Fulton vs Sterling

A side-by-side comparison of Fulton and Sterling: population, income, housing, and more.

Fulton and Sterling are places in Illinois. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Sterling has the higher population (14,670 vs 3,457 in Fulton). Sterling has the higher median household income ($52,647 vs $42,452 in Fulton). Fulton has the higher median home value ($124,400 vs $107,800 in Sterling).

Population, income & housing

	Fulton	Sterling
Population	3,457	14,670
Median age	48.8 yrs	42.6 yrs
Median household income	$42,452	$52,647
Median home value	$124,400	$107,800
Median gross rent	$956	$780
Housing units	1,881	7,385
Homeownership rate	78.3%	61.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.1%	18.5%
Unemployment rate	4.6%	4.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Fulton	Sterling
Population	3,178 → 3,457 (+8.8%)	14,782 → 14,670 (-0.8%)
Median household income	$52,193 → $42,452 (-18.7%)	$43,685 → $52,647 (+20.5%)
Median home value	$114,100 → $124,400 (+9.0%)	$88,100 → $107,800 (+22.4%)
Median gross rent	$676 → $956 (+41.4%)	$675 → $780 (+15.6%)

Fulton

Population

3,1783,457

Median household income

$52,193$42,452

Median home value

$114,100$124,400

Median gross rent

$676$956

Sterling

Population

14,78214,670

Median household income

$43,685$52,647

Median home value

$88,100$107,800

Median gross rent

$675$780

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Fulton	Sterling
Under 5	5.9%	4.7%
5 to 17	13.2%	15.0%
18 to 24	4.6%	10.5%
25 to 34	9.5%	11.0%
35 to 44	11.7%	12.8%
45 to 54	14.6%	12.5%
55 to 64	13.7%	11.3%
65 to 74	16.4%	12.7%
75 and over	10.3%	9.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Fulton	Sterling
White (non-Hispanic)	94.3%	67.3%
Black or African American	0.0%	1.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.5%	1.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.2%
Two or more races	0.8%	4.1%
Hispanic or Latino	4.4%	25.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Fulton	Sterling
No high school diploma	12.6%	9.5%
High school graduate	45.6%	38.5%
Some college or associate's	26.6%	33.5%
Bachelor's degree	10.1%	9.9%
Graduate or professional degree	5.0%	8.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Fulton	Sterling
Drove alone	82.7%	74.9%
Carpooled	8.4%	12.0%
Public transit	0.0%	0.4%
Walked	1.5%	6.9%
Bicycle	0.0%	2.3%
Worked from home	6.7%	3.3%
Other means	0.6%	0.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Fulton	Sterling
1-unit, detached	80.4%	69.1%
1-unit, attached	3.9%	1.4%
2 to 4 units	3.3%	15.3%
5 to 19 units	4.5%	6.4%
20 or more units	1.7%	7.1%
Mobile home & other	6.1%	0.8%

Poverty & households

	Fulton	Sterling
Poverty rate	14.7%	16.4%
Average household size	2.06	2.15
Mean commute (minutes)	15	18
Median year structure built	1959	1957