Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
For a city of 181,505, Aurora does well: it grades B, ranked 422nd of 767 in Illinois. It is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 88% of U.S. towns. The trade-off: homes are expensive, about $323K for a typical one and 3.6 times the Chicago metro’s $91K median household income. Its National Register listings include Keystone Building and Paramount Theatre. 11% of residents are 65 or older in Aurora, below both the Illinois town median (19%) and the median of U.S. towns (18%). Aurora is home to Aurora University.
Where Aurora beats most towns.
Sam and Ruth Van Sickle Ford House is a National Historic Landmark, the National Register’s top tier. Its 29 National Register listings are more than in 98% of Illinois towns with a listing.
Census counts: 1,200 in 1850, 180,542 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1864 and 6 maps from 1932 on.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Illinois), ordered by how far Aurora is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Aurora. Close and well known come first.
Big draw35 mi Stadium & arenaSoldier Field
Big draw35 mi Stadium & arenaWrigley Field
Big draw36 mi MuseumBarack Obama Presidential Center
Big draw34 mi Stadium & arenaRate Field
Big draw33 mi Stadium & arenaUnited Center
Big draw35 mi MuseumArt Institute of Chicago1.5M visitors a yearSoldier Field: Photo by Joon Han Contact: [email protected], CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wrigley Field: Ryan Dickey, CC BY 2.0 · Barack Obama Presidential Center: AlphaBeta135, CC0 · Rate Field: User Enoch Lai on en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 · United Center: User:JeremyA, CC BY-SA 2.5 · Art Institute of Chicago: ajay_suresh, CC BY 2.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Aurora, 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 Aurora.
Aurora reports more crime than Montgomery and its other graded neighbors, but it has a long record of flood insurance claims.
36 miles of trail in 119 parks and preserves. The trail density in Aurora is 0.8 miles per square mile. Oakhurst Forest Preserve, at 409 acres with 7.1 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Oakhurst Forest Preserve | 7.1 mi | 409 |
| 2. Phillips Park | 2.4 mi | 234 |
| 3. Culver Forest Preserve | 1 mi | 96 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Most working residents leave Aurora for work: only 16% work in town. The top destinations are Chicago (13%), Naperville (9%) and Batavia (3%).
| Aurora | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 16% | 8.3% | 8% |
| Work from home | 16% | 11% | 11% |
| Median household income | $94,000 | $83,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 27 minutes | 26 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Aurora has chilly winters and warm summers. July afternoons reach 84°, January nights drop to 15° and about 28 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Aurora beats the Illinois average on 7 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 11. 15% of Aurora adults 18 to 64 have no health insurance.
| Aurora | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 7.9% | 8.1% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 35% | 35% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 75% | 78% | 79% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 13% | 14% |
| What stands out | Aurora | IL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 5.4% | 7.6% |
| Fewer adults with COPD | 5.1% | 6.3% |
| More uninsured adults | 15.2% | 9.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
207 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 13 properties have flooded more than once.
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 65% of U.S. communities. Since 1978, 207 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Aurora.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
People 65 and older are 11% of residents (17% statewide). Aurora’s median age is 35.2 years. 39% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 38% across Illinois.
| Aurora | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 35.2 years | 40.7 years | 40.5 years |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 39% | 29% | 29% |
| Under 18 | 25% | 22% | 22% |
50.2% women, 49.8% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±0.6 points. Across Illinois, 50.6% of residents are women. Median age: women 36.3, men 33.9.
| Aurora | IL | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 12.7% | 11.5% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 12.5% | 10.4% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 10.6% | 9.1% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 14% | 13.6% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 14.6% | 13.3% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 14.3% | 12.4% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 10.2% | 12.8% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 7.1% | 10% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 3.9% | 7% | 7% |
| No diploma | 16.9% | 9.5% | 10.4% |
| High school | 20.7% | 25.1% | 26% |
| Some college | 17.6% | 19.2% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 6.2% | 8.3% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 23.7% | 22.6% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 14.8% | 15.3% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Each of the 6 graded towns on its borders reports less crime per resident, from Montgomery (B) to Sugar Grove (A). Reported crimes fell from 2,482 to 2,342 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
The typical Aurora home is worth about $323,000, up 3.3% in a year, 9% above the Illinois typical home. 66% of households own their home in Aurora.
| Aurora | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,596 a month | $1,128 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 66% | 75% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
8 within 15 miles of the center of Aurora
About 7 of every 100 Aurora residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Illinois.
29 places in Aurora on the National Register of Historic Places.
49 notable people were born in Aurora.
City in Illinois, United States
Aurora is a city in northeastern Illinois, United States, located along the Fox River. The population was 180,542 at the 2020 census. It is the second-most populous city in Illinois, after Chicago, and the 144th-most populous city in the US. Aurora is the most populous city in Illinois that is not a county seat. Founded within Kane County, Aurora's city limits have expanded into DuPage, Kendall, and Will counties. Once a mid-sized manufacturing city, Aurora has grown since the 1960s into a large city within the Chicago metropolitan area. In 1908, Aurora adopted the nickname "City of Lights", because in 1881 it was one of the first cities in the United States to implement an all-electric str…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
9 towns share a border with Aurora.
| Town | IL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aurora | #422 | B | C− | C+ | B+ | B |
| Montgomery | #480 | B− | D | B | B | B+ |
| North Aurora | #406 | B | C− | — | C+ | A |
| Naperville | #46 | A+ | D | B+ | A | A+ |
| Warrenville | #164 | A | C− | A− | A− | A− |
| Sugar Grove | #182 | A− | C− | A | B+ | A |
| Batavia | #97 | A | C− | B+ | A− | A |
| Oswego | #177 | A− | D | A− | B+ | A− |
North Aurora reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Aurora with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Aurora grades B overall, better than 58% of U.S. towns and #422 of 767 in Illinois. It grades B for health, C+ 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−.
49 notable people were born here, including Clive Cussler and Paul Scheuring.
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