City · Monroe County, Illinois

Columbia, Illinois

Columbia is a city in Monroe County, Illinois, part of the St. Louis, MO-IL metro area. It has 11,127 residents. Columbia, Illinois has a quality-of-life score of 86 out of 100 (very high), ranking #2,234 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Illinois it ranks #62 of 697 cities and towns. It ranks best on reading scores (high), math scores (high) and mammography screening (high). It ranks worst on public EV charging ports (low), new business applications (low) and preventable hospital stays (high).

86Very high

Quality-of-life score: #2,234 of 15,651 cities and towns
Illinois: #62 of 697 in IL
Population: 11,127 (2020-2024)
Land area: 11 mi²
Density: 1,054.2 /mi²
FIPS code: 1715833

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 70 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety76#3,787/15,637
Economy86#2,210/15,631
Housing57#6,416/14,977
Health82#2,830/15,609
Healthcare67#5,108/15,650
Environment23#11,894/15,453
Education94#893/15,649
Infrastructure64#5,707/15,650
Community97#440/15,651
Leisure & amenities71#4,494/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Columbia, Illinois ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Monroe County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Reading scores · high3.73
100/100Illinois 2.97United States 3.052019University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteMonroe County value
Math scores · high3.69
99/100Illinois 2.90United States 3.032019University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteMonroe County value
Mammography screening · high57.0%
96/100Illinois 47.0%United States 46.0%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteMonroe County value
Child care cost burden · low19.7%
95/100Illinois 30.4%United States 27.9%2023 & 2024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteMonroe County value
Pharmacies · high2.9 /10k
95/100Illinois 2.0 /10kUnited States 1.8 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsMonroe County value
Food environment index · high9.3
94/100Illinois 8.4United States 7.62019 & 2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteMonroe County value

Weaknesses

Public EV charging ports · low0.0 /10k
3/100Illinois 4.8 /10kUnited States 7.6 /10kOct 2026U.S. Department of EnergyMonroe County value
New business applications · low8.4 /1k
9/100Illinois 14.9 /1kUnited States 16.6 /1k2025U.S. Census BureauMonroe County value
Preventable hospital stays · high3,730 /100k
14/100Illinois 3,343 /100kUnited States 2,769 /100k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteMonroe County value
Distance to an emergency room · high10.5 mi
15/100Illinois 4.0 miUnited States 5.5 miJul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesMonroe County value
Effective property tax rate · high1.62%
17/100Illinois 1.88%United States 0.94%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25090
Average weekly wage · low$994
17/100Illinois $1,539United States $1,5142025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsMonroe County value

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

Rent-burdened householdsImproving
64.4% (2015-2019) → 50.4% (2020-2024)
−14 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
New homes permittedWorsening
2.1 /1k (2021) → 1.5 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
−26%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Rent as share of incomeImproving
35.2% (2015-2019) → 30.2% (2020-2024)
−5 pts5 yearsCensus table B25071US 29.8% → 30.6%
Home price to income ratioWorsening
2.2× (2015-2019) → 2.7× (2020-2024)
+24%5 yearsCensus table B25077US 3.5× → 4.1×
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
90.4% (2015-2019) → 94.0% (2020-2024)
+3.5 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Income inequality (Gini index)Improving
0.466 (2015-2019) → 0.396 (2020-2024)
−15%5 yearsCensus table B19083US 0.482 → 0.483

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, Columbia, Illinois improved on 2 of 12 measures with a comparison and declined on 1. 9 moved within the margin of error and 0 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved2

Inequality−0.0690.466 → 0.396
Broadband+3.5 points90.4% → 94.0%

Declined1

Price / income+0.5×2.2× → 2.7×

All 12 measures

Change of every measure of Columbia, Illinois between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	26.9 min2015-2019	26.4 min2020-2024	−0.5 min	Within the margin of error	54%
Bachelor's degree or higher	48.5%2015-2019	49.0%2020-2024	+0.5 points	Within the margin of error	31%
Broadband subscriptions	90.4%2015-2019	94.0%2020-2024	+3.5 points	Improved	23%
Effective property tax rate	1.88%2015-2019	1.62%2020-2024	−0.3 points	Within the margin of error	69%
High school diploma or higher	95.7%2015-2019	97.7%2020-2024	+2 points	Within the margin of error	58%
Home price to income ratio	2.2×2015-2019	2.7×2020-2024	+0.5×	Declined	46%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4662015-2019	0.3962020-2024	−0.069	Improved	90%
Median household income	$98,9772015-2019	$107,6062020-2024	+8.7%	Within the margin of error	15%
Poverty rate	6.2%2015-2019	5.4%2020-2024	−0.8 points	Within the margin of error	51%
Rent as share of income	35.2%2015-2019	30.2%2020-2024	−5 points	Within the margin of error	83%
Rent-burdened households	64.4%2015-2019	50.4%2020-2024	−14 points	Within the margin of error	88%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	2.0%2015-2019	2.8%2020-2024	+0.9 points	Within the margin of error	36%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like Columbia, Illinois five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Columbia, Illinois in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, Columbia, Illinois itself moved +9 points in standing on average over the same 10 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

11,127 residents (±176)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79
60–69

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

4,448 households (±212)

Columbia, Illinois
Illinois share

Under $25k10%†450
$25k–50k11%†486
$50k–75k12%

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

4,448 households (±212)

Columbia, Illinois
Illinois share

Own82%3,665
Rent18%783

No change since 2015–2019 is larger than the margin of error.

Table view

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

6,030 workers (±327)

Columbia, Illinois
Illinois share

Drive alone82%4,944
Carpool2.8%†168
Public transit0.0%0

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the St. Louis, MO-IL

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Monroe County, the county holding most of Columbia's residents.

Monroe County has 875 employer establishments, 249 for every 10,000 residents (1.00× the US rate of 248; 0.97× Illinois's), with 8,455 paid employees at an average annual pay of $43,986. The Census Bureau also counts 2,543 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 875; 2,543 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 249; US 248 · Illinois 255
Paid employees: 8,455
Average annual pay: $43,986; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Monroe County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Ambulatory health care services	73	20.7	1.00×About typical	490	$60,518	78
Specialty trade contractors	65	18.5	1.19×About typical	281	$74,448	139
Restaurants and other eating places	59	16.8	0.91×About typical	1,248	$18,114	11
Offices of other health practitioners	40	11.4	1.87×More than typical	163	$45,988	53
Services to buildings and dwellings	34	9.7	1.43×More than typical	130	$31,108	164
Construction of buildings	32	9.1	1.20×About typical	164	$61,012	86
Lessors of real estate	31	8.8	0.72×Fewer than typical	116	$52,431	327
Full-service restaurants	30	8.5	1.11×About typical	667	$19,754	—
Religious organizations	29	8.2	1.49×More than typical	312	$25,702	—
Insurance agencies and brokerages	27	7.7	1.75×More than typical	70	$63,929	53
Automotive repair and maintenance	26	7.4	1.47×More than typical	134	$52,634	30
Banks and credit unions	24	6.8	2.11×More than typical	231	$53,039	—

Rank places for an industry Open Monroe County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 35,190 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $363K of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Columbia, Illinois: $32.62 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $363K; +60% vs FY2025
Per resident: $32.62; US $1,994
Sole-source: 0.0%; US 30%
Single offer: 20%; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Department of the Army$363K100%

Top recipients

PRAIRIE ENGINEERS, P.C.$362.5K99.9%
PRAIRIE-FGS JOINT VENTURE$5160.1%

Spending by fiscal year

2.2MFY2017
2.6MFY2018
108.3KFY2019
621.8KFY2020
367.2KFY2021
100.9KFY2022
269.6KFY2023
213.7K

Top industries (NAICS)

Architectural, engineering, and related services · 5413$363K100.0%

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 3, 2026, loaded Oct 3, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Columbia, Illinois, so they do not add up across cities.

Columbia, Illinois's figures are part of those of Monroe County, IL and St. Clair County, IL ($629M in FY2026), never added to them: 0.1% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Columbia is mostly in Monroe County.

See federal money in Monroe County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Columbia, Illinois is split between congressional districts: each representative is shown with the share of its residents in their district (current boundaries).

House

Senate

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

St. Louis, MO-IL72

Other cities and towns in Monroe County

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Building Permits SurveyU.S. Census Bureau · release 2026-08
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/1715833

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends