Bourbon TownshipIL
A town of 4,173, settled in 1853. Public schools that outperform most of Illinois.
Is Bourbon Township a good place to live?
Bourbon Township gives you more for your money than most places: a typical home costs about $187K, 2.4 years of the county’s $77K median household income. It grades B+ overall, ranked 327th of 767 in Illinois. The low prices come with trade-offs. FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 85% of U.S. communities, with inland flooding at the top. 37% of working residents work locally in Bourbon Township, where Illinois’ towns sit at 8.3% and U.S. towns at 8%. Only 8 of the 768 Illinois towns we compare have a higher share of children under 18 than Bourbon Township. Bourbon Township is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 69% of U.S. towns.
What makes Bourbon Township stand out
Where Bourbon Township beats most towns.
Every workday, about 1,984 people come to Bourbon Township for work
Where Bourbon Township’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
How Bourbon Township grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Illinois), ordered by how far Bourbon Township is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Bourbon Township: who provides what
Who provides power, water and the rest in Bourbon 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.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Bourbon Township.
Bourbon Township draws workers from Arthur and beyond, but it carries more natural-hazard risk than most of Illinois (mostly inland flooding).
About one in three working residents works right in Bourbon Township
2,626 jobs are based in Bourbon Township, 1.5 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in. The average commute takes 16.4 minutes, against 27.8 across Illinois.
About one in 3 of Bourbon Township’s working residents works in town. Bourbon Township’s average trip to work is 16 minutes. Jobs based in Bourbon Township grew to 2,626 in 2023, 1,013 more than in 2013.
| Bourbon Township | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 16 minutes | 26 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 13% | 8.4% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $77,000 | $83,000 | $80,000 |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Public schools in Bourbon Township beat 70% of Illinois districts
Its public schools are run by Arthur CUSD 305. Two of its 7 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Arthur-Lovington-Atwood-Hammond, with 310 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arthur Grade SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–8 | Grades PK–8 | 258 | A− |
| Arthur-Lovington-Atwood-HammondLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 310 | B |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within IL on state tests and graduation
Very high risk in Bourbon Township, with inland flooding at the top
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 96% of Illinois towns; that rating is what its D for hazard risk is built on.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
On CDC estimates, Bourbon Township is less healthy than 68% of U.S. towns
Bourbon Township beats the Illinois average on 0 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 13. 36% of adults feel lonely in Bourbon Township.
| Bourbon Township | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 36% | 33% | 33% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 13% | 14% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 13% | 14% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 17% | 17% |
| What stands out | Bourbon Township | IL |
|---|---|---|
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 16.9% | 10.3% |
| More adults with COPD | 8.9% | 6.3% |
| More smokers | 16.4% | 12.1% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Bourbon Township has four seasons and pleasant summers
Bourbon Township has chilly winters and warm summers. July afternoons reach 86°, January nights drop to 19° and about 15 inches of snow falls in a winter.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Jurgens Park | — | 17 |
| 2. Mennonite Church Recreational Area | — | 1 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Everything we know about Bourbon Township
Colleges nearby
None within 15 miles of Bourbon Township; the nearest are
About 1 of every 100 Bourbon Township residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Illinois.
About Bourbon Township
Unincorporated community in Illinois, United States
Bourbon is an unincorporated community in Douglas County, Illinois, United States. Bourbon is 5.5 miles (8.9 km) northwest of Arcola.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Elevation
- 659 ft
Bourbon Township’s neighbors
3 towns share a border with Bourbon Township.
| Town | IL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bourbon Township | #327 | B+ | A | — | B+ | C |
| Arcola Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Garrett Township | — | — | A− | — | B+ | B− |
| North Okaw Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Garrett Township has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Bourbon Township and Garrett Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Arcola Township and North Okaw Township aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Bourbon Township with a neighbor →
Questions about Bourbon Township
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Bourbon Township, IL a good place to live?
By most measures, yes. Bourbon Township grades B+ overall, better than 70% of U.S. towns and #327 of 767 in Illinois. It grades C for health and B+ for schools. Hazard risk is its weak spot, with a D.
Is Bourbon Township, IL expensive?
Not for the area. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades A.