Urbana is a medium-sized city located in the state of Illinois. With a population of 38,468 people and 13 associated neighborhoods, Urbana is the 47th largest community in Illinois.

And if you like science, one thing you'll find is that Urbana has lots of scientists living in town - whether they be life scientists, physical scientists (like astronomers), or social scientists (like geographers!). So, if you're scientific-minded, you might like it here too.

Also of interest is that Urbana 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: 12.30% 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.

Urbana 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 Urbana 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. Urbana’s economy is one such example of this.

Urbana, while not large, also appears to be attractive to some younger, educated professionals, who help shape the character of the city.

One of the benefits of Urbana is that there is very little traffic. The average commute to work is 15.29 minutes, which is substantially less than the national average. Not only does this mean that the drive to work is less aggravating, but noise and pollution levels are lower as a result.

Urbana has a lot of people who ride the bus to and from work. In fact, for its size, Urbana has quite a high level of public transit users. Urbana’s need for inexpensive transportation options for its citizens is quite high.

If knowledge is power, Urbana is a pretty powerful place. 58.45% of the adults in Urbana have earned a 4-year college degree, masters degree, MD, law degree, or even PhD. Compare that to the national average of 21.84% for all cities and towns.

The per capita income in Urbana in 2018 was $28,954, which is lower middle income relative to Illinois and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $115,816 for a family of four. However, Urbana contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

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

In addition, Urbana has a lot of people living here who were born outside of the US (18.49%).

The most common language spoken in Urbana is English. Other important languages spoken here include Chinese and Spanish.