp HSD 28049313.332%32%
Centennial Elem SchoolStreator ESD 4448216.122%24%
Wallace Elem SchoolWallace CCSD 19542015.042%53%
Kimes Elem SchoolStreator ESD 4441515.4——

52.9% 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 $3,418 a year in real estate taxes, about 2.11% of the median home value.

HUD’s Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom, set near the 40th percentile of recent new leases, is $1,079, some 16% above the $928 tenants already here pay.

At HUD’s Fair Market Rent of $1,079 a month for a two-bedroom, keeping rent to 30% of income takes a household income of about $43,200 a year, about 59% of the median household income here of $73,045.

The typical renter household here spends 27% of its income on rent, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $928 a month.

A median home at $161,900 costs 1.9 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $85,684, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Rent as a share of income
27.1%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
1.9×
median home value ÷ owner household income
Market rent, two bedroom
$1,079
what a new lease costs · FY2026
Median gross rent
$928
what tenants now pay · 2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$161,900
2024 ACS 5-Year

The figures above are measured against LaSalle County’s median household income of $73,045, 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-Year1.9Top 17%of 3,2172024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year74.4%50th percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±572024 ACS 5-Year49,84382nd percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Market rent, one bedroomFY2026$822Top 30%of 1,423FY2026
Market rent, three bedroomFY2026$1,441Top 42%of 1,423FY2026
Market rent, two bedroomFY2026$1,079Top 38%of 1,423FY2026
Median gross rent ±$242024 ACS 5-Year$928Bottom 40%of 3,2152024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$2,6512024 ACS 5-Year$161,90038th percentileof 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Median property taxes ±$902024 ACS 5-Year$3,41889th percentileof 3,1722024 ACS 5-Year
Owner household income ±$1,9022024 ACS 5-Year$85,684Top 32%of 3,2182024 ACS 5-Year
Property tax rate ±0.07%2024 ACS 5-Year2.11%98th percentileof 3,1262024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year27.1%Top 43%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Seasonal and second homes ±2122024 ACS 5-Year88872nd percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year1.8%39th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year7.2%34th percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Vacant housing units ±5492024 ACS 5-Year4,47077th 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

36/ 100
Ranks 1,110 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 1% since 2020, to 108,390 in 2024.

Permitting has turned downward after moving the other way the year before: 62 units authorized in 2025, 24% below the prior year.

New construction is predominantly single-family: of 85 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 LaSalle County in the most recent year. Households that moved in reported an average income of $55,657, below the $59,744 of households that moved out.

At 0.8 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US counties.

Units permitted
85
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
0.8
Bottom 14% nationally
Year over year
+20%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings

Population, annual estimates

20202021202220232024109k108k
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 holding roughly steady, over a series running from 2020 to 2024.

People moving in and out

Net migration
+0.1%
of residents, in a year
Arrivals from another state
25%
of people moving in
Income of arrivals
$55,657
average per tax return
Income of those who left
$59,744
average per tax return

Where newcomers came from

  1. Kendall County, IL 321 people · 8.4% of arrivals
  2. Will County, IL 318 people · 8.3% of arrivals
  3. Bureau County, IL 283 people · 7.4% of arrivals
  4. Cook County, IL 257 people · 6.7% of arrivals
  5. Grundy County, IL 225 people · 5.9% of arrivals

Where people who left went

  1. Bureau County, IL 329 people · 8.9% of departures
  2. Livingston County, IL 228 people · 6.2% of departures
  3. Will County, IL 200 people · 5.4% of departures
  4. Cook County, IL 194 people · 5.2% of departures
  5. DeKalb County, IL 177 people · 4.8% 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

20222023202420258762
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2022 (−29%).

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 83°F and January a low of 15°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 36.2 inches, including 23.7 inches of snow.

0°20°40°60°80°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station OTTAWA 5SW, 1.6 miles from this location.

Precipitation

JFMAMJJASOND4.5"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation1991-2020 Normals36.2"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall1991-2020 Normals23.7"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low1991-2020 Normals15°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high1991-2020 Normals83°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months1991-2020 Normals51991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing1991-2020 Normals51°F1991-2020 Normals

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. How to read climate and air quality.

Physical risk

81 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, cold wave and tornado, with inland flooding alone responsible for 55% of it. Cold wave is independently rated low or minimal nationally, so this describes how the loss is composed, not how large that hazard is.

Overall hazard risk is lower than 82% of measured US counties.

Inland floodingModerate
DroughtModerate
Strong windModerate
TornadoModerate
EarthquakeModerate

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

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.

LaSalle County has a modeled homicide rate of about 2.2 per 100,000 residents a year, because the CDC suppresses counts this small, lower than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 11.1 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, since the figure counts suicides and accidents as well as homicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 17.5 per 100,000 residents in LaSalle County.

Homicide
2.2
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Firearm deaths, all intents
11.1
per 100,000 residents
Drug overdose
17.5
per 100,000 residents
Suicide
17.5
per 100,000 residents

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 LaSalle 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.
Air quality
The EPA publishes an air-quality index only where a monitor sits. There is none in this county, and a modeled value would be a different kind of number from the measured ones everywhere else on this page.
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

5 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest Central Il Rgnl/Bloomington-Normal at 60 miles.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Broadband access ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year87.4%Top 46%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Distance to major airportNASR current cycle60 miBottom 21%of 1,463NASR current cycle
Major airports within 100 milesNASR current cycle5Top 26%of 1,463NASR current cycle
No internet access ±1.0%2024 ACS 5-Year9.2%Top 42%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Central Il Rgnl/Bloomington-NormalBMI60 mi8,000 ft
General Downing - Peoria IntlPIA63 mi10,104 ft
Chicago O'Hare IntlORD67 mi11,245 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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Area Score
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
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 October 8, 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.