Poverty rates range from about under 7:1 up to 12:1 for the majority of the county, but we see areas that show poverty rates up to 26:1 and even up to 50:1 in some counties. Illinois has one of the largest cities in the country with Chicago. And with Big cities come extreme levels of poverty and homelessness.
Like every other state in the United States, Illinois has a poverty problem, as well as an obesity problem. We see that poverty is concentrated around larger cities like Rockford, Peoria, Springfield, St. Louis and Chicago. Obesity in Illinois is wide spread with the highest areas being away from large cities, and into the states rural areas.

This map again confirms that poverty is a crisis across the whole county. With only a handful of states having an above average median income, it should be a priority of policy makers on how to combat this major crisis.