Champaign is a larger medium-sized city located in the state of Illinois. With a population of 89,241 people and 20 associated neighborhoods, Champaign is the tenth largest community in Illinois.Champaign is a decidedly white-collar city, with fully 85.41% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Champaign is a city of professionals, service providers, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Champaign who work in teaching (14.62%), office and administrative support (9.34%), and management occupations (8.30%). Also of interest is that Champaign has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US. A relatively large number of people in Champaign telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 13.22% of the workforce works from home. While this may seem like a small number, as a fraction of the total workforce it ranks among the highest in the country. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes. Champaign is also a major college town with a large number of people who are 18 years or older and attending college. As is often the case in college towns, the many students that live in Champaign have a strong influence on the local culture and entertainment scene, which may seem dormant by comparison in the summer months when much of the student population is away. In the fall, the return of students has a reinvigorating effect on the community. Because colleges are lasting institutions, they have a stabilizing effect on the economy by providing direct local benefits such as jobs for faculty and staff and spending by students. Champaign’s economy is one such example of this. 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.Do you like to read, write and learn? If you move to Champaign, you'll likely find that many of your neighbors like to as well. Champaign is one of the more educated communities in America, with a full 51.76% of its adults having a college degree or even advanced degree, compared to a national average across all communities of 21.84%. 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. Champaign also has a high percentage of its population that was born in another country: 17.01%. The most common language spoken in Champaign is English. Other important languages spoken here include Chinese and Spanish.
