Mount Sterling, Illinois.
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to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$830 (+115%) since Jan 2020.
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- Illinois$1,553
- United States$1,922
Living in Mount Sterling, Brown County, Illinois
Mount Sterling is a city of 2,006 people in Brown County. Half its households earn more than $59,087 a year and half less, against $67,917 across Brown County; 12% of its people live below the poverty line. Unemployment in Brown County was 2.6% in August 2026, and the county had 0.7% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then wholesale.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Mount Sterling is a small city and the seat of Brown County in western Illinois. Household incomes here run below the county's as a whole, and a somewhat smaller share of adults hold a four-year degree than in many places. Winters are cold, with January the coldest month and a fair amount of snow, while July brings warm summer days and the year is fairly wet overall.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, with wholesale trade, restaurants and hotels, and professional and business services also employing people. Among the largest workplaces in town are Brown County CUSD 1, the school district, and Mount Sterling Health and Rehab Center, a nursing home. Commutes are short, and unemployment in the county has eased compared with a year earlier.
Things to do. The nearest outdoor options are a longer drive away. Siloam Springs State Park is a protected area, and the La Moine River offers a quiet stretch of water. History-minded visitors can head to New Philadelphia National Historic Site, an archaeological site, also a longer drive from town.
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- 941households
- 22%of adults have a degree
- 12%below the poverty line
- 14 mintypical commute
- 9%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Brown County had 4,825 jobs in 2025, 0.7% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 36° and lows near 18°; warmest in July, with highs near 87° and lows near 65°. About 21 inches of snow and 39 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Perry Northwest weather station, 13 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Mount Sterling
- Brown County CUSD 1School district112FTE
- Mental Health Centers of Western IllinoisDoctors of osteopathy, mental health, offices73
- Mount Sterling Health and Rehab CenterNursing homes49
- Prairieland FSAgricultural chemicals merchant wholesalers24
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 3 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 146 people in all. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- Cold wavesVery high
- Heat wavesVery high
- Strong windRelatively high
- LightningRelatively high
- HailRelatively moderate
- Winter weatherRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Mount Sterling’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively moderate. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on Brown County.
Mount Sterling home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
Not enough data to draw this yet.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Mount Sterling13
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
Not enough data to draw this yet.
Zip codes with a Mount Sterling address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Mount Sterling — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.
Zillow publishes no zip-level series with this city on the address.