Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Sterling gives you more for your money than most places: a typical home costs about $146K, 2.2 years of the Sterling area’s $68K median household income. It grades C+ overall, 514th among Illinois's 767 graded towns. On the plus side, it is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns. 29% of working residents work locally in Sterling, above both the Illinois town median (8.3%) and the median of U.S. towns (8%). Its National Register listings include First Congregational Church of Sterling and Sterling Masonic Temple.
Where Sterling beats most towns.
First Congregational Church of SterlingEach subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Illinois), ordered by how far Sterling is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 2,428 in 1860, 14,764 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1864 and 2 maps from 1946 on.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Sterling, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Sep 12, 2025.
Ordered by what stands out in Sterling.
Sterling is healthier than towns with similar incomes, has commutes shorter than most of Illinois and has property taxes about half the Illinois norm.
The median property tax bill is $2,588, against $5,298 across Illinois, another input to its cost-of-living grade.
Sterling’s median rent is $859 a month. Typical home values rose 4.6% in the year to September 2026. 65% of Sterling households own their home.
| Sterling | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 65% | 75% | 73% |
| Median rent | $859 a month | $1,129 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
2.8 miles of trail in 16 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Gartner Park, at 36 acres.
| Sterling | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.5 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 3.6% | 3.7% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Kilgour Park | 0.5 mi | 13 |
| 2. Platt Park | 0.5 mi | 8 |
| 3. Gartner Park | — | 36 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Sterling has cold winters and warm summers. July afternoons reach 84°, January nights drop to 14° and about 29 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Against the 8,130 U.S. towns with household incomes like Sterling’s, it is healthier than 60%, so its C+ isn’t only a matter of income.
Sterling beats the Illinois average on 0 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 13. 14% of adults have diabetes in Sterling.
| Sterling | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 11% | 12% |
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 7.9% | 8.1% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 23% | 18% | 19% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 13% | 14% |
| What stands out | Sterling | IL |
|---|---|---|
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 14.9% | 10.3% |
| More adults with COPD | 8.2% | 6.3% |
| More adults with heart disease | 7.5% | 5.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
The average commute for its 6,171 working residents takes 18.1 minutes, against 27.8 across Illinois.
About one in 3 of Sterling’s working residents works in town. The average trip to work in Sterling is 18 minutes. Jobs based in Sterling grew to 8,170 in 2023, 902 more than in 2013.
| Sterling | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 18 minutes | 26 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 15% | 8.4% | 9.6% |
| Work from home | 5.8% | 11% | 11% |
| Median household income | $57,000 | $83,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 56% of U.S. communities. One flood insurance claim has been paid in Sterling since 2016.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
2 within 15 miles of the center of Sterling
About 5 of every 100 Sterling residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Illinois.
2 places in Sterling on the National Register of Historic Places.
27 notable people were born in Sterling.
City in Illinois, United States
Sterling is a city in Whiteside County, Illinois, United States, along the Rock River. The population was 14,782 at the 2020 census, down from 15,370 in 2010. Formerly nicknamed "The Heart of American Hardware," the city has long been associated with manufacturing and the steel industry.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
5 towns share a border with Sterling.
| Town | IL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sterling · Sterling Township | #514 | C+ | B+ | C+ | B− | C+ |
| Coloma Township | #545 | C+ | A− | — | B− | C |
| Rock Falls | #659 | C− | A− | D | B− | C− |
| Hopkins Township | — | — | A− | — | B− | C+ |
| Galt | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Hopkins Township has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Coloma Township and Hopkins Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Galt isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Sterling Township and Sterling are one community, graded once. Compare Sterling with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Sterling grades C+ overall, better than 44% of U.S. towns and #514 of 767 in Illinois. It grades C+ for health, C+ for safety and B− for schools.
Not for the area. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B+.
27 notable people were born here, including Paul Flory and Terry Brooks.
