Compared to the rest of the country, citizens of Sterling spend much less time in their cars: on average, their commute to work is only 17.99 minutes. This also means that noise and pollution levels in the city are less than they would otherwise be.
In terms of college education, the citizens of Sterling rank slightly lower than the national average. 16.48% of adults 25 and older in Sterling have a bachelor's degree or advanced degree, while 21.84% of adults have a 4-year degree or higher in the average American community.
The per capita income in Sterling in 2022 was $31,359, which is lower middle income relative to Illinois, and middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $125,436 for a family of four. However, Sterling contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
Sterling is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Sterling home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Sterling residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Sterling also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 26.63% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Sterling include German, Irish, English, Polish, and Italian.
The most common language spoken in Sterling is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Tagalog.
