Bradley is a principal city of the Kankakee–Bradley Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Kankakee County.

The county is also part of the larger Chicago–Naperville–Michigan City, IL-IN-WI Combined Statistical Area.

[citation needed] At the 2000 census there were 12,784 people, 5,041 households, and 3,382 families living in the village.

CSL Behring operates a large manufacturing plant near the southern portions of the village.

In 2018 it was announced that the existing plant was to undergo a massive expansion that could possibly take up to twelve years to complete.

The company bought up land to the south of the existing facility that previously housed a cooking oils plant operated by Bunge Limited, and plans to build upon that open space as a part of the large upgrade.

The project is expected to create over 200 jobs and is accruing about 450 million dollars in construction expenses.

River Valley Metro provides bus service on multiple routes connecting Bradley to destinations in the Kankakee area.