City · Bureau County, Illinois

Spring Valley, Illinois

Spring Valley is a city in Bureau County, Illinois, part of the Ottawa, IL metro area. It has 5,476 residents. Spring Valley, Illinois has a quality-of-life score of 54 out of 100 (moderate), ranking #7,158 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Illinois it ranks #284 of 697 cities and towns. It ranks best on public libraries (high), rent as share of income (low) and violent crime rate (low). It ranks worst on effective property tax rate (high), new business applications (low) and hospital quality rating (low).

54Moderate

Quality-of-life score: #7,158 of 15,651 cities and towns
Illinois: #284 of 697 in IL
Population: 5,476 (2020-2024)
Land area: 7 mi²
Density: 739.2 /mi²
FIPS code: 1772156

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.

Safety77#3,591/15,637
Economy54#7,171/15,631
Housing82#2,624/14,977
Health48#8,097/15,609
Healthcare22#12,217/15,650
Environment47#8,181/15,453
Education49#7,980/15,649
Infrastructure41#9,209/15,650
Community48#8,191/15,651
Leisure & amenities60#6,269/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

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

Public libraries · high4.3 /10k
98/100Illinois 0.6 /10kUnited States 0.5 /10k2024Institute of Museum and Library ServicesBureau County value
Rent as share of income · low21.8%
98/100Illinois 29.1%United States 30.6%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25071
Violent crime rate · low48 /100k
98/100Illinois 251 /100kUnited States 328 /100k2025Federal Bureau of InvestigationCovers part of the area: some reporting agencies or member counties have no figureBureau County value
Restaurants and bars · high16.0 /10k
96/100Illinois 10.3 /10kUnited States 9.0 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsBureau County value
Homicide rate · low0.0 /100k
94/100Illinois 6.2 /100kUnited States 4.8 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataBureau County value
Rent-burdened households · low21.4%
93/100Illinois 47.9%United States 51.1%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25070

Weaknesses

Effective property tax rate · high2.53%
1/100Illinois 1.88%United States 0.94%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25090
New business applications · low7.8 /1k
6/100Illinois 14.9 /1kUnited States 16.6 /1k2025U.S. Census BureauBureau County value
Hospital quality rating · low2.0
9/100Illinois 3.0United States 3.2Jul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesBureau County value
Traffic deaths · high28.0 /100k
9/100Illinois 9.8 /100kUnited States 12.3 /100k2020-2024National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationProvisional dataBureau County value
Gyms and fitness centers · low0.3 /10k
11/100Illinois 1.1 /10kUnited States 1.3 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsBureau County value
Pharmacies · low0.9 /10k
11/100Illinois 2.0 /10kUnited States 1.8 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsBureau County value

Trends

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

Rent-burdened householdsImproving
45.3% (2015-2019) → 21.4% (2020-2024)
−24 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Child poverty rateImproving
22.6% (2015-2019) → 1.5% (2020-2024)
−21 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
78.5% (2015-2019) → 89.9% (2020-2024)
+11 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Median household incomeImproving
$50,814 (2015-2019) → $70,598 (2020-2024)
+39%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Poverty rateImproving
13.2% (2015-2019) → 7.2% (2020-2024)
−6 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 12.3% → 12.1%
Rent as share of incomeImproving
27.4% (2015-2019) → 21.8% (2020-2024)
−5.6 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, Spring Valley, Illinois improved on 4 of 14 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.

Improved4

Rent burden−24 points45.3% → 21.4%
Poverty−6 points13.2% → 7.2%
Household income+39%$50,814 → $70,598
Broadband+11 points78.5% → 89.9%

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 14 measures

Change of every measure of Spring Valley, Illinois between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	20.1 min2015-2019	19.4 min2020-2024	−0.7 min	Within the margin of error	56%
Bachelor's degree or higher	19.0%2015-2019	16.9%2020-2024	−2 points	Within the margin of error	16%
Broadband subscriptions	78.5%2015-2019	89.9%2020-2024	+11 points	Improved	66%
Effective property tax rate	2.52%2015-2019	2.52%2020-2024	+0 points	Within the margin of error	16%
High school diploma or higher	86.0%2015-2019	88.8%2020-2024	+2.8 points	Within the margin of error	67%
Home price to income ratio	2.2×2015-2019	2.2×2020-2024	−0.1×	Within the margin of error	81%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4282015-2019	0.3972020-2024	−0.031	Within the margin of error	75%
Median household income	$50,8142015-2019	$70,5982020-2024	+39%	Improved	72%
Poverty rate	13.2%2015-2019	7.2%2020-2024	−6 points	Improved	84%
Public transit commuters	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	60%
Rent as share of income	27.4%2015-2019	21.8%2020-2024	−5.6 points	Within the margin of error	84%
Rent-burdened households	45.3%2015-2019	21.4%2020-2024	−24 points	Improved	96%
Unemployment rate	4.4%2015-2019	2.7%2020-2024	−1.7 points	Within the margin of error	79%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	9.2%2015-2019	7.0%2020-2024	−2.2 points	Within the margin of error	70%

“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 Spring Valley, Illinois five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Spring Valley, 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, Spring Valley, Illinois itself moved +10 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

5,476 residents (±36)

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

2,235 households (±155)

Spring Valley, Illinois
Illinois share

Under $25k12%†278
$25k–50k23%†517
$50k–75k

Homes

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

Owners and renters

2,235 households (±155)

Spring Valley, Illinois
Illinois share

Own65%1,456
Rent35%779

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

2,560 workers (±159)

Spring Valley, Illinois
Illinois share

Drive alone77%1,967
Carpool18%†448
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 Bureau County, the county holding most of Spring Valley's residents.

Bureau County has 699 employer establishments, 213 for every 10,000 residents (0.86× the US rate of 248; 0.84× Illinois's), with 9,051 paid employees at an average annual pay of $51,520. The Census Bureau also counts 1,925 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 699; 1,925 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 213; US 248 · Illinois 255
Paid employees: 9,051
Average annual pay: $51,520; US $68,342

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

Restaurants and other eating places	50	15.3	0.83×About typical	609	$16,563	10
Specialty trade contractors	43	13.1	0.85×About typical	198	$83,545	163
Truck transportation	42	12.8	2.54×More than typical	361	$92,114	83
Ambulatory health care services	40	12.2	0.59×Fewer than typical	235	$77,409	66
Religious organizations	36	11	1.98×More than typical	171	$16,415	—
Full-service restaurants	27	8.2	1.07×About typical	282	$18,014	6
Automotive repair and maintenance	24	7.3	1.46×More than typical	126	$48,111	25
Insurance agencies and brokerages	22	6.7	1.53×More than typical	50	$75,000	39
Services to buildings and dwellings	22	6.7	1.00×About typical	106	$41,377	149
Drinking places (alcoholic beverages)	21	6.4	5.29×More than typical	81	$18,136	13
Banks and credit unions	20	6.1	1.89×More than typical	201	$58,234	—
Gasoline stations	20	6.1	1.88×More than typical	230	$32,622	—

Rank places for an industry Open Bureau County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 32,748 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 Spring Valley, 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

371.6KFY2018
-41.1KFY2019
405.6KFY2021
16.3KFY2022
-61.5KFY2023
534.4KFY2024
-870FY2025

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 Spring Valley, Illinois, so they do not add up across cities.

Spring Valley, Illinois's figures are part of those of Bureau County, IL ($1.9M 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: Spring Valley is mostly in Bureau County.

See federal money in Bureau 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.

Spring Valley, 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.

Bureau County70100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Ottawa, IL57

Other cities and towns in Bureau 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/1772156

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends