Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 18,769.
Benton Township's standout: it has 22 miles of trail and 29% conserved land. Overall it grades C−, 643rd of 767 graded towns in Illinois. Natural-hazard risk is low. Its weakest subject is schools: its schools rank behind 82% of the state's. 29% of the land in Benton Township is conserved, where Illinois’ towns sit at 3.6% and U.S. towns at 4.3%. Only 22 of Illinois’ 1,240 towns score lower on civic life. North Point Marina, at 432 acres with 5.7 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve.
Where Benton Township beats most towns.
28.9% of the town is conserved land, across 10 parks and preserves.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Illinois), ordered by how far Benton Township is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The archive holds 2 old photos and papers going back to 1885 and 5 maps from 1906 on.
Explore the history →Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Benton Township. Close and well known come first.
Big draw6 mi Theme parkSix Flags Great America3.0M visitors a year
Big draw35 mi Stadium & arenaWrigley Field
Big draw39 mi Stadium & arenaUnited Center
30 mi Stadium & arenaAllstate Arena
38 mi TheatreSteppenwolf Theatre Company
27 mi MuseumMcDonald's #1 Store MuseumSix Flags Great America: Feather Better, CC BY 4.0 · Wrigley Field: Ryan Dickey, CC BY 2.0 · United Center: User:JeremyA, CC BY-SA 2.5 · Allstate Arena: Nkon21, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Steppenwolf Theatre Company: victorgrigas, CC BY-SA 3.0 · McDonald's #1 Store Museum: Bruce Marlin, CC BY-SA 2.5
Who provides power, water and the rest in Benton 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 Benton Township.
Benton Township carries less natural-hazard risk than nearly all of Illinois (mostly inland flooding), is one of Illinois’s best towns for the outdoors and sends most of its workers to Waukegan and beyond.
Its A+ for the outdoors ranks #3 of 768 in Illinois.
22 miles of trail in 10 parks and preserves. Benton Township’s trail density is 1.5 miles per square mile, against 0.3 in Illinois’ towns and 0.4 across U.S. towns.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Adeline Jay Geo-Karis Illinois Beach State Park | 6.6 mi | 1,043 |
| 2. North Point Marina | 5.7 mi | 432 |
| 3. Founders Park | 0.6 mi | 15 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its public schools are run by Beach Park CCSD 3. Two of its 8 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beach Park Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 715 | C |
| Affirm Leadership Christian Academy PrivateLargest high schoolGrades PK–10 | Grades PK–10 | 27 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within IL on state tests and graduation
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk lower than 98% of Illinois towns, with expected losses of about $249 per resident a year; that rating is what its A for hazard risk is built on.
Benton Township’s FEMA risk score is 10 of 100. Since 1979, 20 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Benton Township.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Benton Township has 1,894 jobs for its 7,735 working residents: even if every job went to a resident, most would still commute out. Jobs based here grew from 1,397 in 2013 to 1,894.
Most working residents leave Benton Township for work: only 4% work in town. Jobs based in Benton Township grew to 1,894 in 2023, 497 more than in 2013. The average trip to work in Benton Township is 29 minutes.
| Benton Township | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 29 minutes | 26 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 3.9% | 8.4% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Only 4 of the 768 Illinois towns we compare have a lower July high than Benton Township. Benton Township has chilly, snowy winters and pleasant summers.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Benton Township beats the Illinois average on 1 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 10. 14% of adults 18 to 64 have no health insurance in Benton Township.
| Benton Township | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 7.9% | 8.1% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 21% | 13% | 14% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 18% | 16% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 22% | 23% |
| What stands out | Benton Township | IL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer binge drinkers | 15% | 17.8% |
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 14.1% | 10.3% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
8 within 15 miles of the center of Benton Township
About 5 of every 100 Benton Township residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Illinois.
Where Benton Township’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Township in Illinois, United States
Benton Township is a township in Lake County, Illinois, United States, and includes all of the village of Winthrop Harbor, most of the village of Beach Park, and small portions of the cities of Zion and Waukegan. As of the 2020 census, its population was 19,082. Zion Township was formed from Benton Township on September 12, 1930.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
8 towns share a border with Benton Township.
| Town | IL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Benton Township | #643 | C− | C | — | C− | C+ |
| Zion · Zion Township | #698 | D | C+ | C | D | C |
| Beach Park | #606 | C | C+ | — | D | B− |
| Winthrop Harbor | #553 | C+ | C | — | C | B |
| Wadsworth | #499 | B− | C | — | C | A |
| Newport Township | #443 | B | C− | — | B | B+ |
| Waukegan Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Benton Township, Beach Park, Winthrop Harbor, Wadsworth and Newport Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Waukegan Township isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Zion Township and Zion are one community, graded once. Compare Benton Township with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Benton Township grades C− overall, better than 22% of U.S. towns and #643 of 767 in Illinois. It grades C+ for health and C− for schools. Schools is its weak spot, with a C−.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C.
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