Champaign, Illinois

Champaign
City
Campustown Downtown Virginia Theatre Memorial Stadium Cattle Bank
Interactive map of Champaign
Champaign Show map of Illinois Champaign Show map of the United States
Coordinates:40°6′59″N88°14′37″W / 40.11639°N 88.24361°W /40.11639; -88.24361
Country	United States
State	Illinois
County	Champaign
Founded	1855 (West Urbana)
Incorporated	1860
Chartered	1866
Named for	Champaign County, Ohio, U.S.
Government
• Type	Council–manager
• City manager	Dorothy Ann David
• Mayor	Deborah Frank Feinen
Area [1]
•City	23.14 sq mi (59.9 km2)
• Land	22.99 sq mi (59.5 km2)
• Water	0.15 sq mi (0.4 km2)
Elevation	764 ft (233 m)
Population ( 2020)
•City	88,302
• Estimate (2022)	89,241
• Density	3,840.89/sq mi (1,482.98/km2)
•Urban	145,361
•Metro	236,072
Demonym	Champaignian
Time zone	UTC−6(CST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−5(CDT)
ZIP Codes	61820–61822, 61824–61826
Area codes	217, 447
FIPS code	17-12385
GNISfeature ID	2393796[2]
Website	champaignil.gov

Champaign(/ˌʃæmˈpeɪn/sham-PAYN) is a city inChampaign County, Illinois, United States. The population was 88,302 at the 2020 census. It is thetenth-most populous municipalityin Illinois and the fourth most populous city in the state outside theChicago metropolitan area.^[3]It is a principal city of theChampaign–Urbana metropolitan area, which had 236,000 residents in 2020.

Champaign shares the main campus of theUniversity of Illinoiswith its twin city ofUrbana, and is also home toParkland College, which gives the city a large student population during the academic year.^[4]Due to the university and a number of technologystartup companies, it is often referred to as a hub of the IllinoisSilicon Prairie. Champaign houses offices for the Fortune 500 companiesAbbott,Archer Daniels Midland(ADM),Caterpillar,John Deere,Dow Chemical Company,IBM, andState Farm. Champaign also serves as the headquarters for several companies, includingJimmy John's.

Champaign was founded in 1855, when theIllinois Central Railroadlaid its rail track two miles (3 km) west of downtown Urbana. Originally called "West Urbana", it was renamed Champaign when it acquired a city charter in 1860. Both the city and county name were derived fromChampaign County, Ohio,^[5]which took its name from the French word for "open, level country".^[6][7]

During February 1969,Carl Perkinsjoined withBob Dylanto write the song "Champaign, Illinois", which Perkins released on his albumOn Top.^[8]The bandOld 97'stook another Bob Dylan song, "Desolation Row", and combined its melody with new lyrics to make a new song "Champaign, Illinois", which they released with Dylan's blessing on their 2010 albumThe Grand Theatre Volume One. It achieved considerable popularity. The two "Champaign, Illinois" songs are not similar to each other, except that Bob Dylan was involved in both of them.

On September 22, 1985, Champaign hosted the firstFarm Aidconcert at the University of Illinois'Memorial Stadium. The concert drew a crowd of 80,000 people and raised over $7 million for American family farmers.

In 2005, Champaign–Urbana (specifically the University of Illinois) was the location of the NationalScience OlympiadTournament, attracting young scientists from all 50 states. The city also hosts the state Science Olympiad competition every year. The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign once again hosted the National competition on May 20–22, 2010.

Joan Severns was the city's first female mayor, serving between 1979 and 1983.^[9]Deborah Frank Feinen, who has served as mayor since 2015, is the city's second female mayor.^[9]In May 2017, the city's first female-majority city council was sworn in.^[10]

According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Champaign has a total area of 23.14 square miles (59.93 km²), of which 22.99 square miles (59.54 km²) (or 99.37%) is land and 0.15 square miles (0.39 km²) (or 0.63%) is water.^[1]

Champaign is a city in central Illinois and is located on relatively high ground, providing sources to theKaskaskia Riverto the west, and theEmbarras Riverto the south. Downtown Champaign drains into Boneyard Creek, which feeds the Saline Branch of theSalt Fork Vermilion River.^[11]

Champaign shares a border with the neighboring city ofUrbana; together they are home to theUniversity of Illinois. Champaign, Urbana, and the bordering village ofSavoyform theChampaign–Urbana Metropolitan Area, also known as "Champaign–Urbana". It may also be colloquially known as the "Twin Cities", "Chambana" or "Shampoo–Banana".^[12]

The city has ahumid continental climate, typical of the Midwestern United States, with hot summers and cold, moderately snowy winters. Temperatures exceed 90 °F (32.2 °C) on an average of 24 days per year, and typically fall below 0 °F (−17.8 °C) on six nights annually.^[13]The record high temperature in Champaign was 109 °F (42.8 °C) in 1954, and the record low was −25 °F (−31.7 °C), recorded on four separate occasions − in 1899, 1905, 1994 and 1999.^[14]

Historical population

Census	Pop.	Note	%±
1860	1,727		—
1870	4,625		167.8%
1880	5,103		10.3%
1890	5,839		14.4%
1900	9,098		55.8%
1910	12,421		36.5%
1920	15,873		27.8%
1930	20,348		28.2%
1940	23,302		14.5%
1950	39,563		69.8%
1960	49,583		25.3%
1970	56,837		14.6%
1980	58,133		2.3%
1990	63,502		9.2%
2000	67,518		6.3%
2010	81,055		20.0%
2020	88,302		8.9%
2022 (est.)	89,241		1.1%
U.S. Census Bureau[17][18]

As of the2020 census^[19]there were 88,302 people, 34,851 households, and 15,624 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,816.81 inhabitants per square mile (1,473.68/km²). There were 40,314 housing units at an average density of 1,742.55 per square mile (672.80/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 53.45%White, 17.97%African American, 0.37%Native American, 16.69%Asian(6.34%Chinese, 3.92%Asian Indian, 1.83%Korean, 1.05%Filipino, 0.86%Vietnamese, 0.46%Thai, 0.27%Pakistani),^[20]0.05%Pacific Islander, 3.96% fromother races, and 7.52% from two or more races.HispanicorLatinoof any race were 8.74% of the population.

There were 34,851 households, out of which 21.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 32.63% were married couples living together, 8.77% had a female householder with no husband present, and 55.17% were non-families. 39.97% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.01% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.13 and the average family size was 2.30.

The city's age distribution consisted of 17.0% under the age of 18, 29.0% from 18 to 24, 25.8% from 25 to 44, 17.7% from 45 to 64, and 10.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 27.3 years. For every 100 females, there were 110.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 107.1 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $49,467, and the median income for a family was $78,118. Males had a median income of $36,680 versus $27,805 for females. Theper capita incomefor the city was $30,245. About 10.3% of families and 23.9% of the population were below thepoverty line, including 17.3% of those under age 18 and 9.4% of those age 65 or over.

Champaign, Illinois – Racial and ethnic composition
Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race.

Race / Ethnicity(NH = Non-Hispanic)	Pop 2000[21]	Pop 2010[22]	Pop 2020[23]	% 2000	% 2010	% 2020
Whitealone (NH)	48,168	52,533	45,409	71.34%	64.81%	51.42%
Black or African Americanalone (NH)	10,471	12,474	15,625	15.51%	15.39%	17.96%
Native AmericanorAlaska Nativealone (NH)	132	143	99	0.20%	0.18%	0.11%
Asianalone (NH)	4,591	8,510	14,705	6.80%	10.50%	16.65%
Pacific Islanderalone (NH)	20	56	27	0.03%	0.07%	0.03%
Other racealone (NH)	145	162	431	0.21%	0.20%	0.49%
Mixed race or Multiracial(NH)	1,267	2,066	4,289	1.88%	2.55%	4.86%
Hispanic or Latino(any race)	2,724	5,111	7,717	4.03%	6.31%	8.74%
Total	67,518	81,055	88,302	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%

In addition to the University of Illinois, Champaign is also home to Parkland College.Herff Jones, formerly Collegiate Cap and Gown, and Kraft also form part of the city's industrial base. Kraft's plant is one of the largest pasta factories in North America. The Champaign-Urbana community is a well-known hub for startups, including a top ranking from Silicon Prairie News in 2019.^[24]

Champaign is home to nationally recognized record labels, artist management companies, booking agencies, and recording studios.Polyvinyl Records,Undertow Music,Parasol Records, Great Western Record Recorders, Pogo Studios, and Nicodemus Booking Agency are all based in Champaign.

In April 2011,The Christian Science Monitornamed Champaign-Urbana one of the five cities leading the economic turnaround based on jobs; the information sector added over 300 jobs within a year and unemployment dropped 2.1%.^[25]

Champaign features a large technology and software industry mostly focusing on research and development of new technologies. TheResearch Park, located on campus land just south of the State Farm Center and run by theUniversity of Illinois, is home to many companies, includingCaterpillar,ADM,John Deere,AbbVie,Motorola Solutions,Brunswick,Capital One,Cargill,NVIDIA,Riverbed Technology,Abbott Laboratories,Yahoo!and theState Farm Research and Development Center.^[26][27]

The technology incubator at Research Park, EnterpriseWorks, has launched 350+ startups since opening in 2014. Famous graduates of EnterpriseWorks include Agrible, which was sold to Nutrien in 2018 for $63 million.^[28]Another success story is Starfire, which graduated from EnterpriseWorks and moved into other space at the Research Park. In 2022, Starfire was growing so fast, it bought its own 190,000 SF building in the northwest side of Champaign.^[29]

According to the Champaign County Economic Development Corporation,^[30]the top ten employers in the city are:

#	Employer	# of Employees
1	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign	13,934
2	Carle Foundation Hospital	6,921
3	Champaign Unit 4 School District	1,664
4	Kraft Heinz	925
5	Christie Clinic	916
6	Champaign County	893
7	Urbana School District #116	828
8	FedEx	815
9	OSF HealthCare	774
10	Parkland College	741

Other major employers includeHorizon Hobby,Jimmy John's, Plastipak,SuperValu, andWolfram Research. Numerous other software and technology companies also have offices in Champaign includingAnsys,Amdocs, Cloudflare, Instarecon,Phonak, Power World, and Caterpillar Simulation Center. The largest high technology employer isWolfram Research, with more than 400 employees in Champaign.^[31]TheUnited States Army Corps of Engineersmaintains the Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (CERL) in Champaign.

In the 1980s, part of the downtown Champaign area (Neil St.) was closed to vehicular traffic to create a pedestrian mall, but this short-lived experiment was scrapped when business declined. As part of a revitalization effort, One Main Development constructed two new mixed-use buildings: One Main and M2 on Neil. The City of Champaign gave $3.7 million in tax incentives for the building of M2 and agreed to pay nearly $11 million for a new parking deck.^{[32][33][34][35]}

This growth in downtown Champaign coincided with the larger growth of the "north Prospect" shopping district on the city's northern boundary. The growth in the north Prospect area relied, in part, on leapfrogging, moving out to the countryside and developing more remote farmland that eventually connects to the main development. Given the overwhelming success of such suburban shopping areas nationally, new development within any city center represented an alternative to the dominant movement out and away from the cities.

TheChampaign City Buildingserves as the City Hall and is a recognizable landmark. The building replaces the original city building, which sat on the same site until 1937.

The historicVirginia Theatreis a restored 1463-seat movie theater which opened on December 28, 1921. It has an ornate, Spanish Renaissance-influenced interior, full stage and dressing rooms, and its original Wurlitzer pipe organ. It hostsEbertfest^[36]and has a single 56' x 23' screen. The theater does not have a daily show schedule, but schedules special screenings and live performances several times each month.

The Art Theater Co-op, which showed independent and foreign films, was built in 1913 as the Park Theatre. From 1969 to 1986, it showed adult films.^[37]Until October 2019, it was the only single-screen movie theater operating daily in Champaign-Urbana, and was the United States's first co-operatively owned art movie theater. It closed in October 2019.^[38][39]

Located along Green Street, this commercial district serves as the entertainment and retail center for students at the University of Illinois and citizens of theChampaign–Urbana metropolitan area. This area has been undergoing change since 2002 with the completion of a new $7 million streetscape project. Campustown is now attracting new retail and entertainment stores as well as serving as the center for new construction projects. Several new projects opened in 2008 including the 18-storyBurnham 310high-rise and grocery store at 4th and Springfield, and a new 24-story apartment building called 309 Green.^[40]

The newly renamed Tower at 3rd (formerly Champaign Hilton, Century 21, Quality Inn, University Inn, Presidential Tower) is located in the University District and is over twenty stories high. A hotel until 2001, it currently houses student apartments.^[41]

A new 14-story apartment complex was completed in 2014 at the intersection of 6th and Green streets (site of the former Gameday Spirit).^[42]A 12-story, mixed-use complex consisting of a hotel, apartments and parking was scheduled to be completed by August 2015. The mixed-use complex is reported to consist of two towers which will be connected by a skywalk. A 27-story apartment building is planned at 308 East Green Street.^[43]This high-rise is reported to have an automated parking vault which will be operated by an elevator.^[44]

• Orpheum Children's Science Museum.^[45]A hands on science museum for children. It closed in 2020.^[46]
• Krannert Art Museum.^[47]An Art Museum featuring both modern and classical art owned by theUniversity of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. It has 48,000 square feet (4,500 m²) of space devoted to all periods of art, from ancientEgyptianto contemporary photography.
• Champaign County Historical Museum.^[48]Located in the historicCattle Bankbuilt in 1858. Features exhibits on the history of the area and the Midwest as a whole.
• Champaign Public Library
• Urbana Free Library

TheUniversity of Illinois Urbana-Champaignfields ten men and eleven women varsity sports.

Illinois Fighting Illini

Team	Established	Big Ten ConferenceTitles	NCAA Postseason Appearances	National Titles	Venue	Opened	Capacity
Football	1890	15	17	5	Memorial Stadium	1923	60,670
Men's basketball	1905	17	30	1	State Farm Center	1963	15,500
Women's basketball	1974	1	8	0	State Farm Center	1963	15,500
Baseball	1879[49]	29	10	0	Illinois Field	1988	3,000
Women's volleyball	1974[50]	4	22	0	Huff Hall	1925	4,050
Men's gymnastics	1898[51]	24	44	10	Huff Hall	1925	4,050

Built from 1922 to 1923,Memorial Stadiumwas named in honor of the students and faculty members who died overseas during World War I. Since opening in 1923, Memorial Stadium has been home toIllinois Fighting Illini football. The stadium also was the temporary home of the NFL'sChicago Bearsfor the 2002 season while its regular venueSoldier Fieldwas being renovated.

Originally known as the Assembly Hall, theState Farm Centeris home to theIllinois Fighting Illini men's basketballandIllinois Fighting Illini women's basketballteams. It holds the annual Broadway Series, which features popular musicals.

During its history, the city has been home to several separate minor league baseball clubs. The first in 1889 was a shared club between Champaign andLogansport, Indiana, called the Logansport/Champaign-Urbana Clippers. The Clippers played for one season in theIllinois–Indiana Leaguebefore folding.^[52]The city hosted its second team, the Champaign-Urbana Velvets from 1911 to 1914 who played in theIllinois–Missouri Leagueuntil the league disbanded after 1914.^[53]The city's most recent minor league team was theChampaign-Urbana Banditswho played during the single 1994 season of theGreat Central League.^[54]The Bandits played atIllinois Field. Prior to holding postseason play, the league folded.

Twice Champaign was also home to aCollegiate Summer Baseball Leagueteam. The city's Champaign County Colts were a founding member of theCentral Illinois Collegiate Leaguefrom 1963 to 1964. In 1990 the Colts were revived as the Champaign-Urbana Colts until the team folded in 1996. The more recent club played its home games atIllinois Field.^[55]

In October 2014, theMidwest Professional Basketball Associationannounced the creation of theChampaign Swarmas one of its founding members, that began play at theDodds Athletic Centerin January 2015.

There are 60 parks, 11 trails, and 14 facilities within the city of Champaign, totaling over 654 acres (2.65 km²).^[56]

The city of Champaign is served byChampaign Unit 4 School District. Unit 4 administers bothChampaign Central High SchoolandChampaign Centennial High School.

Champaign is also served by threeprivatehigh schools. The largest of the three isSt. Thomas More High Schoolwhich is located on the city's far northwest side. The school opened in 2000 and is the newest charter of theRoman Catholic Diocese of Peoria.Judah Christian School, which is located just south ofI-74on Prospect Avenue, opened in 1983 and serves grades pre-kindergarten through 12. Academy High is a private, independent high school located in South Champaign which opened in 2017.^[57][58]The school is designed to be student-centered, highly collaborative, and project-based.

Located within Champaign are two institutions of higher education, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Parkland College. The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, located in the city's eastern side, is apublicland-grantresearch universityand theflagshipinstitution of theUniversity of Illinois system. It is one of thelargest public universities by enrollmentin the United States with over 50,000 students enrolled annually.^[59]Parkland College, located in northwestern Champaign, is part of theIllinois Community College Systemand enrolls approximately 9,000 students annually.

NOAA Weather Radio station WXJ76 transmits from Champaign and is licensed to NOAA's National Weather Service Central Illinois Weather Forecast Office at Lincoln, broadcasting on a frequency of 162.550 MHz (channel 7 on most newer weather radios, and most SAME weather radios). The station activates the SAME tone alarm feature and a 1050 Hz tone activating older radios (except for AMBER Alerts, using the SAME feature only) for hazardous weather and non-weather warnings and emergencies, along with selected weather watches, for the Illinois counties of Champaign, Coles, DeWitt, Douglas, Edgar, Ford, Moultrie, Piatt, and Vermillion. Weather permitting, a tone alarm test of both the SAME and 1050 Hz tone features are conducted every Wednesday between 11 am and Noon.

• 3WCIA,CBS
• 7 W07DD-D,Three Angels Broadcasting Network
• 12WILL-TV,PBS
• 15WICD"NewsChannel 15",ABC
• 17WAND,NBC
• 23WBUI,CW
• 27WCCU"Fox 55/27"
• 33W31EH-D,Trinity Broadcasting Network
• 44 WBXC-CA,MTV 2
• 49WCIX"My WCFN TV"MyNetworkTV
• 51WEIU,PBS

• The News-Gazette, daily local newspaper
• Daily Illini, campus newspaper
• The Booze News, former satirical campus newspaper, now calledThe Black Sheep
• Buzz Weekly, weekly entertainment magazine
• Prospectus News, Parkland College's independent student newspaper

Champaign is served byI-57,I-72,I-74, tworailroadlines, and the University of Illinois operatedWillard Airport(CMI).

Interstate 57enters in Champaign County after a diamond interchange with Curtis Road. It makes twoCloverleaf interchangeswithInterstate 72towardsDecatur, Illinois, and the second (soon to be changed)Cloverleaf interchangewithInterstate 74 in IllinoistoIndianapolis. After making the two major interchanges, it runs out of Champaign County with aPartial cloverleaf interchangewithU.S. Route 45toRantoul, Illinois. Interstate 74 starts withU.S. Route 150 in IllinoiswithMahomet, Illinois, it makes two total interchanges within the city's limits. After making those interchanges, it makes one interchange with Interstate 57. After making the main interchange it starts to make interchanges with the city's streets. Interstate 74 goes out of Champaign County withSt. Joseph, Illinois. Interstate 72 enters Champaign County with an interchange towards Monticello and north towards Mahomet after the main route that heads north crosses Interstate 74. Interstate 72 then heads into the cloverleaf interchange with Interstate 57 and then continues east for 1 1/2 to 2 miles eventually terminating itself at University Avenue on the southeast side of Champaign.

In 1999, a newly designedintermodaltransportation center, aptly namedIllinois Terminalby historic reference to the defunctelectric interurbanrail line that once ran through Champaign, was completed and serves as a central facility for intercity passenger rail, bus services as well as the MTD's local bus network.Danville Mass TransitandChampaign County Area Rural Transit System, which primarily provide transit services to Danville and Rantoul respectively, have connecting services to Illinois Terminal.

The local bus system, which is supported by the taxpayers of theChampaign–Urbana Mass Transit District(MTD) and the University of Illinois, serves Champaign, Urbana, Savoy, and surrounding areas. The C-U MTD has twice been named as the best local transit system in the United States.^[61]

C-CARTSprovides bus service connecting Champaign, Urbana and Rantoul.^[62]

Amtrakprovides service to Champaign–Urbana out ofIllinois Terminalby: Train 58/59, theCity of New Orleans; Train 390/391, theSaluki; and Train 392/393, theIllini.

The formerIllinois Central Railroadline—now part of theCanadian National Railwaysystem—runs north to south through the city. A spur line from the Canadian National line provides service to several large industries, including two large food processing plants, on the west edge of Champaign and two grain elevators in outlying communities to the west.Norfolk Southern Railwayoperates an east-to-west line through Champaign, connecting eastern Urbana to the Norfolk Southern main line atMansfield, Illinois, along the formerPeoria & Eastern Railway.

Greyhound Lines,Peoria Charter Coach Company, andBurlington Trailwaysprovide intercity bus service to Champaign.^[63]Lincoln Land Express, a Champaign-based bus service, shut down in 2013.^[64]

Champaign is served byWillard Airport(CMI) which is operated by theUniversity of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The airport is currently served byAmerican Eagleoffering daily flights toChicago O'Hare International AirportandDallas/Fort Worth International Airport. It was formerly home to theUniversity of Illinois Institute of Aviation, which was established in 1945 and absorbed by Parkland College in 2014.

• Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area
• Triaxial Earthquake and Shock Simulator, experimental device located in Champaign.

• City of Champaign Web Site
• Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Champaign".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 5 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 828.
• Early History of Champaign