Scores by category

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

Safety62#5,938/15,637
Economy64#5,557/15,631
Housing61#5,798/14,977
Health53#7,274/15,609
Healthcare45#8,567/15,650
Environment49#7,906/15,453
Education34#10,305/15,649
Infrastructure12#13,835/15,650
Community56#6,886/15,651
Leisure & amenities75#3,965/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

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

Poverty rate · low3.1%
93/100Illinois 11.5%United States 12.1%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B17001
Home price to income ratio · low2.0×
92/100Illinois 3.2×United States 4.1×2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25077
Uninsured residents (under 65) · low2.0%
91/100Illinois 8.1%United States 9.8%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B27010High uncertainty
Grocery stores · high2.5 /10k
90/100Illinois 1.9 /10kUnited States 1.7 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsStephenson County value
Child poverty rate · low0.0%
87/100Illinois 14.1%United States 15.5%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B17001
Drug overdose deaths · low8.8 /100k
86/100Illinois 14.2 /100kUnited States 18.4 /100kMar 2025–Feb 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimateProvisional dataStephenson County value

Weaknesses

Job growth · low-4.4%
3/100Illinois 0.0%United States 0.1%2026 Q1U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsProvisional dataStephenson County value
Effective property tax rate · high2.29%
3/100Illinois 1.88%United States 0.94%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25090
New homes permitted · low0.0 /1k
13/100Illinois 1.5 /1kUnited States 4.2 /1kSep 2025–Aug 2026U.S. Census BureauProvisional data
Injury deaths · high119 /100k
16/100Illinois 80 /100kUnited States 87 /100k2019-2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteStephenson County value
New business applications · low9.3 /1k
18/100Illinois 14.9 /1kUnited States 16.6 /1k2025U.S. Census BureauStephenson County value
Public EV charging ports · low1.9 /10k
19/100Illinois 4.8 /10kUnited States 7.6 /10kOct 2026U.S. Department of EnergyStephenson County value

Trends

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

Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
32.4% (2015-2019) → 43.0% (2020-2024)
+11 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Median household incomeImproving
$56,367 (2015-2019) → $72,663 (2020-2024)
+29%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Poverty rateImproving
8.9% (2015-2019) → 3.1% (2020-2024)
−5.7 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 12.3% → 12.1%
Child poverty rateImproving
4.8% (2015-2019) → 0.0% (2020-2024)
−4.8 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Average commute timeWorsening
21.7 min (2015-2019) → 26.2 min (2020-2024)
+21%5 yearsCensus table B08013US 26.9 min → 26.4 min
Rent as share of incomeImproving
26.7% (2015-2019) → 23.6% (2020-2024)
−3.1 pts5 yearsCensus table B25071US 29.8% → 30.6%

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, Lena, Illinois improved on 2 of 13 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 11 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

Poverty−5.7 points8.9% → 3.1%
Household income+29%$56,367 → $72,663

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 13 measures

Change of every measure of Lena, Illinois between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	21.7 min2015-2019	26.2 min2020-2024	+4.5 min	Within the margin of error	12%
Bachelor's degree or higher	23.2%2015-2019	24.6%2020-2024	+1.4 points	Within the margin of error	38%
Broadband subscriptions	86.2%2015-2019	86.2%2020-2024	+0.1 points	Within the margin of error	8%
Effective property tax rate	2.00%2015-2019	2.29%2020-2024	+0.3 points	Within the margin of error	1%
High school diploma or higher	95.2%2015-2019	92.8%2020-2024	−2.4 points	Within the margin of error	13%
Home price to income ratio	2.0×2015-2019	2.0×2020-2024	+0.0×	Within the margin of error	77%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4182015-2019	0.3722020-2024	−0.046	Within the margin of error	82%
Median household income	$56,3672015-2019	$72,6632020-2024	+29%	Improved	53%
Poverty rate	8.9%2015-2019	3.1%2020-2024	−5.7 points	Improved	83%
Public transit commuters	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	60%
Rent as share of income	26.7%2015-2019	23.6%2020-2024	−3.1 points	Within the margin of error	74%
Rent-burdened households	32.4%2015-2019	43.0%2020-2024	+11 points	Within the margin of error	22%
Unemployment rate	4.2%2015-2019	2.6%2020-2024	−1.6 points	Within the margin of error	77%

“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 Lena, Illinois five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Lena, 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, Lena, Illinois itself moved −8 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

2,761 residents (±188)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79†
60–69†
50–59†
40–49†
30–39†
20–29†
10–19†
Under 10†

Share of all residents, each sex

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: 60–69 women (−4.7 points).

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

Table view

American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024 · Table B01001View table on data.census.gov

Race and Hispanic origin

2,761 residents (±188)

Lena, Illinois
Illinois share

White95%2,617
Black0.5%†13
Hispanic or Latino1.8%†50

Education

1,964 residents (±169)

Lena, Illinois
Illinois share

No high school diploma7.2%†142
High school or GED30%592
Some college27%531

Counts are survey estimates, each with a margin of error. The grouping into ranges is ours; every count is the Census Bureau's.

Income

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

Household income

1,197 households (±114)

Lena, Illinois
Illinois share

Under $25k12%†146
$25k–50k18%†215
$50k–75k22%†259
$75k–100k21%†255
$100k–150k12%†149
$150k–200k9.5%†114
$200k or more4.9%†59

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: $150k–200k (+7.0 points).

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

Table view

American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024 · Table B19001View table on data.census.gov

Counts are survey estimates, each with a margin of error. The grouping into ranges is ours; every count is the Census Bureau's.

Homes

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

Owners and renters

1,197 households (±114)

Lena, Illinois
Illinois share

Own76%915
Rent24%†282

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

American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024 · Table B25003View table on data.census.gov

Rent paid

272 households (±90)

Lena, Illinois
Illinois share

Under $75065%†177
$750–1,00026%†72
$1,000–1,5007.0%†19

Home values

915 homes (±105)

Lena, Illinois
Illinois share

Under $150k53%482
$150k–250k31%†286
$250k–400k15%†141

Age of homes

1,252 homes (±119)

Lena, Illinois
Illinois share

2010 or later0.6%†7
2000–200911%†143
1980–199922%†278

Size of homes

1,252 homes (±119)

Lena, Illinois
Illinois share

Studio1.1%†14
1 bedroom11%†141
2 bedrooms20%†248

Counts are survey estimates, each with a margin of error. The grouping into ranges is ours; every count is the Census Bureau's.

Getting to work

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

How people get to work

1,434 workers (±153)

Lena, Illinois
Illinois share

Drive alone81%1,155
Carpool8.2%†117
Public transit0.0%0
Walk0.5%†7
Bike0.0%0
Work from home11%†155
Other0.0%0

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

American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024 · Table B08301View table on data.census.gov

Time to get to work

1,279 workers (±156)

Lena, Illinois
Illinois share

Under 15 min40%512
15–29 min34%433
30–44 min13%†162

Counts are survey estimates, each with a margin of error. The grouping into ranges is ours; every count is the Census Bureau's.

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 Freeport, 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 Stephenson County, the county holding most of Lena's residents.

Stephenson County has 1,003 employer establishments, 230 for every 10,000 residents (0.93× the US rate of 248; 0.90× Illinois's), with 15,626 paid employees at an average annual pay of $57,586. The Census Bureau also counts 2,740 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 1,003; 2,740 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 230; US 248 · Illinois 255
Paid employees: 15,626
Average annual pay: $57,586; US $68,342

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

Specialty trade contractors	68	15.6	1.01×About typical	2,318	$102,616	197
Ambulatory health care services	62	14.2	0.68×Fewer than typical	601	$82,205	74
Restaurants and other eating places	57	13.1	0.71×Fewer than typical	917	$16,459	11
Truck transportation	48	11	2.18×More than typical	155	$50,219	95
Religious organizations	45	10.3	1.86×More than typical	318	$22,412	—
Automotive repair and maintenance	36	8.3	1.64×More than typical	206	$43,777	48
Services to buildings and dwellings	35	8	1.19×About typical	147	$30,299	157
Construction of buildings	32	7.4	0.97×About typical	159	$46,893	75
Full-service restaurants	31	7.1	0.93×About typical	341	$17,548	5
Insurance agencies and brokerages	31	7.1	1.62×More than typical	93	$50,699	45
Lessors of real estate	30	6.9	0.56×Fewer than typical	64	$37,203	207
Building equipment contractors	29	6.7	1.11×About typical	1,815	$105,761	26

Rank places for an industry Open Stephenson County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 43,517 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 Lena, 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

458.6FY2017
520.5FY2018
667.8FY2019
147.4FY2020
100.6FY2021

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

Lena, Illinois's figures are part of those of Stephenson County, IL ($782.6K 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: Lena is mostly in Stephenson County.

See federal money in Stephenson 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.

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