Nilwood is a tiny town located in the state of Illinois. With a population of 196 people and just one neighborhood, Nilwood is the 787th largest community in Illinois. Nilwood has an unusually large stock of pre-World War II architecture, making it one of the older and more historic towns.
Unlike some towns where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, Nilwood is neither predominantly one nor the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Nilwood is a town of sales and office workers, service providers, and transportation and shipping workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Nilwood who work in sales jobs (29.09%), maintenance occupations (10.91%), and food service (10.91%).
Overall, Nilwood’s crime rate is one of the lowest in the nation, which makes a great place to live if safety is an important concern.
It is a fairly quiet town because there are relatively few of those groups of people who have a tendency to be noisy. (Children, for example, often can't help themselves from being noisy, and being parents ourselves, we know!) Nilwood has relatively few families with children living at home, and is quieter because of it. Renters and college students, for their own reasons, can also be noisy. Nilwood has few renters and college students. But the biggest reason it is quieter in Nilwood than in most places in America, is that there are just simply fewer people living here. If you think trees make good neighbors, Nilwood may be for you.
Nilwood is very much a car-oriented town. This is because the population of Nilwood isn't large enough or dense enough to support an extensive public transit system. It has a lot of rural roads, and the distance between houses can be quite large, which together tends to discourage walking and bicycling to work. 98.18% of residents commute to work in their own car (and the drive is typically to a job out of town). People also tend to drive out of town for other services as well, such as shopping, doctors appointments, and more.
Being a small town, Nilwood does not have a public transit system used by locals to get to and from work.
The population of Nilwood has a very low overall level of education: only 6.19% of people over 25 hold a 4-year college degree or higher.
The per capita income in Nilwood in 2022 was $24,078, which is low income relative to Illinois and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $96,312 for a family of four. However, Nilwood contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
The people who call Nilwood home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Nilwood residents report their race to be White. Important ancestries of people in Nilwood include German, European, English, Scots-Irish, and Irish.
The most common language spoken in Nilwood is English. Other important languages spoken here include Italian and Polish.
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.
Unpopulated, and rural, the neighborhood is one of the least crowded neighborhoods in all of America. If you like open space, no traffic, and lots of room, this neighborhood may be just what you are looking for. According to NeighborhoodScout's leading research, this neighborhood is less densely populated than 95.5% of the neighborhoods in America.
If you're planning where to retire, the neighborhood in Nilwood 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 87.6% of the neighborhoods in Illinois. If you are considering retiring to Illinois, this is a good neighborhood to look at.
Did you know that the neighborhood has more Lithuanian and German ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 1.2% of this neighborhood's residents have Lithuanian ancestry and 35.5% have German ancestry.
How wealthy a neighborhood is, from very wealthy, to middle income, to low income is very formative with regard to the personality and character of a neighborhood. Equally important is the rate of people, particularly children, who live below the federal poverty line. In some wealthy gated communities, the areas immediately surrounding can have high rates of childhood poverty, which indicates other social issues. NeighborhoodScout's analysis reveals both aspects of income and poverty for this neighborhood.
The neighbors in the neighborhood in Nilwood are upper-middle income, making it an above average income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 69.9% of the neighborhoods in America. In addition, 5.2% of the children seventeen and under living in this neighborhood are living below the federal poverty line, which is a lower rate of childhood poverty than is found in 63.0% of America's neighborhoods.
A neighborhood is far different if it is dominated by enlisted military personnel rather than people who earn their living by farming. It is also different if most of the neighbors are clerical support or managers. What is wonderful is the sheer diversity of neighborhoods, allowing you to find the type that fits your lifestyle and aspirations.
In the neighborhood, 49.2% of the working population is employed in executive, management, and professional occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is manufacturing and laborer occupations, with 19.1% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants (18.2%), and 12.4% in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations.
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 neighborhood is English, spoken by 96.8% of households. Other important languages spoken here include Italian, Polish and Spanish.
Culture is the shared learned behavior of peoples. Undeniably, different ethnicities and ancestries have different cultural traditions, and as a result, neighborhoods with concentrations of residents of one or another ethnicities or ancestries will express those cultures. It is what makes the North End in Boston so fun to visit for the Italian restaurants, bakeries, culture, and charm, and similarly, why people enjoy visiting Chinatown in San Francisco.
In the neighborhood in Nilwood, IL, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as German (35.5%). There are also a number of people of English ancestry (18.0%), and residents who report Irish roots (9.9%), and some of the residents are also of Italian ancestry (4.8%), along with some Scottish ancestry residents (3.1%), among others.
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 neighborhood spend under 15 minutes commuting one-way to work (40.6% of working residents), one of the shortest commutes across America.
Here most residents (67.9%) 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 (8.6%) and 6.8% of residents also hop out the door and walk to work for their daily commute. In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.