City · LaSalle County, Illinois

Earlville, Illinois

Earlville is a city in LaSalle County, Illinois, part of the Ottawa, IL metro area. It has 1,942 residents. Earlville, Illinois has a quality-of-life score of 31 out of 100 (low), ranking #10,770 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Illinois it ranks #538 of 697 cities and towns. It ranks best on restaurants and bars (high), home price to income ratio (low) and preventable hospital stays (low). It ranks worst on bachelor's degree or higher (low), effective property tax rate (high) and mental health care shortage (high).

31Low

Quality-of-life score: #10,770 of 15,651 cities and towns
Illinois: #538 of 697 in IL
Population: 1,942 (2020-2024)
Land area: 1 mi²
Density: 1,616.4 /mi²
FIPS code: 1721540

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 74 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.

Safety64#5,578/15,637
Economy35#10,132/15,631
Housing48#7,834/14,977
Health36#9,929/15,609
Healthcare25#11,712/15,650
Environment25#11,611/15,453
Education13#13,684/15,649
Infrastructure30#11,027/15,650
Community52#7,543/15,651
Leisure & amenities77#3,569/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Earlville, Illinois ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “LaSalle 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

Restaurants and bars · high18.3 /10k
98/100Illinois 10.3 /10kUnited States 9.0 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsLaSalle County value
Home price to income ratio · low2.2×
86/100Illinois 3.2×United States 4.1×2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25077
Preventable hospital stays · low2,074 /100k
83/100Illinois 3,343 /100kUnited States 2,769 /100k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteLaSalle County value
Grocery stores · high2.2 /10k
82/100Illinois 1.9 /10kUnited States 1.7 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsLaSalle County value
Social associations · high12.4 /10k
79/100Illinois 9.8 /10kUnited States 9.1 /10k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteLaSalle County value
Public libraries · high1.1 /10k
79/100Illinois 0.6 /10kUnited States 0.5 /10k2024Institute of Museum and Library ServicesLaSalle County value

Weaknesses

Bachelor's degree or higher · low9.5%
6/100Illinois 37.8%United States 35.7%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B15003
Effective property tax rate · high2.06%
6/100Illinois 1.88%United States 0.94%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25090
Mental health care shortage · high18.0
11/100Illinois 12.2United States 9.9Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationLaSalle County value
Math scores · low2.67
12/100Illinois 2.90United States 3.032019University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteLaSalle County value
New homes permitted · low0.0 /1k
13/100Illinois 1.5 /1kUnited States 4.2 /1kSep 2025–Aug 2026U.S. Census BureauProvisional data
Distance to an emergency room · high10.6 mi
15/100Illinois 4.0 miUnited States 5.5 miJul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesLaSalle County value

Trends

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

Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
47.7% (2015-2019) → 66.9% (2020-2024)
+19 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Child poverty rateWorsening
10.4% (2015-2019) → 20.9% (2020-2024)
+10 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Rent as share of incomeWorsening
28.2% (2015-2019) → 38.4% (2020-2024)
+10 pts5 yearsCensus table B25071US 29.8% → 30.6%
Poverty rateWorsening
9.3% (2015-2019) → 16.5% (2020-2024)
+7.1 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 12.3% → 12.1%
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
86.9% (2015-2019) → 92.0% (2020-2024)
+5.1 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Uninsured residents (under 65)Improving
9.1% (2015-2019) → 4.7% (2020-2024)
−4.4 pts5 yearsCensus table B27010US 10.8% → 9.8%

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, Earlville, Illinois improved on 1 of 13 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 12 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.

Improved1

Uninsured−4.4 points9.1% → 4.7%

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 13 measures

Change of every measure of Earlville, Illinois between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	36.0 min2015-2019	32.2 min2020-2024	−3.8 min	Within the margin of error	84%
Bachelor's degree or higher	8.6%2015-2019	9.5%2020-2024	+0.9 points	Within the margin of error	33%
Broadband subscriptions	86.9%2015-2019	92.0%2020-2024	+5.1 points	Within the margin of error	32%
Effective property tax rate	2.38%2015-2019	2.06%2020-2024	−0.3 points	Within the margin of error	77%
High school diploma or higher	87.9%2015-2019	88.5%2020-2024	+0.6 points	Within the margin of error	40%
Home price to income ratio	2.0×2015-2019	2.2×2020-2024	+0.3×	Within the margin of error	64%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.3342015-2019	0.4062020-2024	+0.072	Within the margin of error	10%
Median household income	$54,3012015-2019	$63,5532020-2024	+17%	Within the margin of error	27%
Poverty rate	9.3%2015-2019	16.5%2020-2024	+7.1 points	Within the margin of error	8%
Public transit commuters	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	60%
Rent-burdened households	47.7%2015-2019	66.9%2020-2024	+19 points	Within the margin of error	9%
Unemployment rate	7.3%2015-2019	5.8%2020-2024	−1.5 points	Within the margin of error	76%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	9.1%2015-2019	4.7%2020-2024	−4.4 points	Improved	84%

“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 Earlville, Illinois five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Earlville, 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, Earlville, Illinois itself moved −10.6 points in standing on average over the same 9 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

1,942 residents (±276)

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

840 households (±134)

Earlville, Illinois
Illinois share

Under $25k32%†272
$25k–50k12%†104
$50k–75k14%

Homes

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

Owners and renters

840 households (±134)

Earlville, Illinois
Illinois share

Own63%526
Rent37%†314

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

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

Getting to work

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

How people get to work

904 workers (±171)

Earlville, Illinois
Illinois share

Drive alone80%724
Carpool8.6%†78
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 Ottawa, 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 LaSalle County, the county holding most of Earlville's residents.

LaSalle County has 2,523 employer establishments, 234 for every 10,000 residents (0.94× the US rate of 248; 0.92× Illinois's), with 33,721 paid employees at an average annual pay of $51,976. The Census Bureau also counts 6,212 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 2,523; 6,212 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 234; US 248 · Illinois 255
Paid employees: 33,721
Average annual pay: $51,976; US $68,342

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

Restaurants and other eating places	221	20.5	1.12×About typical	3,112	$18,574	47
Ambulatory health care services	161	14.9	0.72×Fewer than typical	1,209	$60,218	189
Specialty trade contractors	143	13.3	0.86×About typical	828	$85,395	451
Full-service restaurants	115	10.7	1.39×More than typical	1,343	$18,964	23
Truck transportation	108	10	1.98×More than typical	1,047	$67,181	219
Limited-service restaurants	88	8.2	1.02×About typical	1,553	$18,370	16
Religious organizations	78	7.2	1.30×More than typical	375	$17,549	—
Automotive repair and maintenance	75	7	1.38×More than typical	388	$47,835	110
Drinking places (alcoholic beverages)	69	6.4	5.27×More than typical	329	$17,568	34
Banks and credit unions	64	5.9	1.84×More than typical	876	$62,953	5
Offices of other health practitioners	59	5.5	0.90×About typical	232	$43,832	98
Construction of buildings	56	5.2	0.69×Fewer than typical	236	$74,466	149

Rank places for an industry Open LaSalle County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 107,872 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 $0 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Earlville, Illinois: $0 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $0
Per resident: $0; US $1,994
Sole-source: —; US 30%
Single offer: —; 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

Top recipients

Spending by fiscal year

733.2FY2017
655.8FY2018
1.5KFY2019
-120.1FY2020
828.4FY2021

What was bought

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 Earlville, Illinois, so they do not add up across cities.

Earlville, Illinois's figures are part of those of LaSalle County, IL ($1.1M in FY2026), never added to them: 0.0% of that total.

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

See federal money in LaSalle 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.

Earlville, 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.

LaSalle County59100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Ottawa, IL57

Other cities and towns in LaSalle 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/1721540

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends