East St. Louis ranks the poorest of Illinois cities, study finds

[June 19, 2021]    (The Center Square) – East St. Louis was ranked the poorest city in Illinois in a 24/7 Wall St. analysis examining U.S. municipalities where households earn less than the nation’s median annual household income of $65,712.

Abandoned apartments along Illinois Route 15 in East St. Louis, Illinois. (Tyson Blanquart | Flickr via Creative Commons)

With a population of 26,543, East St. Louis recorded a median annual income of $24,343, based on the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2019 American Community Survey.

East St. Louis’s poverty rate was pegged at 33.4 percent, and its median home value came in at $54,500.

Lower educational attainment is one characteristic that residents of the poorest cities have in common, according to the analysis. The share of adults with four-year degrees in many of the 49 cities on the list averages less than 20 percent, the study concluded, while nationwide the percentage with bachelor’s degrees is 31.5 percent.

The analysis considered only cities with populations of more than 25,000 residents.

No cities in Vermont conformed to the study’s criteria, so the state was excluded from the analysis.