HomeIllinoisWhiteside CountySterling city
Sterling city, Illinois: commercial real estate data.
Sterling city is a Census city of 14,717 people across 5.95 square miles of land, in Whiteside County. Median household income is $57,350, 65.1 percent of occupied homes are owned, and the SBA record carries 3 7(a) approvals to borrowers here worth $1.2 m.
80 sourced place values · tier FULL · 9 sections · underlined figures are computed by MMCG Analytics, not published by the agency
Sterling
What Sterling is
- Census place typecity
- Land area5.95 sq mi
- Water area0.22 sq mi
- Population per square mile of land2,475
- County holding the largest share of its areaWhiteside County, 100.0 percent
US Census Bureau, cartographic boundary file, places, 2024 vintage. US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, place level, 2020-2024 5-year.
Sterling
How many people live in Sterling
- Population14,717
- Median age42.6
- Population under 183,008
- Share under 1820.4 percent
- Population 65 and over3,219
- Share 65 and over21.9 percent
- Households6,579
- Family households3,723
- Share of households that are families56.6 percent
US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, place level, 2020-2024 5-year.
Sterling
Income and work in Sterling
- Median household income$57,350
- Per capita income$36,040
- Civilian labor force7,546
- Employed7,260
- Unemployed286 plus or minus 124
- Unemployment rate3.8 percent plus or minus 1.6
- Adults 25 and over10,263
- Adults 25 and over with a high school diploma or higher92.8 percent
- Adults 25 and over with a bachelor degree or higher21.1 percent
- Adults 25 and over with a graduate degree9.1 percent plus or minus 1.9
US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, place level, 2020-2024 5-year.
Sterling
Housing in Sterling
- Housing units7,393
- Occupied units6,579
- Vacant units814 plus or minus 224
- Vacancy rate11.0 percent plus or minus 3.0
- Owner occupied4,281
- Renter occupied2,298
- Ownership rate65.1 percent
- Median owner-occupied home value$108,700
- Median gross rent, monthly$859
- Annual rent as a share of median income18.0 percent
- Single family units5,352
- Share single family72.4 percent
- Units in buildings of two or more1,990
- Share in buildings of two or more26.9 percent
- Mobile homes0
- Median year structure built1957
US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, place level, 2020-2024 5-year.
Sterling
How Sterling gets to work
- Workers 16 and over who commute6,695
- Commuting under 15 minutes3,851
- Share commuting under 15 minutes57.5 percent
- Commuting 30 minutes or more1,132 plus or minus 241
- Share commuting 30 minutes or more16.9 percent
- Drove alone78.6 percent
- Carpooled8.1 percent plus or minus 2.2
- Public transport0.3 percent plus or minus 0.5
- Walked4.6 percent plus or minus 2.3
- Worked from home5.8 percent plus or minus 1.7
US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, place level, 2020-2024 5-year.
Sterling
SBA loans in Sterling (7(a))
- Approvals3
- Gross approval$1,206,000
- Average approval$402,000
- Median approval$273,000
- Ninetieth percentile approval$883,000
- Largest approval$883,000
- Jobs supported42
- Jobs per approval14.0
- Loans with a final outcome0
- Paid in full0
- Charged off0
- Median term240 months
- Share on real estate terms of 20 years or more66.7 percent
- Share to franchises0.0 percent
- Distinct lenders3
- Distinct industries by NAICS3
A charge-off rate is not published here. only 0 resolved loans, too few to publish a rate, and a rate over that few outcomes would move several points on one loan.
US Small Business Administration, 7(a) FOIA release, FY2020 to FY2026 year to date, as of 2026-06-30.
Sterling
SBA loans in Sterling (504)
- Approvals4
- Gross approval$2,017,000
- Average approval$504,250
- Median approval$369,000
- Largest approval$1,132,000
- Jobs supported206
- Loans with a final outcome0
- Charged off0
- Median term240 months
- Distinct CDCs2
US Small Business Administration, 504 FOIA release, FY2010 to FY2026 year to date, as of 2026-06-30.
Sterling
Flood risk in Sterling
- Listed NFIP communities1
- Of those, participating1
- NFIP community number170693
- Currently effective map date02/18/11
This community carries no Community Rating System class, so no CRS premium discount applies to it.
FEMA, National Flood Insurance Program Community Status Book, Community Status Book, as retrieved.
Whiteside County, not Sterling
Whiteside County context, not Sterling figures
These are Whiteside County figures. There is no place level equivalent published for any of them, so they are shown as the county backdrop and never as Sterling measurements.
- Establishments in Whiteside County1,158
- Employment at those establishments, Whiteside County17,838
- Covered employment, Whiteside County21,197
- Average annual pay, Whiteside County$54,164
- Average weekly wage, Whiteside County$1,042
- Housing units permitted, Whiteside County25
- Of those, single family, Whiteside County21
- County product, 2024, Whiteside County$2,977,796,000
- County product change over the prior year, Whiteside County4.9 percent
- Average income of an arriving household, Whiteside County$50,947
Every figure in this section is published for Whiteside County as a whole and is not a measurement of Sterling. It is here because a county backdrop is what a credit committee reads a place against, and it is labelled so that it can never be quoted as the place's own.
US Census Bureau, County Business Patterns, 2023. US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, 2024 annual averages. US Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey, 2024 annual. US Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional, table CAGDP2, CAGDP2, through 2024. US Internal Revenue Service, Statistics of Income county migration flows, 2021 to 2022 filing years.
Coverage
What this page does not hold.
Every item below could be filled with a plausible figure. None of them is. On a page a lender may read, a number that cannot be traced is worse than an absence, so the absences are named.
- Parcel level detail, zoning and flood zone at an address are resolved in the platform, not on this page.
SBA figures count approvals to borrowers whose address is in the place. They are not approvals for projects inside the place boundary: the tape records a borrower city and a project county, and those can differ.
Common questions
Sterling questions, answered from the record.
How many people live in Sterling, Illinois?
14,717, in 6,579 households. Sterling city covers 5.95 square miles of land, which is 2,475 people per square mile. Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, place level, 2020-2024 5-year.
What county is Sterling in?
Whiteside County, which holds 100.0 percent of the place by area. Source: US Census Bureau, cartographic boundary file, places, 2024 vintage.
What is the median household income in Sterling?
$57,350. The median owner-occupied home is valued at $108,700. Median gross rent is $859 per month. Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, place level, 2020-2024 5-year.
How much SBA lending goes to Sterling businesses?
3 7(a) approvals totalling $1.2 m, across 3 lenders, median approval $273,000, plus 4 504 approvals worth $2.0 m. These count approvals to borrowers whose address is in Sterling, not projects sited inside the place boundary, and they are approvals recorded in the release rather than loans disbursed.
Do SBA loans to Sterling borrowers get paid back?
No rate is published for Sterling. only 0 resolved loans, too few to publish a rate, and a percentage over that few outcomes would move several points on a single loan. The counts are shown instead.
Is Sterling in the National Flood Insurance Program?
Yes. Sterling appears in the FEMA Community Status Book as community 170693, with no Community Rating System class, so no CRS discount applies. Whether a specific parcel sits in a mapped special flood hazard area is an address level question the platform answers.
Are the county figures on this page Sterling figures?
No, and they are labelled so. County Business Patterns, QCEW, the Building Permits Survey, BEA product and IRS migration are published for Whiteside County as a whole and there is no place level equivalent. They appear in one clearly marked section as context and are never presented as measurements of Sterling.
Is zoning published for Sterling?
Not yet. The zoning layer is in build. Nothing on this page presents parcel level zoning.
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