Sesser, Illinois

In summer 1904, when coal was discovered at today's Sesser, the area was a prairie covered with wheat and corn fields. By 1906, the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad had extended its lines south from Centralia to Sesser, and the new town was named after railroad surveyor John Sesser. The first mine in Sesser, the Keller Mine, was sunk in 1905–1906. Subsidence resulting from longwall mining at the Old Ben No. 21 mine, by Old Ben Coal Company, was a concern for some local homeowners in the 1980s. The No. 21 mine, opened in 1952, was idled in 1991. ==Geography==

According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Sesser has a total area of , of which (or 99.90%) is land and (or 0.10%) is water. ==Demographics==

2020 census As of the 2020 census, there were 1,888 people, 845 households, and 485 families residing in the city. The population density was , and there were 932 housing units at an average density of . Of the 845 households, 26.4% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 42.7% were married-couple households, 21.9% had a male householder with no spouse or partner present, and 29.5% had a female householder with no spouse or partner present. About 36.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 18.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. Of the 932 housing units, 9.3% were vacant. The homeowner vacancy rate was 3.0% and the rental vacancy rate was 4.6%. Income and poverty The median income for a household in the city was $54,375, and the median income for a family was $66,875. Males had a median income of $42,917 versus $32,875 for females. The per capita income for the city was $24,785. About 4.7% of families and 5.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.9% of those under age 18 and 6.8% of those age 65 or over. ==References==