Charleston is a medium-sized city located in the state of Illinois. With a population of 17,119 people and five associated neighborhoods, Charleston is the 148th largest community in Illinois.

Also of interest is that Charleston has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.

One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 8.78% of the workforce. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce this is high compared to the rest of the county. 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.

Charleston is a place where college students are a big part of the character and culture of the town. Small towns have often struggled with declining populations over the past few decades, but the presence of such a large college student population has helped Charleston to fight this trend. Not only does the college population add spending and jobs to local economy, but it also contributes a very tangible, youthful energy to the town.

Residents of the city have the good fortune of having one of the shortest daily commutes compared to the rest of the country. On average, they spend only 16.96 minutes getting to work every day.

In terms of college education, Charleston is substantially better educated than the typical community in the nation, which has 21.84% of the adults holding a bachelor's degree or graduate degree: 33.10% of adults in Charleston have a college degree.

The per capita income in Charleston in 2022 was $28,162, which is lower middle income relative to Illinois and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $112,648 for a family of four. However, Charleston contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

Charleston is a somewhat ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Charleston home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Charleston residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Charleston include German, Irish, English, Italian, and French.

The most common language spoken in Charleston is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Langs. of India.