Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Bourbonnais is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades B− overall, ranked 474th of 767 in Illinois, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is safety: crime is low: it reports less per resident than 64% of U.S. towns. Expect to pay for it: the typical home is worth about $303K, 4.3 years of the Kankakee metro’s $71K median household income. Bourbonnais is home to Olivet Nazarene University. Bourbonnais’ average trip to work is 20 minutes, below both Illinois’ towns (26 minutes) and U.S. towns (25 minutes). Bourbonnais is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 81% of U.S. towns.
Where Bourbonnais beats most towns.
| College | Students |
|---|---|
| Olivet Nazarene University | 2,498 |
Durham-Perry FarmsteadEach subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Illinois), ordered by how far Bourbonnais is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 595 in 1900, 18,164 in 2020. The archive holds 10 old photos and papers going back to 1883 and 3 maps from 1922 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Bourbonnais, 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 Bourbonnais.
Bourbonnais has commutes shorter than most of Illinois and is safe by national standards but not by Illinois’s.
The average commute for its 7,926 working residents takes 19.6 minutes, against 27.8 across Illinois.
Most working residents leave Bourbonnais for work: only 13% work in town. Since 2013, Bourbonnais has lost 1,307 jobs, to 5,754 in 2023. The top destinations are Kankakee (15%), Bradley (11%) and Chicago (9%).
| Bourbonnais | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 13% | 8.3% | 8% |
| Work from home | 9.7% | 11% | 11% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Bourbonnais has chilly winters and warm summers. July afternoons reach 84°, January nights drop to 17° and about 27 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
At 13.4 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 50% of Illinois’s graded towns. Reported crimes fell from 172 to 118 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
The property crime rate in Bourbonnais is 4.9 per 1,000 residents.
| Bourbonnais | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 4.9 per 1,000 residents | 7.9 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 1.7 per 1,000 residents | 1 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Bourbonnais beats the Illinois average on 1 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 3. 36% of adults feel lonely in Bourbonnais.
| Bourbonnais | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 36% | 33% | 33% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 39% | 35% | 36% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 17% | 17% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 18% | 16% |
| What stands out | Bourbonnais | IL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 7.8% | 9.9% |
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 15.5% | 10.3% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Adults 18 to 34 are 29% of residents (23% statewide). Bourbonnais’ median age is 35.8 years. Bourbonnais has lost 2.6% of its people since 2020, down to 17,658 in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate.
| Bourbonnais | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 35.8 years | 40.7 years | 40.5 years |
| Aged 65 or older | 15% | 19% | 18% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 34% | 29% | 29% |
| Under 18 | 21% | 22% | 22% |
52% women, 48% men
About 92 men for every 100 women (the survey’s margin: ±2.1 points). Across Illinois, 50.6% of residents are women.
| Bourbonnais | IL | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 9.4% | 11.5% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 11.2% | 10.4% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 18% | 9.1% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 10.8% | 13.6% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 12.2% | 13.3% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 11.6% | 12.4% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 11.7% | 12.8% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 9% | 10% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 6.2% | 7% | 7% |
| No diploma | 4.7% | 9.5% | 10.4% |
| High school | 33.8% | 25.1% | 26% |
| Some college | 19.5% | 19.2% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 7.9% | 8.3% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 21.2% | 22.6% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 12.9% | 15.3% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
1.2 miles of trail in 12 parks and preserves.
| Bourbonnais | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.1 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 2.1% | 3.7% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Riverfront Park | 0.6 mi | 12 |
| 2. Cavalier de Lasalle Park | 0.5 mi | 7 |
| 3. Slater Park | — | 16 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 58% of U.S. communities. Since 1981, 6 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Bourbonnais.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Typical home values rose 5.2% in the year to September 2026.
| Bourbonnais | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,269 a month | $1,128 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 73% | 75% | 73% |
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
2 within 15 miles of the center of Bourbonnais
College town 15 of every 100 Bourbonnais residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Illinois.
Where Bourbonnais’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
4 notable people were born in Bourbonnais.
Village in Illinois, United States
Bourbonnais ( bər-bə-NAY ,bər-BOH-nəs) is a village in Kankakee County, Illinois, United States. The population was 18,164 at the 2020 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
2 towns share a border with Bourbonnais.
| Town | IL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bourbonnais | #474 | B− | C− | B | B | B |
| Bradley | #633 | C− | C+ | C− | C+ | C+ |
| Manteno | #300 | B+ | C− | A− | B | B+ |
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Bourbonnais grades B− overall, better than 50% of U.S. towns and #474 of 767 in Illinois. It grades B 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−.
4 notable people were born here, including Léo Dandurand and Don Betourne.
