Chemung TownshipIL
A town of 9,102, settled in 1845.
Is Chemung Township a good place to live?
Chemung Township is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades C− overall, 627th among Illinois's 767 graded towns, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is cost of living: homes are within reach, about $184K for a typical one, or 2 years of the Chicago metro’s $91K median household income. Its lowest everyday mark is in schools: its public schools trail 93% of Illinois towns on state tests and graduation. Only 59 of Illinois’ 1,285 towns score higher on hazard risk. Chemung Township is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 88% of U.S. towns. The biggest park or preserve is Beck's Woods, at 196 acres.
What makes Chemung Township stand out
Where Chemung Township beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
| School | Grades | Students |
|---|---|---|
| Jefferson Elem School | 4–5 | 319 |
| Harvard Jr High School | 6–8 | 593 |
| Harvard High School | 9–12 | 815 |
87% of working residents leave Chemung Township for work
Where Chemung Township’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
How Chemung Township grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Illinois), ordered by how far Chemung Township is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Chemung Township: who provides what
Who provides power, water and the rest in Chemung 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 Chemung Township.
Chemung Township carries less natural-hazard risk than nearly all of Illinois (mostly inland flooding), is healthier than towns with similar incomes and has homes that are cheap against local pay.
Chemung Township earns a D for schools
Its public schools are run by Harvard CUSD 50. Two of its 4 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Harvard High School, with 815 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Harvard Jr High SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 593 | C− |
| Harvard High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 815 | C |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within IL on state tests and graduation
Inland flooding leads a very low hazard risk in Chemung Township
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk lower than 92% of Illinois towns, with expected losses of about $325 per resident a year; that rating is what its A for hazard risk is built on.
At 18 of 100, Chemung Township’s FEMA risk score is below both the Illinois town median (50 of 100) and the median of U.S. towns (44 of 100). Since 1993, 12 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Chemung Township.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Most of Chemung Township’s workers commute out: the town has 0.6 jobs for each of them
Most working residents leave Chemung Township for work: only 13% work in town. 14% of residents live below the poverty line in Chemung Township, above both Illinois’ towns (8.4%) and U.S. towns (9.6%). 5.5% of Chemung Township workers work from home.
| Chemung Township | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 5.5% | 11% | 11% |
| Below the poverty line | 14% | 8.4% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 28 minutes | 26 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 13% | 8.3% | 8% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
In Chemung Township, expect four seasons and pleasant summers
Chemung Township has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers. Chemung Township’s July high is 83°F.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
1.4% of Chemung Township is conserved land
2.9 miles of trail in 6 parks and preserves. The trail density in Chemung Township is 0.1 miles per square mile.
| Chemung Township | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.1 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 1.4% | 3.7% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Beck's Woods | 0.4 mi | 196 |
| 2. Milky Way Park | 0.4 mi | 47 |
| 3. Northfield Avenue Park | 0.3 mi | 8 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Residents of Chemung Township are less healthy than 53% of U.S. towns
Against the 10,296 U.S. towns with household incomes like Chemung Township’s, it is healthier than 62%, so its B− isn’t only a matter of income.
Chemung Township beats the Illinois average on 0 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 10. 15% of adults 18 to 64 have no health insurance in Chemung Township.
| Chemung Township | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 7.9% | 8.1% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 75% | 78% | 79% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 13% | 14% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 33% | 35% | 36% |
| What stands out | Chemung Township | IL |
|---|---|---|
| More uninsured adults | 15.4% | 9.9% |
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 13.4% | 10.3% |
| More adults facing food insecurity | 19.1% | 15.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Homes in Chemung Township sell for about $250K
At 2 years of the Chicago metro’s $91K median household income, the typical home costs less against local pay than in 79% of Illinois towns; that ratio is one input to its B− for cost of living.
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Six Flags Great America and 16 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Chemung Township. Close and well known come first.
Big draw37 mi Theme parkSix Flags Great America3.0M visitors a year
17 mi MuseumIllinois Railway Museum
22 mi TheatreAlpine Valley Music Theatre
26 mi Stadium & arenaBMO Center26 mi MuseumVolo Auto Museum
13 mi TheatreWoodstock Opera HousePhoto credits
Six Flags Great America: Feather Better, CC BY 4.0 · Illinois Railway Museum: The original uploader was Slambo at English Wikipedia., CC BY-SA 2.0 · Alpine Valley Music Theatre: chad davis, CC BY-SA 2.0 · BMO Center: SimLibrarian, CC0 · Woodstock Opera House: HrAtsuo, CC0
Everything we know about Chemung Township
Colleges nearby
None within 15 miles of Chemung Township; the nearest are
About 4 of every 100 Chemung Township residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Illinois.
About Chemung Township
Census-designated place in Illinois, United States
Chemung, elevation 896 feet (273 meters), is an unincorporated census-designated place in McHenry County, Illinois, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 276.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 0.3 sq mi
- Area code
- 815
Chemung Township’s neighbors
4 towns share a border with Chemung Township.
| Town | IL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chemung Township | #627 | C− | B− | — | D | B− |
| Dunham Township | #491 | B− | B | — | D | B− |
| LeRoy Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Alden Township | — | — | D | — | D | B− |
Alden Township has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Chemung Township, Dunham Township and Alden Township report no FBI crime data of their own. LeRoy Township isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Chemung Township with a neighbor →
Questions about Chemung Township
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Chemung Township, IL a good place to live?
Chemung Township grades C− overall, better than 25% of U.S. towns and #627 of 767 in Illinois. It grades B− for health and D for schools. Schools is its weak spot, with a D.
Is Chemung Township, IL expensive?
The typical home is worth about $184,000, 38% below the Illinois typical home. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B−.