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Real Estate Prices & Overview

Steel City median real estate price is $92,645, which is less expensive than 94.1% of Illinois neighborhoods and 96.0% of all U.S. neighborhoods.

The average rental price in Steel City is currently $1,267, based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. Rents here are currently lower in price than 79.4% of Illinois neighborhoods.

Steel City is a rural neighborhood (based on population density) located in Benton, Illinois.

Steel City real estate is primarily made up of small (studio to two bedroom) to medium sized (three or four bedroom) single-family homes and small apartment buildings. Most of the residential real estate is owner occupied. Many of the residences in the Steel City neighborhood are older, well-established, built between 1940 and 1969. A number of residences were also built between 1970 and 1999.

Vacant apartments or homes are a major fact of life in Steel City. The current real estate vacancy rate here is 18.2%. This is higher than the rate of vacancies in 84.2% of all U.S. neighborhoods. In addition, most vacant housing here is vacant year round. This can sometimes be the case in neighborhoods dominated by new construction that is not yet occupied. But often neighborhoods with vacancy rates this high are places that can be plagued by a protracted vacancy problem. If you live here, you may find that a number of buildings in your neighborhood are actually empty.

Notable & Unique Neighborhood Characteristics

The way a neighborhood looks and feels when you walk or drive around it, from its setting, its buildings, and its flavor, can make all the difference. This neighborhood has some really cool things about the way it looks and feels as revealed by NeighborhoodScout's exclusive research. This might include anything from the housing stock to the types of households living here to how people get around.

Modes of Transportation

Our research reveals that 91.9% of commuters who live in the Steel City neighborhood get to work each day by driving alone in their automobiles, which is a higher proportion than 98.1% of U.S. neighborhoods.

People

Astoundingly, the Steel City neighborhood has one of the highest concentrations of divorcees living here than of any neighborhood, a higher concentration than NeighborhoodScout found in 96.8% of U.S. neighborhoods. This may be because people living here divorce more often than others, or that divorced people move here after they become divorced. If you are divorced, you will be in good company in this particular Benton neighborhood.

In addition, if you're planning where to retire, the Steel City neighborhood in Benton is a great option to consider. According to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive retirement dream area analysis, it's peaceful and quiet, has above average safety ratings compared to other neighborhoods in IL, offers a wide range of housing options, and has already attracted an enviable mix of college educated seniors. This neighborhood ranks as better for retirement living than 88.5% of the neighborhoods in Illinois. If you are considering retiring to Illinois, this is a good neighborhood to look at.

Diversity

Did you know that the Steel City neighborhood has more Welsh ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 3.6% of this neighborhood's residents have Welsh ancestry.

The Neighbors

There are two complementary measures for understanding the income of a neighborhood's residents: the average and the extremes. While a neighborhood may be relatively wealthy overall, it is equally important to understand the rate of people - particularly children - who are living at or below the federal poverty line, which is extremely low income. Some neighborhoods with a lower average income may actually have a lower childhood poverty rate than another with a higher average income, and this helps us understand the conditions and character of a neighborhood.

The neighbors in the Steel City neighborhood in Benton are lower-middle income, making it a below average income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 84.2% of U.S. neighborhoods. With 19.8% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 68.5% of U.S. neighborhoods.

The old saying "you are what you eat" is true. But it is also true that you are what you do for a living. The types of occupations your neighbors have shape their character, and together as a group, their collective occupations shape the culture of a place.

In the Steel City neighborhood, 32.3% of the working population is employed in manufacturing and laborer occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is executive, management, and professional occupations, with 31.3% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants (22.6%), and 13.3% in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations.

Languages

The languages spoken by people in this neighborhood are diverse. These are tabulated as the languages people preferentially speak when they are at home with their families. The most common language spoken in the Steel City neighborhood is English, spoken by 98.3% of households. Other important languages spoken here include Italian and Polish.

Ethnicity / Ancestry

Boston's Beacon Hill blue-blood streets, Brooklyn's Orthodox Jewish enclaves, Los Angeles' Persian neighborhoods. Each has its own culture derived primarily from the ancestries and culture of the residents who call these neighborhoods home. Likewise, each neighborhood in America has its own culture – some more unique than others – based on lifestyle, occupations, the types of households – and importantly – on the ethnicities and ancestries of the people who live in the neighborhood. Understanding where people came from, who their grandparents or great-grandparents were, can help you understand how a neighborhood is today.

In the Steel City neighborhood in Benton, IL, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as German (14.5%). There are also a number of people of Irish ancestry (11.0%), and residents who report Mexican roots (8.3%), and some of the residents are also of English ancestry (7.3%), along with some Italian ancestry residents (7.1%), among others.

Getting to Work

How you get to work – car, bus, train or other means – and how much of your day it takes to do so is a large quality of life and financial issue. Especially with gasoline prices rising and expected to continue doing so, the length and means of one's commute can be a financial burden. Some neighborhoods are physically located so that many residents have to drive in their own car, others are set up so many walk to work, or can take a train, bus, or bike. The greatest number of commuters in Steel City neighborhood spend under 15 minutes commuting one-way to work (39.1% of working residents), one of the shortest commutes across America.

Here most residents (91.9%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also carpool with coworkers, friends, or neighbors to get to work (5.1%) . In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.


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Crime includes:
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