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ZIP Code62879

Sailor Springs, IL

Clay County · Illinois · United States
Home to 25 people across 0.124 square miles.

CentralOwner-majority6 ZIPs in county

At a glance

62879 by the numbers

Every figure below comes from the 2019–2023 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, the Census Gazetteer, or is computed from those. Margins of error are shown where they matter.

Population
25
±24 · bottom 10% nationally
Median household income
$57,917
US median $70,109 · 29th pctile
Median home value
US median $207,500 ·
Median age
45.8
US median 42 years
Population density
202/mi²
63th pctile most dense
Land area
0.124 mi²
negligible water area

Location

Where 62879 is

38.765021, -88.359032 · Census ZCTA internal pointOpen larger map →
Coordinates38.765021, -88.359032
Time zoneAmerica/Chicago
CountyClay County
StateIllinois (IL)
Land area0.124 mi²
Coordinate sourceCensus ZCTA internal point

Local time

America/Chicago

—:—:—

Current weather

Live from the National Weather Service

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Distance to major cities

Straight-line, computed from coordinates

Chicago, IL218.5 mi
Atlanta, GA411.1 mi
Dallas, TX627.9 mi
Philadelphia, PA708.9 mi

People

Who lives in 62879

25 residents in 9 households, averaging 2.78 people per household. The largest age group is 45-54 at 24.0% of residents, and 77.8% of households are families.

Age distribution

Share of residents by age band

Under 180.0%
18-2420.0%
25-340.0%
35-4412.0%
45-5424.0%
55-6420.0%
65+24.0%

Households

Composition and size

Total households9
Average household size2.78
Family households77.8%
Living alone22.2%
Median age45.8 years
Households with internet88.9%

Race & ethnicity

Census race categories. Hispanic or Latino origin is asked separately and overlaps these groups.

White96.0%
Two or more4.0%

Income & work

What people earn in 62879

The median household here earns $57,917 a year, below the US median of $70,109, which puts 62879 ahead of 29% of American ZIP codes. 0.0% of residents live below the poverty line.

Compared to the US

This ZIP against the national median

Median household income$57,917
LowestHighest
Higher than 29% of all US ZIP codes.
Median household income$57,917 ±$23,992
Per capita income$24,644
Poverty rate0.0%
Unemployment rate0.0%
Labor force participation52.0%

Household income distribution

Share of households in each bracket

<$25k11.1%
$25-50k33.3%
$50-75k33.3%
$75-100k22.2%
$100-150k0.0%
$150-200k0.0%
$200k+0.0%

Educational attainment among residents 25 and older: 0.0% hold a bachelor's degree or higher, 90.0% finished high school.

Housing

Homes and rent in 62879

Housing cost data is suppressed for this ZIP code.

Costs

Typical values

Median home value
Median gross rent—/mo
Median year built1972
Housing units11
Vacancy rate18.2%

Own vs. rent

Of 9 occupied units

Owner-occupied100.0%
Renter-occupied0.0%
Owner households9
Renter households0

Building types

Units by structure size

Single family36.4%
5-19 units9.1%
20+ units54.5%

Getting to work

How 62879 commutes

100.0% of workers drove alone, and the average one-way trip takes 20.4 minutes.

Mode of transport

Workers 16 and older

Drove alone100.0%

Travel time

Mean commute 20.4 minutes

<10 min0.0%
10-1946.2%
20-2953.8%
30-440.0%
45-590.0%
60+0.0%

Overview

Understanding ZIP code 62879

ZIP code 62879 is assigned to Sailor Springs, IL, and falls within Clay County. Like every US postal code, it began as a mail-routing device rather than a geographic boundary — the US Postal Service groups delivery routes under a single code so carriers and sorting equipment can process mail efficiently. Today it also serves as a practical shorthand for the area itself: roughly 25 people live inside it.

At 202 residents per square mile spread over 0.124 square miles, 62879 reads as a small-town area. It is a sparsely populated postal code, and density shapes almost everything else on this page — how people get to work, whether they own or rent, and what housing costs.

Household earnings run below the national median. At $57,917, 62879 sits in the lower half, ahead of 29% of them. The US median for comparison is $70,109. Bear in mind that median income describes the midpoint household, not the average — it is not pulled upward by a handful of very high earners the way a mean would be.

Living here

What life in Sailor Springs looks like

The building stock is dominated by larger apartment buildings of twenty units or more, which account for 54.5% of housing units here. The median construction year is 1972, making the housing here from the later twentieth century.

The population skews older than the national median, with a median age of 45.8 against 42 nationally. The average household holds 2.78 people, and 77.8% are family households.

Getting to work takes 20.4 minutes on average one way. The dominant mode is drove alone at 100.0% of workers.

Where to stay

Where to stay in Sailor Springs, IL

Sailor Springs is a smaller community, so options inside 62879 may be limited to a handful of independent inns, motels or bed-and-breakfast properties. Travellers often widen the search to the surrounding area, where the choice is greater and prices are usually competitive.

For reference, Chicago, IL is about 218.5 miles away in a straight line, which is worth factoring in if you are comparing a stay here against one closer to the city centre.

Availability and pricing change constantly, so the live search below will give you a more accurate picture than any figure we could publish here. It opens results for this area on Booking.com.

Book a Hotel →

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Practical uses

What ZIP code 62879 is used for

Beyond addressing mail, 62879 does a lot of quiet administrative work. Retailers use it to calculate shipping and sales tax at checkout. Insurers use it to set premiums, since risk profiles vary geographically. Employers and marketers use it to define service areas. Government agencies use it to route benefits and organise reporting. If you have ever been asked for a postal code by a form that clearly does not intend to send you anything, this is why.

For anyone weighing a move, 62879 offers a compact profile of Sailor Springs: 25 residents, a median household income of $57,917, 0.0% of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher, and an unemployment rate of 0.0%. A handful of figures like these answer more relocation questions than most neighbourhood guides do.

One caution worth repeating: a postal code is not a neighbourhood. 62879 may cover parts of several distinct areas, and a single neighbourhood in Sailor Springs may be split across more than one code. Boundaries also shift as USPS adjusts delivery routes. Treat the figures here as describing a delivery area, which is what they actually measure.

Nearby

ZIP codes near 62879

The eight closest postal codes by centroid distance, each with its own full profile. You can also browse every Illinois ZIP code or use the ZIP Express Lookup to search by city, county or time zone.

More in Clay County

Look up another

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Questions

Common questions about 62879

What city is ZIP code 62879 in?
62879 serves Sailor Springs, Illinois, in Clay County, United States.
What is the population of 62879?
About 25 people live in ZIP code 62879, according to the US Census Bureau's 2019–2023 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. The margin of error on that figure is ±24. That works out to roughly 202 people per square mile.
What is the average income in 62879?
The median household income in 62879 is $57,917 per year, compared with a US median of $70,109. Per capita income is $24,644. Median income is more representative than an average because it isn't skewed by a small number of very high earners.
Is 62879 a good place to live?
That depends on what you're looking for, but here are the facts: 0.0% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, the unemployment rate is 0.0%, and the median age is 45.8. The average commute is 20.4 minutes. We publish the numbers and let you weigh them.
What time zone is 62879 in?
62879 observes Central Time (America/Chicago). This zone observes daylight saving time.
How big is ZIP code 62879?
ZIP code 62879 covers 0.124 square miles of land, per the US Census Bureau's 2023 Gazetteer files.
Is 62879 urban, suburban or rural?
By population density, 62879 reads as a small-town area. It holds 202 people per square mile across 0.124 square miles of land. For reference, densities above 10,000 per square mile generally indicate an urban core, 1,000–3,000 is typically suburban, and under 200 is rural. These are rules of thumb rather than official designations — the Census Bureau classifies urban and rural areas by census block, not by ZIP code.
What is the commute like from 62879?
The average one-way commute from 62879 takes about 20.4 minutes. The most common way to travel is drove alone, used by 100.0% of workers aged 16 and over. Commute figures cover people who were employed and working outside the home during the survey period.
How many people work in 62879?
About 13 residents of 62879 are employed. Labor force participation stands at 52.0% and the unemployment rate is 0.0%. Note this counts residents by where they live, not by where they work — a ZIP with many offices can have far more jobs than employed residents.
Where should I stay when visiting 62879?
Accommodation in and around Sailor Springs, IL ranges with the character of the area. See the 'Where to stay' section on this page for local context, and use the live search there for current availability and pricing.
Does 62879 cover more than one city or county?
This page lists Sailor Springs as the primary place and Clay County as the county. ZIP codes follow mail delivery routes rather than municipal or county lines, so a single code can straddle boundaries, and USPS also recognises alternate acceptable city names for many codes. If you need the definitive answer for a specific street address, the USPS ZIP Code Lookup is the authority.
Can ZIP code 62879 change?
Yes. USPS adjusts ZIP codes as delivery volumes shift — codes are occasionally split, merged, retired or newly created, and boundaries move more often than most people assume. The Census Bureau's ZCTA definitions, which underpin the demographic figures on this page, are redrawn only once a decade, so the two can drift apart between censuses.

Methodology

Where this data comes from

  • Postal geography — GeoNames open postal code database (CC BY 4.0), cross-checked against the US Census Gazetteer.
  • Demographics, income, housing, commute — US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2019–2023 5-Year Estimates, ZIP Code Tabulation Area 62879. Tables B01001, B01002, B01003, B02001, B03003, B08301, B08303, B11001, B15003, B17001, B19001, B19013, B19301, B23025, B25002, B25003, B25024, B25035, B25064, B25077, B28002.
  • Land and water area — US Census Bureau 2023 Gazetteer Files.
  • Weather — NOAA National Weather Service, fetched live in your browser.
  • Map — OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
On accuracy. ACS figures are survey estimates, not counts. The margin of error shown alongside the population figure means the true value has a 90% chance of falling in that range. For small ZIP codes the error can be large relative to the estimate — treat the direction as more reliable than the exact number. This page reports data for ZCTA 62879, the Census approximation of the USPS delivery area.