Sterling, IL -- U.S. city in Illinois Population (2000): 15451 Housing Units (2000): 6596 Land area (2000): 4.672171 sq. miles (12.100868 sq. km) Water area (2000): 0.188128 sq. miles (0.487249 sq. km) Total area (2000): 4.860299 sq. miles (12.588117 sq. km) FIPS code: 72546 Located within: Illinois (IL), FIPS 17 Location: 41.796805 N, 89.693258 W ZIP Codes (1990): 61081 Note: some ZIP codes may be omitted esp. for suburbs. Headwords: Sterling, IL Sterling