City · Macoupin County, Illinois

Mount Olive, Illinois

Mount Olive is a city in Macoupin County, Illinois, part of the St. Louis, MO-IL metro area. It has 1,872 residents. Mount Olive, Illinois has a quality-of-life score of 35 out of 100 (low), ranking #10,181 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Illinois it ranks #495 of 697 cities and towns. It ranks best on home price to income ratio (low), restaurants and bars (high) and homicide rate (low). It ranks worst on suicide rate (high), average weekly wage (low) and new business applications (low).

35Low

Quality-of-life score: #10,181 of 15,651 cities and towns
Illinois: #495 of 697 in IL
Population: 1,872 (2020-2024)
Land area: 1 mi²
Density: 1,623.0 /mi²
FIPS code: 1751024

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.

Safety73#4,225/15,637
Economy14#13,389/15,631
Housing46#8,065/14,977
Health38#9,638/15,609
Healthcare20#12,451/15,650
Environment34#10,130/15,453
Education35#10,179/15,649
Infrastructure22#12,239/15,650
Community73#4,293/15,651
Leisure & amenities68#5,045/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

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

Home price to income ratio · low1.7×
96/100Illinois 3.2×United States 4.1×2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25077
Restaurants and bars · high14.2 /10k
94/100Illinois 10.3 /10kUnited States 9.0 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsMacoupin County value
Homicide rate · low0.0 /100k
94/100Illinois 6.2 /100kUnited States 4.8 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataMacoupin County value
Public libraries · high2.0 /10k
92/100Illinois 0.6 /10kUnited States 0.5 /10k2024Institute of Museum and Library ServicesMacoupin County value
Median Air Quality Index · low34
90/100Illinois 482025U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyMacoupin County value
Social associations · high14.3 /10k
88/100Illinois 9.8 /10kUnited States 9.1 /10k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteMacoupin County value

Weaknesses

Suicide rate · high29.5 /100k
4/100Illinois 11.7 /100kUnited States 14.1 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataMacoupin County value
Average weekly wage · low$926
8/100Illinois $1,539United States $1,5142025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsMacoupin County value
New business applications · low8.3 /1k
9/100Illinois 14.9 /1kUnited States 16.6 /1k2025U.S. Census BureauMacoupin County value
Hospital quality rating · low2.0
9/100Illinois 3.0United States 3.2Jul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesMacoupin County value
Mental health care shortage · high18.0
11/100Illinois 12.2United States 9.9Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationMacoupin County value
Primary care physicians · low29 /100k
12/100Illinois 82 /100kUnited States 76 /100k2022University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteMacoupin County value

Trends

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

PopulationFalling
2,062 (2015-2019) → 1,872 (2020-2024)
−9.2%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
44.5% (2015-2019) → 67.1% (2020-2024)
+23 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
New homes permittedWorsening
0.9 /1k (2021) → 0.0 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
−100%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Rent as share of incomeWorsening
28.8% (2015-2019) → 44.5% (2020-2024)
+16 pts5 yearsCensus table B25071US 29.8% → 30.6%
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
81.8% (2015-2019) → 88.4% (2020-2024)
+6.6 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Bachelor's degree or higherImproving
8.5% (2015-2019) → 13.2% (2020-2024)
+4.7 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 32.1% → 35.7%

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, Mount Olive, Illinois improved on 0 of 13 measures with a comparison and declined on 1. 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.

Improved0

No measure improved by more than its margin of error.

Declined1

Rent / income+16 points28.8% → 44.5%

All 13 measures

Change of every measure of Mount Olive, Illinois between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	23.8 min2015-2019	25.5 min2020-2024	+1.7 min	Within the margin of error	29%
Bachelor's degree or higher	8.5%2015-2019	13.2%2020-2024	+4.7 points	Within the margin of error	65%
Broadband subscriptions	81.8%2015-2019	88.4%2020-2024	+6.6 points	Within the margin of error	41%
Effective property tax rate	1.91%2015-2019	1.32%2020-2024	−0.6 points	Within the margin of error	94%
High school diploma or higher	91.2%2015-2019	88.9%2020-2024	−2.3 points	Within the margin of error	14%
Home price to income ratio	1.4×2015-2019	1.7×2020-2024	+0.2×	Within the margin of error	65%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4062015-2019	0.4222020-2024	+0.017	Within the margin of error	36%
Median household income	$50,8652015-2019	$55,6252020-2024	+9.4%	Within the margin of error	16%
Poverty rate	13.2%2015-2019	17.8%2020-2024	+4.6 points	Within the margin of error	14%
Public transit commuters	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	60%
Rent as share of income	28.8%2015-2019	44.5%2020-2024	+16 points	Declined	4%
Unemployment rate	3.6%2015-2019	7.9%2020-2024	+4.3 points	Within the margin of error	5%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	6.9%2015-2019	3.5%2020-2024	−3.4 points	Within the margin of error	79%

“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 Mount Olive, Illinois five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Mount Olive, 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, Mount Olive, Illinois itself moved −11 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

1,872 residents (±201)

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

844 households (±104)

Mount Olive, Illinois
Illinois share

Under $25k19%†162
$25k–50k29%†247
$50k–75k

Homes

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

Owners and renters

844 households (±104)

Mount Olive, Illinois
Illinois share

Own73%613
Rent27%†231

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Own (−8.5 points).

† 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

664 workers (±130)

Mount Olive, Illinois
Illinois share

Drive alone93%615
Carpool3.5%†23
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 Macoupin County, the county holding most of Mount Olive's residents.

Macoupin County has 813 employer establishments, 185 for every 10,000 residents (0.74× the US rate of 248; 0.72× Illinois's), with 7,626 paid employees at an average annual pay of $44,036. The Census Bureau also counts 2,612 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 813; 2,612 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 185; US 248 · Illinois 255
Paid employees: 7,626
Average annual pay: $44,036; US $68,342

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

Specialty trade contractors	73	16.6	1.07×About typical	300	$56,973	232
Restaurants and other eating places	56	12.7	0.69×Fewer than typical	816	$17,652	7
Ambulatory health care services	53	12	0.58×Fewer than typical	397	$49,844	59
Religious organizations	46	10.4	1.88×More than typical	136	$14,529	—
Truck transportation	35	7.9	1.57×More than typical	158	$65,481	88
Construction of buildings	32	7.3	0.96×About typical	95	$42,168	117
Full-service restaurants	31	7	0.92×About typical	391	$18,519	6
Building equipment contractors	30	6.8	1.13×About typical	132	$52,583	41
Drinking places (alcoholic beverages)	27	6.1	5.05×More than typical	206	$16,534	8
Gasoline stations	25	5.7	1.75×More than typical	304	$23,539	—
Automotive repair and maintenance	24	5.4	1.08×About typical	79	$32,759	54
Insurance agencies and brokerages	24	5.4	1.24×About typical	66	$55,045	51

Rank places for an industry Open Macoupin County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 44,057 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 Mount Olive, 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

1.2KFY2018

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 Mount Olive, Illinois, so they do not add up across cities.

Mount Olive, Illinois's figures are part of those of Macoupin County, IL ($1.6M 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: Mount Olive is mostly in Macoupin County.

See federal money in Macoupin 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.

Mount Olive, Illinois is represented in the 119th Congress by these members.

House

Nikki BudzinskiD-IL-13 · 100% of residentsWith party 94%Missed 0.0%

Senate

Explore Congress The 2026 races

County

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

Macoupin County66100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

St. Louis, MO-IL72

Other cities and towns in Macoupin 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/1751024

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends