One of the benefits of Sterling is that there is very little traffic. The average commute to work is 17.99 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.
The percentage of adults in Sterling with college degrees is slightly lower than the national average of 21.84% for all communities. 16.48% of adults in Sterling have a bachelor's degree or advanced degree.
The per capita income in Sterling in 2018 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.
