61350Ottawa, Illinois

Area Profile

Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 61350.

61out of 100
Area Score
Top 48% of 5,298 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity5285th of 6,210 published ZIP areas36
SchoolsTop 43% of 4,422 published ZIP areas57
Growth3228th of 5,428 published ZIP areas44
Housing affordabilityTop 9% of 6,685 published ZIP areas100
Climate5867th of 6,789 published ZIP areas60
Physical resilienceTop 24% of 6,709 published ZIP areas80
Access6171st of 6,791 published ZIP areas66
Economic stability4921st of 6,742 published ZIP areas46
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published ZIP profiles: unemployment is 4.8% and the Opportunity signal places 61350 in the bottom 15%.

Housing is more affordable relative to local incomes than in most published city profiles: rent takes 14% of median household income and the median home is 2.1 times it.

Natural-hazard exposure is lower than in most comparable published ZIP profiles, placing 61350 in the top 24% for physical resilience.

At a glance

Population
23,713
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$77,921
Top 41% nationally
Density
155/sq mi
152.5 sq mi of land
Median age
42.2
2024 ACS 5-Year
City
Ottawa
Illinois
Metro area
Ottawa, IL
Nearest major airport
BMI
62 mi · Central Il Rgnl/Bloomington-Normal
Median home value
$164,500
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.8% is lower than 35% of the 6,544 measured US ZIP areas.

Employment fell 1.6% over the past year, to 47,554 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$4,588$77,921Top 41%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$4,493$42,813Top 32%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate15.1%Top 31%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute23.3 minBottom 26%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher22.8%Bottom 49%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment47,554Bottom 46%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-4.9%Bottom 4%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-1.6%Bottom 29%June 2026
Labor force49,948Bottom 46%June 2026
Labor force participation61.3%Top 48%2024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)0.0%Bottom 47%June 2026
Unemployment rate4.8%Top 35%June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202478k66k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $77,921 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.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish labor-force data for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Ottawa, IL, the city containing this ZIP code.

19% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 32% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 13.1 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
12
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
13.1
across all schools here
Math proficiency
19.2%
Bottom 43% in Illinois
Reading proficiency
32.0%
Top 39% in Illinois
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Ottawa Township High SchoolOttawa Twp HSD 1401,22313.7
Wallace Elem SchoolWallace CCSD 19542015.027%30%
Lincoln Elem SchoolOttawa ESD 14138713.314%25%
McKinley Elem SchoolOttawa ESD 14136415.229%55%
Shepherd Middle SchoolOttawa ESD 14135311.817%32%
Central Intermediate SchoolOttawa ESD 14133912.68%22%
Jefferson Elem SchoolOttawa ESD 14130413.820%29%
Rutland Elem SchoolRutland CCSD 230706.4
Deer Park C C Elem SchoolDeer Park CCSD 82446.3
LaSalle Co Detention Center 6-8Wallace CCSD 1950
LaSalle Co Detention Center 9-12Ottawa Twp HSD 1400
LMP Regional Office of EducationLa Salle/Marshall/Putnam ROE0

49.3% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Illinois’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $928 takes 14% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 2.1 times median household income here, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Rent as a share of income
14.3%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.1×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$928
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$164,500
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income2.11Bottom 19%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate74.1%Bottom 38%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±38110,681Top 15%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$33$928Bottom 41%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$6,720$164,500Bottom 33%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income14.3%Bottom 25%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate8.7%Bottom 40%2024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
44/ 100
Ranks 3228 of 5,428 published city profiles

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.

New construction is predominantly single-family: only 0% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.

At 1.4 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US ZIP areas.

Units permitted
25
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
1.4
Bottom 31% nationally
Year over year
+108%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings

The Building Permits Survey is not published for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Ottawa, IL, the city containing this ZIP code.

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, 3.8 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.5"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation36.2"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall23.7"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low15°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high83°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing51°F1991-2020 Normals

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today.

Physical risk

80 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, tornado and earthquake.

Inland floodingModerate
DroughtModerate
Strong windModerate
TornadoModerate
EarthquakeModerate

Low or minimal exposure: cold wave, lightning, winter weather, heat wave, landslide, ice storm, hail, hurricane, wildfire.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. ZIP values are the land-area-weighted mean of the counties the ZIP Code Tabulation Area intersects. Expected annual loss is not allocated below county level. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

LaSalle County records 2.5 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 12.0 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

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

Homicide
2.5
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
12.0
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
17.5
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
22.2
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for LaSalle County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around 61350 rather than 61350 itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source for reported offences with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. What is published above under Safety is a different measurement — deaths rather than offences, from death certificates rather than police returns — and it covers no property crime at all.
Taxes
No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Full cost of living
No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings.

Access

5 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 62 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Central Il Rgnl/Bloomington-NormalBMI62 mi8,000 ft
Chicago O'Hare IntlORD65 mi11,245 ft
General Downing - Peoria IntlPIA65 mi10,104 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
61
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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them

Profile recalculated August 30, 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 browse every source.

61350 vs Ottawa

How this ZIP area compares with Ottawa as a whole. Both figures come from the same ACS release, so the comparison is like for like.

61350
Ottawa
Median household income
$77,921
vs
$71,413
Per capita income
$42,813
vs
$40,071
Population density
155/sq mi
vs
1,238/sq mi
Median home value
$164,500
vs
$154,000
Median gross rent
$928
vs
$920
Homeownership rate
74.1%
vs
69.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher
22.8%
vs
23.3%
Poverty rate
15.1%
vs
17.3%
Median age
42.2
vs
39.8

Some demographic statistics use Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas, which approximate but do not exactly match USPS ZIP delivery geography. See the methodology for how AreaProfile maps between them.