Streator, Illinois

Area Profile

12,330 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Streator, in LaSalle County.

49out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 11% of 2,944 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity3722nd of 3,904 published cities27
Schools2054th of 2,668 published cities30
Growth2960th of 2,973 published cities5
Housing affordabilityTop 8% of 4,223 published cities100
Climate3601st of 4,223 published cities60
Physical resilienceTop 38% of 4,182 published cities69
Access3425th of 4,226 published cities77
Economic stability3577th of 4,226 published cities38
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published city profiles: unemployment is 4.8% and the Opportunity signal places Streator in the bottom 5%.

Residential permitting has slowed: 0 units authorized over the past twelve months, 100% below the prior year.

Housing is more affordable relative to local incomes than in most published city profiles: rent takes 18% of median household income and the median home is 1.6 times it.

At a glance

Population
12,330
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$57,609
Bottom 35% nationally
Density
1,684/sq mi
7.3 sq mi of land
Median age
37.6
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
LaSalle County
Illinois
Metro area
Ottawa, IL
Nearest major airport
BMI
45 mi · Central Il Rgnl/Bloomington-Normal
Median home value
$94,700
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.8% is lower than 32% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

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

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$7,378$57,609Bottom 35%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$3,245$32,833Bottom 47%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate20.3%Top 23%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute26.8 minTop 49%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher12.9%Bottom 28%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment47,554Bottom 49%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 49%June 2026
Labor force participation60.2%Bottom 49%2024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)0.0%Bottom 45%June 2026
Unemployment rate4.8%Top 32%June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202458k43k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $57,609 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 publishes city-level labor data only for places of 25,000 or more. This is the figure for LaSalle County, IL, which contains this city.

12% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 19% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 14.1 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
6
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
14.1
across all schools here
Math proficiency
12.1%
Bottom 20% in Illinois
Reading proficiency
18.8%
Bottom 22% in Illinois
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Streator Twp High SchoolStreator Twp HSD 4076413.9
Northlawn Jr High SchoolStreator ESD 4461415.710%17%
Centennial Elem SchoolStreator ESD 4448216.112%22%
Kimes Elem SchoolStreator ESD 4441515.4
Woodland Elementary/Jr High SchWoodland CUSD 532010.317%17%
Woodland High SchoolWoodland CUSD 513811.5

62.8% 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 $852 takes 18% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 1.6 times median household income here, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Rent as a share of income
17.7%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
1.6×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$852
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$94,700
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income1.64Bottom 14%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate63.0%Bottom 25%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±3596,119Top 10%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$92$852Bottom 36%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$4,543$94,700Bottom 16%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income17.7%Bottom 44%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate10.5%Top 48%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
5/ 100
Ranks 2960 of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is decreasing, measured from 2020 to 2025.

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, reaching 12,295 in 2024.

At 0.0 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
0
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
0.0
Bottom 1% nationally
Year over year
−100%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202413k12k
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.
Housing units permitted per year
2020202120222023202420252.01.0
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2020 (−50%).

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 88°F and January a low of 16°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 39.4 inches, including 26.4 inches of snow.

0°20°40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station STREATOR 3 SE, 2.5 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.7"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation39.4"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall26.4"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low16°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high88°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing53°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

69 / 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
EarthquakeModerate
TornadoModerate

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

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. 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 Streator rather than Streator 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

6 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 45 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Central Il Rgnl/Bloomington-NormalBMI45 mi8,000 ft
General Downing - Peoria IntlPIA55 mi10,104 ft
Chicago O'Hare IntlORD76 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
49
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Other cities in Ottawa, IL

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
OttawaLaSalle County18,44760vs Streator

Every city here is measured on the same scale from the same source releases, so the comparison is like for like. A higher Area Score reflects AreaProfile’s standardized weighting rather than a judgment about which is the better place to live.

Compare

Put Streator side by side with a similar place.

Streator vs DunkirkStreator vs SterlingStreator vs BucyrusStreator vs Kewanee

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.

ZIP codes in Streator

1 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
6136417,963$59,06049