Effingham, IL

The affordability dashboard for Effingham, IL aggregates Census ACS 5-Year Estimates across 1 ZIP code covering 19,096 residents, then layers in county-level federal data to produce an overall grade of B+ (76/100). The headline inputs are median household income of $82,374, median home value of $217,500, median rent of $735 per month, and 29.8% of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher. These four metrics alone explain most of the variance between city dashboards.

Cross-agency feeds widen the picture beyond Census demographics. HUD publishes a Fair Market Rent for a 2-bedroom in this county at $916 per month (studio $745, 1BR $754, 3BR $1,208, 4BR $1,385). Department of Labor data lists infant center-based childcare at $7,872 per year, consuming 10% of the local median household income.

Reading the overall grade requires reading all seven dimensions together. The score weights Income 20%, Safety 20%, Housing 15%, Rent 15%, Education 10%, Commute 10%, and Childcare 10%, with each sub-score benchmarked against national percentiles rather than state averages — so the grade is genuinely comparable across any city in the country. Strengths visible in the raw data for Effingham, IL include housing, commute, rent, childcare. Unemployment currently reads 2.2% and poverty 10.1% — numbers worth keeping alongside the headline grade.