Alton is a medium-sized city located in the state of Illinois. With a population of 25,006 people and 11 associated neighborhoods, Alton is the 85th largest community in Illinois.Unlike some cities, Alton isn’t mainly white- or blue-collar. Instead, the most prevalent occupations for people in Alton are a mix of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Alton is a city of service providers, professionals, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Alton who work in office and administrative support (9.58%), sales jobs (8.94%), and management occupations (8.66%). Also of interest is that Alton has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US. A relatively large number of people in Alton telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 8.39% of the workforce works from home. While this may seem like a small number, as a fraction of the total workforce it ranks among the highest in the country. 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. The education level of Alton citizens is a little higher than the average for US cities and towns: 21.17% of adults in Alton have at least a bachelor's degree. The per capita income in Alton in 2022 was $28,970, which is lower middle income relative to Illinois and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $115,880 for a family of four. However, Alton contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Alton is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Alton home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Alton residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Alton include German, Irish, English, Italian, and Polish. The most common language spoken in Alton is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and German/Yiddish.
