Village · Morgan County, Illinois

South Jacksonville, Illinois

South Jacksonville is a village in Morgan County, Illinois, part of the Jacksonville, IL metro area. It has 3,239 residents. South Jacksonville, Illinois has a quality-of-life score of 31 out of 100 (low), ranking #10,805 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Illinois it ranks #540 of 697 cities and towns. It ranks best on average commute time (low), income inequality (Gini index) (low) and social associations (high). It ranks worst on job growth (low), unemployment rate (high) and new business applications (low).

31Low

Quality-of-life score: #10,805 of 15,651 cities and towns
Illinois: #540 of 697 in IL
Population: 3,239 (2020-2024)
Land area: 2 mi²
Density: 1,431.4 /mi²
FIPS code: 1770889

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 73 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.

Safety57#6,796/15,637
Economy19#12,683/15,631
Housing72#4,225/14,977
Health48#8,058/15,609
Healthcare33#10,458/15,650
Environment17#12,763/15,453
Education35#10,149/15,649
Infrastructure37#9,878/15,650
Community35#10,227/15,651
Leisure & amenities41#9,225/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

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

Average commute time · low14.3 min
91/100Illinois 27.8 minUnited States 26.4 min2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B08013
Income inequality (Gini index) · low0.378
86/100Illinois 0.481United States 0.4832020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B19083
Social associations · high13.1 /10k
82/100Illinois 9.8 /10kUnited States 9.1 /10k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteMorgan County value
Violent crime rate · low117 /100k
80/100Illinois 251 /100kUnited States 328 /100k2025Federal Bureau of InvestigationMorgan County value
Rent as share of income · low25.2%
80/100Illinois 29.1%United States 30.6%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25071
Students per teacher · low12.4×
77/100Illinois 13.6×United States 15.2×2024National Center for Education StatisticsMorgan County value

Weaknesses

Job growth · low-5.2%
2/100Illinois 0.0%United States 0.1%2026 Q1U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsProvisional dataMorgan County value
Unemployment rate · high15.8%
2/100Illinois 4.6%United States 4.3%2020-2024U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Census table B23025High uncertainty
New business applications · low7.2 /1k
3/100Illinois 14.9 /1kUnited States 16.6 /1k2025U.S. Census BureauMorgan County value
Broadband subscriptions · low83.0%
8/100Illinois 90.8%United States 91.0%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B28002
Voter turnout · low55.6%
13/100Illinois 62.9%United States 65.2%2024U.S. Election Assistance CommissionMorgan County value
Public EV charging ports · low1.2 /10k
13/100Illinois 4.8 /10kUnited States 7.6 /10kOct 2026U.S. Department of EnergyMorgan County value

Trends

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

New homes permittedImproving
0.3 /1k (2021) → 1.2 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
+300%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Rent-burdened householdsImproving
53.6% (2015-2019) → 35.8% (2020-2024)
−18 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Unemployment rateWorsening
1.2% (2015-2019) → 15.8% (2020-2024)
+15 pts5 yearsCensus table B23025US 3.7% → 4.0%
Child poverty rateImproving
26.0% (2015-2019) → 15.8% (2020-2024)
−10 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Home price to income ratioWorsening
2.1× (2015-2019) → 2.7× (2020-2024)
+32%5 yearsCensus table B25077US 3.5× → 4.1×
Average commute timeImproving
20.8 min (2015-2019) → 14.3 min (2020-2024)
−31%5 yearsCensus table B08013US 26.9 min → 26.4 min

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, South Jacksonville, Illinois improved on 1 of 11 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 10 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

Commute−6.5 min20.8 min → 14.3 min

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 11 measures

Change of every measure of South Jacksonville, Illinois between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	20.8 min2015-2019	14.3 min2020-2024	−6.5 min	Improved	94%
Bachelor's degree or higher	24.5%2015-2019	24.3%2020-2024	−0.2 points	Within the margin of error	26%
Broadband subscriptions	79.3%2015-2019	83.0%2020-2024	+3.7 points	Within the margin of error	24%
Effective property tax rate	2.01%2015-2019	1.63%2020-2024	−0.4 points	Within the margin of error	83%
High school diploma or higher	93.1%2015-2019	93.1%2020-2024	−0.1 points	Within the margin of error	32%
Home price to income ratio	2.1×2015-2019	2.7×2020-2024	+0.7×	Within the margin of error	38%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4202015-2019	0.3782020-2024	−0.042	Within the margin of error	80%
Median household income	$53,7812015-2019	$49,5872020-2024	−7.8%	Within the margin of error	4%
Poverty rate	12.6%2015-2019	9.0%2020-2024	−3.6 points	Within the margin of error	73%
Rent as share of income	31.4%2015-2019	25.2%2020-2024	−6.2 points	Within the margin of error	86%
Rent-burdened households	53.6%2015-2019	35.8%2020-2024	−18 points	Within the margin of error	92%

“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 South Jacksonville, Illinois five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of South Jacksonville, 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, South Jacksonville, Illinois itself moved +6.2 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

3,239 residents (±18)

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

1,691 households (±167)

South Jacksonville, Illinois
Illinois share

Under $25k24%†401
$25k–50k27%†464
$50k–75k

Homes

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

Owners and renters

1,691 households (±167)

South Jacksonville, Illinois
Illinois share

Own69%1,161
Rent31%530

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

1,304 workers (±182)

South Jacksonville, Illinois
Illinois share

Drive alone76%990
Carpool12%†156
Public transit1.1%†14

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 Jacksonville, 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 Morgan County, the county holding most of South Jacksonville's residents.

Morgan County has 759 employer establishments, 231 for every 10,000 residents (0.93× the US rate of 248; 0.91× Illinois's), with 12,835 paid employees at an average annual pay of $54,109. The Census Bureau also counts 2,044 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 759; 2,044 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 231; US 248 · Illinois 255
Paid employees: 12,835
Average annual pay: $54,109; US $68,342

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

Restaurants and other eating places	54	16.5	0.90×About typical	1,018	$18,416	8
Truck transportation	47	14.3	2.83×More than typical	270	$65,093	67
Ambulatory health care services	44	13.4	0.64×Fewer than typical	384	$77,641	48
Specialty trade contractors	40	12.2	0.79×Fewer than typical	209	$63,354	139
Religious organizations	31	9.5	1.70×More than typical	166	$19,120	—
Limited-service restaurants	29	8.8	1.10×About typical	571	$19,711	6
Gasoline stations	24	7.3	2.26×More than typical	197	$25,538	—
Full-service restaurants	22	6.7	0.87×About typical	430	$16,926	—
Automotive repair and maintenance	21	6.4	1.27×More than typical	90	$35,922	38
Offices of other health practitioners	20	6.1	1.00×About typical	80	$67,125	23
Banks and credit unions	19	5.8	1.79×More than typical	213	$58,047	3
Services to buildings and dwellings	18	5.5	0.81×About typical	89	$42,933	104

Rank places for an industry Open Morgan County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 32,787 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 $278 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in South Jacksonville, Illinois: $0.09 per resident (US $1,995).

Obligations: $278
Per resident: $0.09; US $1,995
Sole-source: 0.0%; US 30%
Single offer: 0.0%; 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$23585%
Department of the Navy$42.4115%

Top recipients

GREENFIELD INTERNATIONAL CORP.$23585%
ARROW MOVING & STORAGE OF COLORADO INC$42.4115%
TURNER SCIENTIFIC LLC-$0.100.0%

Spending by fiscal year

1.5KFY2017
1.1KFY2018
-49.6FY2019
1.5KFY2020
771.4FY2021
1.9KFY2022
3.4KFY2023
1.9KFY2024

Top industries (NAICS)

Services to buildings and dwellings · 5617$23585%
Specialized freight trucking · 4842$42.4115%

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 6, 2026, loaded Oct 6, 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 South Jacksonville, Illinois, so they do not add up across cities.

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

See federal money in Morgan 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.

South Jacksonville, Illinois is represented in the 119th Congress by these members.

House

Mary E. MillerR-IL-15 · 100% of residentsWith party 99%Missed 3.9%

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.

Morgan County55100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Jacksonville, IL52

Other cities and towns in Morgan 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/1770889

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends