Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 30,824, settled in 1847.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Algonquin grades A− overall, 186th of 767 graded towns in Illinois. The median household earns $135K. It is healthier than 88% of U.S. towns. The catch is cost: the typical home is worth about $414K, 4.6 years of the Chicago metro’s $91K median household income. Christian Geister House is on the National Register of Historic Places. Algonquin is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 70% of U.S. towns. The biggest park or preserve is Algonquin Lakes School and Park, at 36 acres.
Where Algonquin beats most towns.
| Widest gap | Algonquin | IL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 9.8% | 15.9% |
Where Algonquin’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Illinois), ordered by how far Algonquin is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 286 in 1880, 29,700 in 2020. The archive holds 13 old photos and papers going back to 1910 and 6 maps from 1925 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Algonquin. Close and well known come first.
Big draw37 mi Stadium & arenaWrigley Field
Big draw25 mi Theme parkSix Flags Great America3.0M visitors a year
Big draw38 mi Stadium & arenaUnited Center
25 mi Stadium & arenaAllstate Arena
12 mi MuseumIllinois Railway Museum
24 mi MuseumMcDonald's #1 Store MuseumWrigley Field: Ryan Dickey, CC BY 2.0 · Six Flags Great America: Feather Better, CC BY 4.0 · United Center: User:JeremyA, CC BY-SA 2.5 · Allstate Arena: Nkon21, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Illinois Railway Museum: The original uploader was Slambo at English Wikipedia., CC BY-SA 2.0 · McDonald's #1 Store Museum: Bruce Marlin, CC BY-SA 2.5
Who provides power, water and the rest in Algonquin, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Sep 12, 2025.
Ordered by what stands out in Algonquin.
Algonquin carries less natural-hazard risk than nearly all of Illinois (mostly inland flooding) and has less food insecurity than most of Illinois, but it reports more crime than Carpentersville and its other graded neighbors.
Its widest gap with Illinois is food insecurity: 9.8% of its 23,127 adults worry about having enough food, against 15.9% statewide. Against the 4,098 U.S. towns with household incomes like Algonquin’s, it is healthier than 63%, a smaller edge than it has nationally: part of it comes with its incomes.
32% of Algonquin adults sleep under 7 hours, where Illinois’ towns sit at 35% and U.S. towns at 36%. 11% of adults report frequent physical distress in Algonquin. Algonquin beats the Illinois average on 13 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 0.
| Algonquin | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 32% | 35% | 36% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 11% | 13% | 14% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 18% | 16% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 37% | 35% |
| What stands out | Algonquin | IL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 9.8% | 15.9% |
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 6.4% | 10.3% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
The median property tax bill is $8,025, against $5,298 across Illinois, another input to its cost-of-living grade.
At $1,723 a month, Algonquin’s median rent is above both the Illinois town median ($1,128 a month) and the median of U.S. towns ($1,185 a month). The typical Algonquin home is worth about $414,000, up 4.4% in a year, 40% above the Illinois typical home.
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk lower than 92% of Illinois towns, with expected losses of about $270 per resident a year; that rating is what its B+ for hazard risk is built on.
Algonquin’s FEMA risk score is 18 of 100. Since 1978, 48 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Algonquin.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
4.3 miles of trail in 22 parks and preserves.
| Algonquin | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 8% | 3.6% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.3 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Hill Climb Park | 0.4 mi | 15 |
| 2. Algonquin Lakes School and Park | — | 36 |
| 3. High Hill Park | — | 29 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Most working residents leave Algonquin for work: only 4% work in town. 23% of Algonquin workers work from home. The top destinations are Chicago (12%), Elgin (7%) and Schaumburg (6%).
| Algonquin | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 23% | 11% | 11% |
| Median household income | $135,000 | $83,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 31 minutes | 26 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 4.1% | 8.4% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Algonquin is safe by national standards, yet each of the 4 graded towns on its borders reports less crime per resident, from Carpentersville (B+) to Lake in the Hills (A). Violent crime is rare: 14 reported in 2025, 0.5 per 1,000 residents.
The violent crime rate in Algonquin is 0.5 per 1,000 residents.
| Algonquin | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.5 per 1,000 residents | 1 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 9.3 per 1,000 residents | 7.9 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Algonquin has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 83°, January nights drop to 14° and about 32 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The median household earns $134,525, against $83,390 across Illinois, one input to its A for jobs and income.
Adults 35 to 64 are 43% of residents (39% statewide). Algonquin has grown 3.8% since 2020, to 30,824 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. 44% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 38% across Illinois.
| Algonquin | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 44% | 29% | 29% |
| Aged 65 or older | 15% | 19% | 18% |
| Under 18 | 21% | 22% | 22% |
50% women, 50% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±1.4 points. Across Illinois, 50.6% of residents are women. Median age: women 41.8, men 41.0.
| Algonquin | IL | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 11.6% | 11.5% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 9.2% | 10.4% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 8.6% | 9.1% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 12.7% | 13.6% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 11.8% | 13.3% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 13% | 12.4% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 18.1% | 12.8% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 8.2% | 10% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 6.8% | 7% | 7% |
| No diploma | 4.3% | 9.5% | 10.4% |
| High school | 19.3% | 25.1% | 26% |
| Some college | 20.9% | 19.2% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 11.9% | 8.3% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 27.3% | 22.6% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 16.3% | 15.3% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
5 within 15 miles of the center of Algonquin
About 7 of every 100 Algonquin residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Illinois.
3 notable people were born in Algonquin.
Village in Illinois, United States
Algonquin is a village in McHenry and Kane counties, Illinois, United States. It is a suburb of Chicago located approximately 40 miles (64 km) northwest of the Loop. The population was 29,700 as of the 2020 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
7 towns share a border with Algonquin.
| Town | IL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Algonquin | #186 | A− | C− | B+ | B+ | A |
| Lake in the Hills | #180 | A− | C− | A | B+ | A |
| Cary | #79 | A | C− | A | A− | A |
| Carpentersville | #309 | B+ | C+ | B+ | B+ | B− |
| Barrington Hills | #77 | A | D− | A | A | A |
| Rutland Township | #352 | B+ | D | — | A− | A |
| Grafton Township | #260 | A− | C− | — | A− | A− |
| Dundee Township | #270 | A− | C− | — | B+ | A− |
Rutland Township, Grafton Township and Dundee Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Algonquin with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Algonquin grades A− overall, better than 84% of U.S. towns and #186 of 767 in Illinois. It grades A for health, B+ for safety and B+ for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a C−.
Yes. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C−.
3 notable people were born here, including Evan Jager and Cameron Krutwig.
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