Brighton is located at . According to the 2010 census, Brighton has a total area of, of which is land and is water.
History
Brighton is a small community that dates back to the early 19th century, when settlers began the transformation of the Illinois prairie into productive farmland. The village was named after Brighton, Massachusetts. A post office was opened in 1837, and the village was incorporated in 1869. Brighton is also noted for its five star historic museum. Brighton currently has two restaurants, zero grocery stores and one traffic signal. It straddles two counties, so that part of the village is in Macoupin County, and a smaller part is in Jersey County. Also, some rural residents of Madison County have Brighton mailing addresses. The village is fairly small, located nearly ten miles away and has a rural feel to it.
Demographics
As of the census of 2010, there were 2,254 people. The population density was 1,364.2 people per square mile. There were 855 housing units at an average density of 531.2 per square mile. The racial makeup of the village was 98.41% White, 0.05% African American, 0.05% Native American, 0.46% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 0.14% from other races, and 0.87% from two or more races. 1.09% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. There were 816 households, of which 38.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 61.9% were married couples living together, 9.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.4% were non-families. 22.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.61 and the average family size was 3.06. In the village, the age distribution of the population shows 26.6% under the age of 18, 8.4% from 18 to 24, 28.4% from 25 to 44, 22.1% from 45 to 64, and 14.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 93.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.0 males. The median income for a household in the village was $38,750, and the median income for a family was $43,167. Males had a median income of $37,150 versus $23,616 for females. The per capita income for the village was $16,453. 6.5% of the population and 6.8% of families were below the poverty line. Of the total population, 7.7% of those under the age of 18 and 8.2% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.
Brighton is also noted for its Burgoo soup, which is served at the Betsey Ann Picnic, the annual homecoming event for the community.
Around the center of the village, there was an old American Civil War prisoner of war camp that was controlled by the Union.
The set of a train station at Brighton was depicted in Meredith Willson's The Music Man movie musical from 1962 in the opening scene where some of the residents are chasing a salesman onto the train. In the widescreen version, to the far right-side of the screen you can see a sign with the name "Brighton, Illinois". Wilson included this in the story to honor his mother, who was a native of the village.
