Map the Block › Places › Illinois › Mercer County
Mercer County, Illinois: crime rate, income and local data
Median household income is $74,182 and the unemployment rate was 3.6% in August 2026. It is home to roughly 15,495 residents.
Last updated . Crime: FBI 2021-2025. Income and housing: Census ACS 2020-2024. Unemployment: BLS August 2026. Road work: October 11, 2026.
Also on the map: income · hazard risk · Superfund · dams
What is the crime rate in Mercer County?
We don't show a crime rate for Mercer County: only 27% of residents live where a police agency reported a full year; counts are partial. Reported counts for individual police agencies are on the map's crime layer.
What is the median household income in Mercer County?
The median household in Mercer County earns $74,182 a year, 11% lower than the Illinois median ($83,390). Owner-occupied homes have a median value of $146,700, and the median rent is $786 a month. 9.9% of households received SNAP benefits in the past year (state: 13.8%). The newest monthly figure from the Bureau of Labor Statistics is 3.6% for August 2026 (preliminary), with 260 people out of work and looking.
| Census ACS 2020-2024 | Mercer County | Illinois | United States |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 15,495 | 12,694,798 | 334,922,499 |
| Median household income | $74,182 | $83,390 | $80,734 |
| Median home value (owner-occupied) | $146,700 | $263,300 | $332,700 |
| Median gross rent | $786 | $1,274 | $1,413 |
| Unemployment rate (2020-2024 average) | 3.2% | 5.8% | 5.2% |
| People below the poverty line | 8.9% | 11.8% | 12.5% |
| Households receiving SNAP (food stamps) | 9.9% | 13.8% | 12.1% |
| Adults 25+ with a bachelor's degree or higher | 20.9% | 37.8% | 35.7% |
| Homeowner households | 83.8% | 67.1% | 65.2% |
| Median age | 44.7 | 39.0 | 38.9 |
| Households with broadband internet | 90.5% | 90.8% | 91.0% |
| People without health insurance | 4.6% | 6.9% | 8.4% |
What natural hazards and environmental sites are in Mercer County?
FEMA's National Risk Index rates the overall natural-hazard risk for Mercer County as “Very Low”. None of the seven hazards on our map (floods, wildfire, tornadoes, heat, earthquakes, hurricanes) is rated above “Relatively Moderate” here. The index compares counties with each other and also weighs how vulnerable and resilient a community is, so it is a long-run estimate, not a forecast.
Superfund sites
EPA lists no Superfund site in Mercer County, active or completed (October 2026).
Industrial chemical releases
2 facilities in the county filed Toxics Release Inventory reports for 2024, together reporting 14,245 pounds of listed chemicals released on site. Reported releases are legal permitted amounts in most cases.
Disasters, air and water
Mercer County was covered by 1 federal major disaster declaration from 2016 through 2025 (Flood 1), not counting COVID-19. Of 14 community water systems, 1 had an open health-based drinking-water violation in EPA's records (September 2026). EPA puts the county in radon zone 1 (highest).
Is there road construction in Mercer County?
No highway work zones were listed in Mercer County in the October 11, 2026 state feed. Some states publish only part of their road work in open feeds, so check the state's 511 site before you travel. The map's layer refreshes every morning.
See today's work zones on the map →
How many schools, nursing homes and parks are in Mercer County?
Federal school lists show 8 public and 0 private schools in the county. 2 nursing homes are certified by Medicare or Medicaid here; star ratings for each are on the map and on Medicare's Care Compare. USGS mapping shows 12 fire or EMS stations and 5 police or sheriff stations.
Gun shops, liquor stores and Planned Parenthood in Mercer County
Gun shops
No gun shops with a public storefront are on the map in Mercer County. There is 1 licensed dealer without a public storefront (not shown).
Liquor stores
No liquor stores are on the map in Mercer County. Illinois has no complete public liquor licence list we can use, so this count also draws on OpenStreetMap and Overture Maps and may miss some stores or include closed ones.
Planned Parenthood
There is no Planned Parenthood health center in Mercer County on the map.
Sources: ATF licensee list (Sept 2026); state liquor licence lists, OpenStreetMap and Overture Maps (non-official; partial in some states); HHS Title X directory and CMS NPPES.
Common questions
What is the crime rate in Mercer County?
We don't show a crime rate for Mercer County: only 27% of residents live where a police agency reported a full year; counts are partial. Reported counts for individual police agencies are on the map's crime layer.
What is the median household income in Mercer County?
$74,182 (Census American Community Survey, 2020-2024 average), compared with $83,390 for Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the unemployment rate in Mercer County?
The newest monthly figure from the Bureau of Labor Statistics is 3.6% for August 2026 (preliminary), with 260 people out of work and looking.
What natural hazards affect Mercer County?
FEMA's National Risk Index rates the overall natural-hazard risk for Mercer County as “Very Low”. None of the seven hazards on our map (floods, wildfire, tornadoes, heat, earthquakes, hurricanes) is rated above “Relatively Moderate” here.
Is there road construction in Mercer County right now?
No highway work zones were listed in Mercer County in the October 11, 2026 state feed. Some states publish only part of their road work in open feeds, so check the state's 511 site before you travel.
How many nursing homes are in Mercer County?
2 Medicare- or Medicaid-certified nursing homes (CMS provider data, September 2026).
How does Mercer County compare with neighboring counties?
| County | Population | Violent crimes per 1,000 (2021-25) | Median household income |
|---|---|---|---|
| Des Moines County, IA | 38,487 | 4.1 | $62,928 |
| Henderson County | 6,193 | 0.20 | $62,227 |
| Henry County | 48,643 | 0.64 | $71,911 |
| Knox County | 49,046 | 3.3 | $57,030 |
| Louisa County, IA | 10,678 | 2.0 | $77,354 |
| Muscatine County, IA | 42,559 | 2.5 | $69,396 |
| Rock Island County | 142,757 | 3.9 | $67,159 |
| Warren County | 16,447 | 2.1 | $67,385 |
More: Illinois statewide numbers · Sex-offender registry search (U.S. Justice Department, NSOPW)
Where do these numbers come from?
- Crime: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting 2021-2025 (agency level, Return A), averaged and summed by county by Map the Block; Census population; state and national rates: FBI estimated crimes 2021-2025.
- Income, housing, education: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year, table B19013 (median household income) and related tables.
- Monthly unemployment: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS), county data, not seasonally adjusted. Public domain.
- Hazards: FEMA National Risk Index v1.20 (December 2025), county scores; disasters: FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries.
- Superfund: U.S. EPA, Superfund site boundaries and NPL status (October 2026). Dams: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, National Inventory of Dams (public map service, October 2026). Chemical releases: U.S. EPA Toxics Release Inventory, reporting year 2024 (basic data file).
- Air and water: U.S. EPA AirData, annual AQI by county 2024; EPA Air Quality Design Values 2023-2025 (June 2026); U.S. EPA SDWIS via ECHO drinking-water download (September 30, 2026). Traffic deaths: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) 2024; Census population.
- Work zones: State departments of transportation, via the U.S. DOT Work Zone Data Exchange (WZDx) and state 511 feeds; refreshed every morning (snapshot October 11, 2026).
- Schools: National Center for Education Statistics, EDGE public school locations 2024-25; budgets: U.S. Census Bureau, Annual Survey of School System Finances, fiscal year 2024; National Center for Education Statistics, EDGE Private School geocodes (Private School Survey 2023-24). Nursing homes: U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Nursing Home Provider Information and Penalties (September 2026). Stations: U.S. Geological Survey, National Structures Dataset (Fire Stations/EMS Stations), October 2026 pull.
- Parks: USGS Protected Areas Database of the U.S. (PAD-US 4.1); state park agencies' open data (CA, NY, PA, TN, TX, FL, NJ, KY, HI, UT, MT and others); OpenStreetMap contributors for some hours, phones, fees and camping; U.S. National Park Service: unit boundaries (Land Resources Division), Acreage Report (Sept 30, 2026), park pages on nps.gov (hours, fees), Visitor Use Statistics (2025).
Map the Block shows public statistics about places, not people, and does not rate or rank neighborhoods as places to live. Figures are as published by each source; check the source before relying on a number.
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