Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Settled in 1849, this town now has 19,268 residents.
Cherry Valley Township’s weakest is schools: its schools rank behind 95% of the state's. The town’s overall D puts it 720th of 767 in Illinois. It comes out better than a tenth of U.S. towns. Walkability is weaker too. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 71% of U.S. towns. At about $303K, a typical home costs 4.5 years of the Rockford metro’s $68K median household income. Where it does best is hazard risk (A−). 14% of the land locally is conserved, against 3.6% in Illinois’ towns and 4.3% across U.S. towns.
Figures: FEMA National Risk Index · schools, state test and graduation results · home values, Zillow · incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24 · USGS PAD-US.
Where Cherry Valley Township beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
14.4% of the town is conserved land, across 13 parks and preserves.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Illinois), ordered by how far Cherry Valley Township is from typical.
Its best grade is an A for the outdoors (38 miles of trails; 14% conserved land), which describes the town but isn’t part of the overall grade; its D comes from the livability subjects above.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 349 in 1900, 2,905 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1933 and 4 maps from 1918 on.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Cherry Valley 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 Cherry Valley Township.
Cherry Valley Township trades workers with Rockford and other neighbors and has home values climbing faster than Illinois’s.
38 miles of trail wind through 13 parks and preserves. Deer Run Forest Preserve, at 676 acres with 8 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve. Cherry Valley Township’s density of trails is 1.2 miles per square mile.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Deer Run Forest Preserve | 8 mi | 676 |
| 2. Oak Ridge Forest Preserve | 7.6 mi | 641 |
| 3. Atwood Park & Lodge | 3.9 mi | 71 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Two of its 6 schools are shown below, with the reason for each. Public schools: Rockford SD 205. The largest public high school is Jefferson High School, with 2,173 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cherry Valley Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–5 | Grades K–5 | 676 | C+ |
| Jefferson High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 2,173 | D |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within IL on state tests and graduation
The national flood insurance program has paid 27 claims in Cherry Valley Township since 1978. On expected storm and flood damage, Cherry Valley Township sits below three quarters of U.S. communities. Of the losses FEMA expects here, 44% come from inland flooding and 22% from cold waves.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Summer afternoons peak near 84° in July, and January nights bottom out around 14°; snowfall runs to about 37 inches a winter. Winters in Cherry Valley Township are cold, snowy and summers pleasant.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Cherry Valley Township has about as many jobs (9,137) as working residents, but only 652 people both live and work here.
In Cherry Valley Township, the median household income is $69,000. Just 8% of the town’s working residents have a job in town. The top destinations are Rockford (45%), Chicago (5%) and Loves Park (4%). Employers in Cherry Valley Township added 576 jobs between 2013 and 2023, to 9,137.
| Cherry Valley Township | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 7.1% | 11% | 11% |
| Average trip to work | 23 minutes | 26 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $69,000 | $83,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 10% | 8.4% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Cherry Valley Township: 40% of adults have obesity. Among adults here, 13% have diabetes and 37% have high blood pressure.
| Cherry Valley Township | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 40% | 37% | 35% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 11% | 12% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 37% | 35% | 35% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 13% | 14% |
| What stands out | Cherry Valley Township | IL |
|---|---|---|
| More adults with COPD | 7.8% | 6.3% |
| More adults with arthritis | 29.3% | 24.2% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 9.2% | 7.6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Home values rose 46% in five years, to about $303K, against 30% across Illinois.
On the market in Cherry Valley Township: a median 8 days to sell. Values rose 8.6% in the 12 months to September 2026. Also worth knowing: its median rent comes in at $960 a month.
| Cherry Valley Township | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 64% | 75% | 73% |
| Median rent | $960 a month | $1,129 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Cherry Valley Township. Close and well known come first.
24 mi MuseumIllinois Railway Museum
7 mi Stadium & arenaBMO Center
7 mi GardenAnderson Japanese Gardens
22 mi TheatreEgyptian Theatre, DeKalb
35 mi National Historic SiteRonald Reagan Boyhood Home National Historic Site
38 mi Theme parkSanta's Village Amusement & Water ParkIllinois Railway Museum: The original uploader was Slambo at English Wikipedia., CC BY-SA 2.0 · BMO Center: SimLibrarian, CC0 · Anderson Japanese Gardens: M. Readey, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Egyptian Theatre, DeKalb: Andy McMurray, CC BY 2.5 · Ronald Reagan Boyhood Home National Historic Site: Teemu008 from Palatine, Illinois, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Santa's Village Amusement & Water Park: Martin Lewison from The Hague, Zuid-Holland, The Netherlands, CC BY-SA 2.0
3 within 15 miles of the center of Cherry Valley Township
About 5 of every 100 Cherry Valley Township residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Illinois.
Village in Illinois, US
Cherry Valley is a village of 8.72 square miles (22.6 km2) that lies primarily in Winnebago County, Illinois. Approximately ten percent of the village is within Boone County. The village is within the Rockford, Illinois Metropolitan Statistical Area, and borders the southeast side of Rockford. It is also within the Kishwaukee River valley. The population was 2,905 at the 2020 census, down from 3,162 as of the 2010 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
4 towns share a border with Cherry Valley Township.
| Town | IL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cherry Valley Township | #720 | D | C+ | — | D | C+ |
| Rockford Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Flora Township | #755 | D− | C− | — | C− | B− |
| Monroe Township | — | — | B+ | — | B+ | C |
| Cherry Valley | #741 | D | C | D | D | B+ |
Monroe Township has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Cherry Valley Township, Flora Township and Monroe Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Rockford Township isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Cherry Valley Township with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Cherry Valley Township grades D overall, better than 10% of U.S. towns and #720 of 767 in Illinois. It grades C+ for health and D for schools. Schools is its weak spot, with a D.
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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