Edwardsville is a medium-sized city located in the state of Illinois. With a population of 26,654 people and five associated neighborhoods, Edwardsville is the 82nd largest community in Illinois.Edwardsville is a decidedly white-collar city, with fully 90.61% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Edwardsville is a city of professionals, sales and office workers, and managers. There are especially a lot of people living in Edwardsville who work in sales jobs (12.16%), management occupations (10.63%), and office and administrative support (9.65%). Also of interest is that Edwardsville 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: 12.93% 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. In addition, Edwardsville is a major college town that has a very high percentage of its residents over 18 years old who are college students. Naturally, collegiate life has a major influence on local Edwardsville culture, lifestyle and entertainment options. Edwardsville really pulses to the beat of the academic calendar. In Edwardsville every fall, returning students reinvigorate the community, who you will notice are all over town, buying groceries, out with friends, and getting acquainted or re-acquainted with each other and Edwardsville. One of the beneficial effects that colleges provide is that they tend to be lasting institutions that deliver direct economic benefits to the local economy in the form of such things as jobs for faculty and staff, and spending by students. Edwardsville benefits directly from this. If knowledge is power, Edwardsville is a pretty powerful place. 56.24% of the adults in Edwardsville 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 Edwardsville in 2022 was $44,305, which is wealthy relative to Illinois, and upper middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $177,220 for a family of four. However, Edwardsville contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Edwardsville is a somewhat ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Edwardsville home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Edwardsville residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Edwardsville include German, Irish, English, Italian, and French. The most common language spoken in Edwardsville is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Other Asian languages.
