red caboose sits at the entrance of the park. Media Newspapers Benton and surrounding areas are served by two weekly local newspapers, The Benton News and The Benton Gazette. Other newspapers such as The Southern Illinoisan serve Benton and much wider areas surrounding it. Television news Benton does not have any news channels broadcast from the city. Many news channels still do serve the Benton, Illinois area. WSIL (channel 3), KFVS (channel 12), and Fox 23 (channel 23) are among the most popular channels that provide some local news for Benton. Internet access Benton has multiple Internet Service Providers that provide Broadband internet. There are nine total internet service providers available for residential usage. Six of the internet service providers can offer broadband speeds (download of 25 Mbit/s). Three offer speeds that higher than 100 Mbit/s. The fastest internet service available is offered by NewWave at top speeds of 200Mbit/s. Between all service providers with Broadband speeds they offer: DSL, cable, fixed wireless, and satellite internet. Demographics As of the census of 2000, there were 6,880 people, 2,938 households, and 1,824 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 3,270 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 98.72% White, 0.29% African American, 0.15% Native American, 0.28% Asian, 0.06% from other races, and 0.51% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.51% of the population. There were 2,938 households, out of which 26.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.7% were married couples living together, 11.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.9% were non-families. 33.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 18.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.24 and the average family size was 2.86. In the city, the population was spread out, with 22.0% under the age of 18, 7.8% from 18 to 24, 24.7% from 25 to 44, 23.0% from 45 to 64, and 22.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females, there were 86.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 80.8 males. The median income for a household in the city was $44,795, and the median income for a family was $35,339.