Cairo is a very small city located in the state of Illinois. With a population of 1,523 people and two associated neighborhoods, Cairo is the 604th largest community in Illinois. Much of the housing stock in Cairo was built prior to World War II, making it one of the older and more historic cities in the country.

The city is relatively quiet, having a combination of lower population density and few of those groups of people who have a tendency to be noisy. For example, Cairo has relatively fewer families with younger children, and/or college students. Combined, this makes Cairo a pretty quiet place to live overall. If you like quiet, you will probably enjoy it here.

Being a small city, Cairo does not have a public transit system used by locals to get to and from work.

The percentage of adults in Cairo with college degrees is slightly lower than the national average of 21.84% for all communities. 13.23% of adults in Cairo have a bachelor's degree or advanced degree.

The per capita income in Cairo in 2022 was $25,276, which is low income relative to Illinois and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $101,104 for a family of four. However, Cairo contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

Cairo is a very ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Cairo home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Cairo residents report their race to be Black or African-American, followed by White. Important ancestries of people in Cairo include German, Irish, Scottish, English, and Eastern European.

The most common language spoken in Cairo is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and African languages.