Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 7,588. Public schools that outperform most of Illinois.
Ball Township is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades A overall, 145th among Illinois's 767 graded towns, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is incomes: the median household earns $141K. It also does better than most on schools: its schools rank ahead of 75% of Illinois towns. A typical home there costs about $299K, 3.9 years of the Springfield metro’s $76K median household income. 33% of residents are under 18 in Ball Township, against 22% in Illinois’ towns and 22% across U.S. towns. Route 66 South of Lake Springfield is on the National Register of Historic Places. Among 768 Illinois towns, just 10 have a higher share of households owning their home than Ball Township.
Where Ball Township beats most towns.
6,701 counted in 2010 and 7,520 in 2020; an estimated 7,588 in 2025.
Growth has leveled off: within 1% of 2020, after 12.2% in the decade before.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts · Census Bureau estimate, July 1, 2025
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Illinois), ordered by how far Ball Township is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The archive holds 2 old photos and papers going back to 2023 and 4 maps from 1922 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Explore the history →Who provides power, water and the rest in Ball Township, 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 Ball Township.
Ball Township has less no health insurance than most of Illinois, sends most of its workers to Springfield and beyond and has household incomes well above the Illinois norm.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Glenwood Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 7–8 | Grades 7–8 | 735 | B |
| Glenwood High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,484 | A− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within IL on state tests and graduation
Ball Township has 474 jobs for its 3,387 working residents: even if every job went to a resident, most would still commute out.
1.5% of Ball Township residents live below the poverty line. Jobs based in Ball Township fell to 474 in 2023, 49 fewer than in 2013. 1.4% of Ball Township working residents work locally.
| Ball Township | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $141,000 | $83,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 1.5% | 8.4% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 1.4% | 8.4% | 8% |
| Work from home | 15% | 11% | 11% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Its widest gap with Illinois is no health insurance: 5.9% of those 18–64 have no health insurance, against 9.9% statewide. Against the 3,497 U.S. towns with household incomes like Ball Township’s, it is less healthy than 75%: its national edge comes with its incomes.
Ball Township beats the Illinois average on 7 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 1. 19% of adults binge drink in Ball Township.
| Ball Township | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 18% | 16% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 23% | 25% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 18% | 19% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 10% | 13% | 14% |
| What stands out | Ball Township | IL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 5.9% | 9.9% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 10.1% | 15.9% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 9.3% | 7.6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Ball Township has chilly winters and warm summers. July afternoons reach 86°, January nights drop to 20° and about 14 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 53% of U.S. communities. Since 1979, 5 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Ball Township.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
0.4 miles of trail in 6 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Chatham Community Park, at 34 acres.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Chatham Community Park | — | 34 |
| 2. Spartan Sports Park | — | 24 |
| 3. Covered Bridge Park | — | 9 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Ball Township. Close and well known come first.
Big draw11 mi LandmarkLincoln Tomb
10 mi National Historic SiteLincoln Home National Historic Site124K visitors a year10 mi National MonumentSpringfield 1908 Race Riot National Monument
10 mi MuseumOld State Capitol State Historic Site
24 mi MuseumLincoln's New Salem
6 mi Zoo & aquariumHenson Robinson ZooLincoln Tomb: David Jones, CC BY-SA 2.5 · Lincoln Home National Historic Site: Daniel Schwen, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Old State Capitol State Historic Site: Shadow2700 at en.wikipedia, Public domain · Lincoln's New Salem: Unknown, CC BY-SA 2.5 · Henson Robinson Zoo: Robert Lawton, CC BY-SA 2.5
3 within 15 miles of the center of Ball Township
About 2 of every 100 Ball Township residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Illinois.
Where Ball Township’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Township in Illinois, United States
Ball Township is located in Sangamon County, Illinois. As of the 2010 census, its population was 6,701 and it contained 2,403 housing units. The township's offices are located in Glenarm. Portions of the village of Chatham are located in this township. Portions of Lake Springfield are also located in the township, including the former site of the flooded town of Cotton Hill.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
5 towns share a border with Ball Township.
| Town | IL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ball Township | #145 | A | B− | — | A− | B+ |
| Capital Township | #580 | C | B | — | C− | B− |
| Springfield | #702 | D | B | D− | C− | C+ |
| Chatham | #92 | A | C+ | B+ | A− | A |
| Chatham Township | #167 | A | B− | — | B+ | A− |
| Divernon Township | — | — | B+ | — | B− | B− |
Divernon Township has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Ball Township, Capital Township, Chatham Township and Divernon Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Ball Township with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Ball Township grades A overall, better than 88% of U.S. towns and #145 of 767 in Illinois. It grades B+ for health and A− for schools.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B−.
