Paris is a somewhat small city located in the state of Illinois. With a population of 8,961 people and three constituent neighborhoods, Paris is the 226th largest community in Illinois. Paris has an unusually large stock of pre-World War II architecture, making it one of the older and more historic cities in the country.

Paris is a blue-collar town, with 42.1% of people working in blue-collar occupations, while the average in America is just 24.7%. Overall, Paris is a city of production and manufacturing workers, sales and office workers, and service providers. There are especially a lot of people living in Paris who work in office and administrative support jobs (12.64%), sales jobs (6.80%), and management occupations (5.86%).

One of the benefits of Paris is that there is very little traffic. The average commute to work is 16.63 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.

Paris is a very car-oriented city. 97.15% of residents commute to work in a private automobile rather than by other means, such as public transit, bicycling, or walking. This is because Paris is a small city, and most people who live here have to drive out of town for work, and the town population is not large nor dense enough to support an extensive public transportation system. Paris has a lot of rural roads, and houses can be far apart. Many residents drive out of town for regular shopping trips as well.

Paris is a small city, and as such doesn't have a public transit system that people use to get to and from their jobs every day.

Paris Information and Demographics

The percentage of people in Paris with college degrees is quite a bit lower than the national average for cities and towns of 14.96%: just 11.09% of people over 25 have a bachelor's degree or advanced degree.

The per capita income in Paris in 2000 was $17,750, 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 $71,000 for a family of four.

The people who call Paris home come from a variety of different races and ancestries. The most prevalent race in Paris is White, followed by Native American. Important ancestries of people in Paris include German, Irish, English, and Dutch.

The most common language spoken in Paris is English.