Because Champaign has a very large number of students who are 18 years or older and in college, it is thought of as a college town. This has a major influence on local Champaign lifestyle, entertainment, and culture in general. Life in Champaign is very much tied to the academic calendar: when students return from the summer break in the fall, one will notice them out and about, buying groceries, out with friends, and generally getting re-acquainted with each other. In Champaign people study hard and play hard, and there is ample opportunity to do both.
Not only is Champaign a city with many college students, but it also retains many recent graduates who are looking to start new careers, creating a very large population of people who are young, single, educated, and upwardly-mobile. That’s because Champaign is full of single people in their 20s and 30s and who have undergraduate or graduate degrees and are starting careers in professional occupations. This makes Champaign a pretty good place for young, educated career starters looking to find many people like themselves, with good opportunities for friendships, socializing, romance, and fun.
Compared to the rest of the country, citizens of Champaign spend much less time in their cars: on average, their commute to work is only 16.67 minutes. This also means that noise and pollution levels in the city are less than they would otherwise be.
For the size of the city, public transportation in Champaign is quite heavily used. Mostly, people who use it for their daily commute are taking the bus. For Champaign, the benefits are reduced air pollution and congestion on the highways.
If knowledge is power, Champaign is a pretty powerful place. 51.76% of the adults in Champaign have earned a 4-year college degree, masters degree, MD, law degree, or even PhD. Compare that to the national average of 21.84% for all cities and towns.
The per capita income in Champaign in 2022 was $34,879, which is middle income relative to Illinois and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $139,516 for a family of four. However, Champaign contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
Champaign is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Champaign home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Champaign residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Champaign include German, Irish, English, Italian, and Polish.
Foreign born people are also an important part of Champaign's cultural character, accounting for 17.01% of the city’s population.
The most common language spoken in Champaign is English. Other important languages spoken here include Chinese and Spanish.
