BlockBefore

Rantoul, Illinois

16 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1924 and the latest in 1990. It stands in Rantoul Township. It lies in ZIP code area 61866. The Survey maps it on the Rantoul quadrangle. 12,371 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 745 feet above sea level.

Rantoul within Champaign County

On record in Rantoul

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 1 record

Population over time

2 figures

Rantoul fell from 12,941 to 12,371 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
201012,941
202012,371-570 (-4%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

10 surveys from 16 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Fires near this place

1 since 2014

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 1 fire within 5 miles of Rantoul in 2014, burning about 50 acres in total. None started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
22 April 2014Missing data/not specified/undetermined50 acresIllinois Division of Forestry Resources77

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Champaign County

Mines and quarries near this place

1 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Rantoul: 1 producer. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Rantoul PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Champaign County

Storms near this place

29 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Rantoul in 29 storm reports between 1997 and 2026: 15 thunderstorm wind, 9 hail, 4 flash flood, 1 tornado. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
June 2016Thunderstorm WindRantoul$95,000Numerous trees were blown down around Rantoul, including one that fell on a parked car. A storage unit was damaged and a construction site mobile home trailer was overturned. The roof was damaged at the Rantoul Airport hangar.
May 2018Thunderstorm WindRantoul$25,000Several power lines were blown down.
May 2012Thunderstorm WindRantoul$12,000Power lines were blown down in Rantoul. In addition, an SUV window was broken.
December 2008Thunderstorm WindRantoul$12,000Numerous trees and tree branches were blown down.
July 2025Flash FloodRantoul-The US-136 underpass in Rantoul flooded and the road was closed.
May 2024Flash FloodRantoul-Streets and roads were flooded resulting in road closures. This report was from mPING.
May 2024Thunderstorm WindRantoul-A few trees were blown down.
June 2024Thunderstorm WindRantoul-A large tree branch was blown down.
June 2021Thunderstorm WindRantoul-An 8-inch diameter tree branch was snapped.
June 2021Thunderstorm WindRantoul-A few tree branches were blown down and shingles were stripped off a roof.
September 2021Thunderstorm WindRantoul-Power lines were blown down between Rantoul and Gifford.
July 2020Flash FloodRantoul-Numerous roads were covered with water and impassable in Rantoul. Up to 4 feet of water flowed across some roads.
June 2019Thunderstorm WindRantoul-Several tree branches were blown down in Rantoul.
June 2017Thunderstorm WindRantoul-Numerous trees, tree branches, and power lines were blown down across Rantoul.
July 2006Flash FloodRantoul-U.S. Highway 136 underpass was flooded and impassible. Also, 3 to 4 inches of standing water was on several side streets.
July 2003Thunderstorm WindRantoul-Several large trees were either blown down or snapped off. Also, numerous tree limbs and power lines were blown down.
May 2003Tornado (F0)Rantoul-A tornado briefly touched down in a field. No damage or injuries were reported.
August 2001HailRantoul-Hail up to one inch in diameter fell in a swath from 2 miles north of Rantoul to 2 miles northeast of Rantoul. It covered the ground at the Brookhill Golf Course. Also, several homes sustained siding damage due to the hail.
August 2001Thunderstorm WindRantoul-Several large trees were blown down.
April 2000Thunderstorm WindRantoul-In Rantoul, thunderstorms winds blew out the windows on a business and damaged the roof. Six blocks to the east of the business, four houses sustained roof damage and a large rotten tree was blown over.
July 1998Thunderstorm WindRantoul-Thunderstorm winds blew down numerous tree limbs and power lines in Rantoul.
February 2026HailRantoul-no account filed
March 2023HailRantoul-no account filed
May 2019HailRantoul-no account filed
November 2011HailRantoul-no account filed
June 2008HailRantoul-no account filed
August 2003HailRantoul-no account filed
April 2001HailRantoul-no account filed
April 1997HailRantoul-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Champaign County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Prospect3.1 miles16
Dillsburg4.1 miles16
Tomlinson4.2 miles16
Thomasboro4.8 miles23
Ludlow5.6 miles16
Dewey6.7 miles14
Flatville7.0 miles20
Gifford7.1 miles16

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on RantoulAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1025637The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 416392. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.