Alma is a village in Marion County,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The population was 318 at the 2020 census.

History

Alma was originally called "Rantoul", and under the latter name was laid out in 1854. The present name, adopted in 1855, commemorates the

Battle of the Alma The Battle of the Alma (short for Battle of the Alma River) took place during the Crimean War between an allied expeditionary force (made up of French, British, and Ottoman forces) and Russian forces defending the Crimean Peninsula on 20Sept ...

in the

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

. The village post office named "Grand Mound City" was changed to "Alma" in 1855 as well.

Geography

Alma is located in northern Marion County.

Illinois Route 37 Illinois Route 37, Illinois 37 or IL 37, is a north–south state highway in southern Illinois. IL 37's southern terminus is at U.S. Route 51 (US 51) and IL 3 in Cairo and the northern terminus is at US 45 in Watson. Rou ...

passes through the village center, leading northeast to Kinmundy and south to Salem, the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

Interstate 57 Interstate 57 (I-57) is a north–south Interstate Highway that exists in two segments. It runs through Arkansas, Missouri, and Illinois. I-57 parallels the old Illinois Central Railroad for much of its route north of Interstate 55, I-55. T ...

touches the northwest corner of the village, with the closest access from Exit 127, to the north. According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...

, Alma has a total area of , all land. The village sits on a slight hilltop that drains north to Warren Branch, a tributary of the East Fork of the

Kaskaskia River The Kaskaskia River is a tributary of the Mississippi River, approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed May 13, 2011 in central and southern Illinois in the U ...

, and south to the headwaters of Crooked Creek, a west-flowing tributary of the Kaskaskia.

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, 386 people, 167 households, and 101 families were residing in the village. The population density was . The 179 housing units were at an average density of . The racial makeup of the village was 99.22%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.26%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

and 0.52% Native American. Of the 167 households, 29.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.5% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 8.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 39.5% were non-families. 37.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 18.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.31 and the average family size was 3.06. In the village, the population was spread out, with 25.4% under the age of 18, 9.1% from 18 to 24, 26.9% from 25 to 44, 21.2% from 45 to 64, and 17.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.7 males. The median income for a household in the village was $27,083, and the median income for a family was $30,208. Males had a median income of $30,938 versus $17,308 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the village was $12,693. About 14.1% of families and 24.9% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 37.1% of those under age 18 and 16.7% of those age 65 or over.

References

{{authority control Villages in Marion County, Illinois Populated places established in 1854 1854 establishments in Illinois Villages in Illinois