According to 2015 American Community Survey (ACS) , Champaign County, Illinois has a population of 205,766 (204,214 in 2014). Of these residents, 72.4 percent (148,925) lived in the urbanized area, consisting of 58,225 households, with an average household size of 2.29 persons. In 2014, 72.4 percent (147,838) lived in the urbanized area, consisting of 58,005 households, with an average household size of 2.28 persons.
Age
The largest group of urbanized area residents falls in the 20-24 age bracket. This bracket includes students attending the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, as seen in the table and chart below.
2015 Age Distribution by Sex
| Percentage of Population | Total | Male | Female |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 5 years | 5.2 | 5.2 | 5.2 |
| 5 to 9 years | 4.2 | 4 | 4.4 |
| 10 to 14 years | 4.3 | 4.4 | 4.2 |
| 15 to 19 years | 11 | 11.1 | 10.9 |
| 20 to 24 years | 21.2 | 22.9 | 19.6 |
| 25 to 29 years | 9.3 | 9.6 | 9 |
| 30 to 34 years | 7.1 | 7.4 | 6.8 |
| 35 to 39 years | 5.2 | 5.6 | 4.9 |
| 40 to 44 years | 4.3 | 4.2 | 4.5 |
| 45 to 49 years | 4.3 | 4.2 | 4.4 |
| 50 to 54 years | 5 | 4.7 | 5.3 |
| 55 to 59 years | 4.8 | 4.4 | 5.2 |
| 60 to 64 years | 4.7 | 4.7 | 4.7 |
| 65 to 69 years | 2.8 | 2.6 | 3 |
| 70 to 74 years | 2.2 | 1.8 | 2.5 |
| 75 to 79 years | 1.8 | 1.7 | 2 |
| 80 to 84 years | 1.2 | 1.1 | 1.3 |
| 85 years and over | 1.5 | 0.8 | 2.2 |
Race & Origin
The table below shows that the urbanized area population is primarily White. The second largest racial group is African-American, followed closely by Asian. The urbanized area has a higher percentage of its population in non-white race categories than the County.
Race Distribution
| Population percentage | Urbanized Area (2014) | Urbanized Area (2015) | County (2014) | County (2015) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| White alone | 68.3% | 67.3% | 74.2% | 73.4% |
| Black or African American alone | 14.9% | 14.8% | 12.5% | 12.6% |
| Hispanic Alone | 5.9% | 5.9% | 5.5% | 5.5% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native Alone | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.2% | 0.2% |
| Asian Alone | 13.0% | 13.6% | 9.6% | 10.0% |
| Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander Alone | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Some Other Race Alone | 1.0% | 1.1% | 0.8% | 1.0% |
| Two or More Races | 2.7% | 3.0% | 2.8% | 3.0% |
Education
More than 50 percent of residents in the urbanized area over the age of 25 have a Bachelor’s degree or higher compared to 30 percent of the nation overall in 2015. In addition, a quarter (24.8%) of the urbanized area population over the age of 25 have a graduate or professional degree. Overall, the urbanized area exhibits a highly educated population with 94.3 percent of the residents of the urbanized area over the age of 25 possessing a high school degree or higher.
Poverty
The table below shows the poverty status of the urbanized area population by age. As seen in the table, more than a quarter of the population in urbanized area is living below the poverty level. The majority of the population living in poverty in the urbanized area is in the 18-24 years age bracket. The presence of the University of Illinois students appears to result in a disproportionate number of persons living below the poverty level in the urbanized area.
Poverty Level by Age
| Population percentage with income below poverty level in the past 12 months | 2014 | 2015 |
|---|---|---|
| Under 5 years | 1.3% | 1.3% |
| 5 years | 0.3% | 0.3% |
| 6 to 11 years | 1.8% | 1.7% |
| 12 to 14 years | 0.7% | 0.7% |
| 15 years | 0.2% | 0.2% |
| 16 and 17 years | 0.5% | 0.4% |
| 18 to 24 years | 14.6% | 14.8% |
| 25 to 34 years | 3.7% | 3.7% |
| 35 to 44 years | 1.4% | 1.5% |
| 45 to 54 years | 1.2% | 1.1% |
| 55 to 64 years | 1.1% | 1.2% |
| 65 to 74 years | 0.3% | 0.3% |
| 75 years and over | 0.4% | 0.4% |
| Total | 27.5% | 27.7% |
Income
The 2015 ACS estimates per capita income for the urbanized area was $25,030 ($24,670 in 2014). This income was lower than the County, State, and Federal figures, which were $26,078, $30,494, and $28,093 respectively in 2015 ($26,087, $30,019, and $28,555 in 2014). There were 58,002 occupied housing units in the urbanized area in 2015, 57,574 in 2014. Of these households, almost 70 percent were one or two-person households. The median household income for the urbanized area in 2015 was 41370. This was lower than the median household income of the County ($46,495), the State of Illinois ($57,574), and the nation ($53,889). Within the urbanized area, half of the housing units (50%) were owner-occupied. The table below shows housing units by household size for the urbanized area.
Housing Units by Household Size
| Household Size | Household counts (2014) | Percentage (2014) | Household counts (2015) | Percentage (2015) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 58,005 | 100% | 58,225 | 100% |
| 1-person Household | 21,114 | 36.4% | 21,680 | 37.2% |
| 2-person Household | 19,548 | 33.7% | 19,360 | 33.3% |
| 3-person Household | 8,005 | 13.8% | 7,961 | 13.7% |
| 4-or-more-person Household | 9,281 | 16.0% | 9,224 | 15.8% |
Another perspective shows median household income by age, as seen in the table and chart below. One can see that householders under age 25 (typically in the 18-25 year age range) have a far lower median income than other age ranges. In addition, the urbanized area and county seem to fall especially short for this age range as compared to the state and nation. Again, this is likely due to the disproportionate number of students living in the area, attending the University of Illinois.
Median Income by Age of Householder (2015)
| Region | United States | Illinois | Champaign County | Urbanized Area |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average | $53,889 | $57,574 | $46,495 | $41,370 |
| 15 to 24 years | $26,228 | $24,913 | $10,381 | $9,854 |
| 25 to 44 years | $58,985 | $62,573 | $51,124 | $46,885 |
| 45 to 64 years | $65,399 | $70,763 | $65,707 | $62,914 |
| 65 years and over | $38,726 | $39,010 | $45,669 | $46,450 |
Median Income by Age of Householder (2014)
| Region | United States | Illinois | Champaign County | Urbanized Area |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average | $55,004 | $58,790 | $48,959 | $44,568 |
| 15 to 24 years | $25,788 | $24,207 | $11,246 | $10,720 |
| 25 to 44 years | $58,398 | $62,340 | $51,116 | $47,312 |
| 45 to 64 years | $65,027 | $70,284 | $65,608 | $62,105 |
| 65 years and over | $37,945 | $38,325 | $45,376 | $45,598 |
Population Trends
In 2014 and 2015, 72.4 percent of the County’s population lived in the urbanized area, and 27.6 percent lived outside the urbanized area, as shown in the table and chart below. Since 1980, the proportion of the total county population living in the Champaign-Urbana urbanized area has grown an average of 2.7 percent every 10 years.
Rural-Urban Population Ratio
| Ratios | 1980 | 1990 | 2000 | 2010 | 2014 | 2015 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Urbanized Area | 64% | 67% | 69% | 72% | 72.4% | 72.4% |
| Outside Urbanized Area | 36% | 33% | 31% | 28% | 27.6% | 27.6% |