the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA) used the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) to purchase 17 homes in two phases from 1995 to 2000. IEMA noted that when another flood occurred in June 2008, the 17 properties purchased would have again been flooded had they not been purchased and demolished. Additional plans were also made to purchase more flood prone properties after the 2008 flood. After flooding in April 2013, FEMA again provided funding to purchase and demolish eight more homes and one public building in Villa Grove under HMGP. These improvements have minimized the amount of area impacted by flooding. In 2021, a new bridge was built on Illinois Route 130 over the river. The new bridge is at a higher elevation and allows for better drainage. These improvements have resulted in significantly less flooding in the area in recent years. Local Economy Villa Grove is situated far enough from Champaign-Urbana that it can support several restaurants and businesses. The city currently supports several restaurants, bars, two gas stations, two grocery stores, and a nine-hole golf course and country club. There are several parks that provide various playing fields and the city will be building a new community center in the near future. City Services The City of Villa Grove maintains a full-time administrative staff, public works department, police department, and a paid on-call fire department. The city recently sold its water and sewer utilities to Illinois American Water. Geography Villa Grove is located at (39.863667, -88.159579). According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Villa Grove has a total area of , of which (or 99.54%) is land and (or 0.46%) is water. Demographics As of the 2020 census there were 2,472 people, 992 households, and 621 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 1,101 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 92.03% White, 0.65% African American, 0.36% Native American, 0.24% Asian, 0.08% Pacific Islander, 1.05% from other races, and 5.58% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.16% of the population. There were 992 households, out of which 39.82% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.10% were married couples living together, 7.16% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.40% were non-families. 28.43% of all households were made up of individuals, and 15.93% had