Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Chicago has 2.7 million people, so its C− is an average across neighborhoods that differ more from each other than most towns do. It ranks 676th of 767 graded places in Illinois. Few places in the country are easier to get around without a car. What weighs on its grade: its police reported 11,417 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025, a higher rate per resident than 92% of U.S. towns, and the typical home is worth about $334K, 3.7 years of the Chicago metro’s $91K median household income. History is its standout character grade: an A+, better than 98% of U.S. towns, with 415 places on the National Register. 64% of working residents work locally in Chicago, against 8.3% in Illinois’ towns and 8% across U.S. towns. Its National Register listings include Wrigley Field and S.R. Crown Hall.
Where Chicago beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
Wrigley Field| College | Students |
|---|---|
| University of Illinois Chicago | 29,607 |
| DePaul University | 18,382 |
| University of Chicago | 18,240 |
Wrigley Field is one of 40 National Historic Landmarks here, the National Register’s top tier. Its 415 National Register listings are more than in any other Illinois town with a listing.
Census counts: 4,470 in 1840, 2,746,388 in 2020. The archive holds 17 old photos and papers going back to 1684 and 8 maps from 1889 on.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Illinois), ordered by how far Chicago is from typical.
Its grades run from A+ for walkability (better than 99% of comparable towns) to D for safety (better than 8%), so the C− overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Chicago. Close and well known come first.
Big drawin town Stadium & arenaSoldier Field
Big drawin town Stadium & arenaWrigley Field
Big drawin town MuseumBarack Obama Presidential Center
Big drawin town Stadium & arenaRate Field
Big drawin town Stadium & arenaUnited Center
Big drawin town MuseumArt Institute of Chicago1.5M visitors a yearSoldier Field: Photo by Joon Han Contact: [email protected], CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wrigley Field: Ryan Dickey, CC BY 2.0 · Barack Obama Presidential Center: AlphaBeta135, CC0 · Rate Field: User Enoch Lai on en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 · United Center: User:JeremyA, CC BY-SA 2.5 · Art Institute of Chicago: ajay_suresh, CC BY 2.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Chicago, 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 Chicago.
Chicago has seen reported crime fall beyond ordinary swings and has home values lagging Illinois’s, but it has a long record of flood insurance claims.
242 miles of trail in 520 parks and preserves. Chicago’s trail density is 1.0 miles per square mile. The biggest place to walk is Lincoln (Abraham) Park, 964 acres with 17.2 miles of trail.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Lincoln (Abraham) Park | 17.2 mi | 964 |
| 2. Jackson Park | 9.8 mi | 508 |
| 3. Schiller Woods South Preserve | 7.4 mi | 512 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its public schools are run by the Chicago Public Schools District 299. Three of its 870 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Disney Elem Magnet SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–8 | Grades PK–8 | 1,384 | A− |
| Lane Technical High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 7–12 | Grades 7–12 | 4,604 | A+ |
| Young Magnet High SchoolTop results in townGrades 7–12 | Grades 7–12 | 2,223 | A+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within IL on state tests and graduation
Reported crimes fell from 106,149 to 91,318 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
The property crime rate in Chicago is 29.4 per 1,000 residents. Chicago reports more crime per resident than most U.S. towns we grade: about 92% report less. The violent crime rate in Chicago is 4.2 per 1,000 residents.
| Chicago | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 29.4 per 1,000 residents | 7.9 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 4.2 per 1,000 residents | 1 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Chicago beats the Illinois average on 6 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 11. 24% of Chicago adults worry about having enough food.
| Chicago | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 24% | 13% | 14% |
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 7.9% | 8.1% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 35% | 35% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 22% | 23% |
| What stands out | Chicago | IL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 5% | 7.6% |
| Fewer adults with arthritis | 19.6% | 24.2% |
| More adults facing food insecurity | 24.4% | 15.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Chicago has chilly, snowy winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 84°, January nights drop to 18° and about 39 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
17% of residents live below the poverty line in Chicago. Since 2013, Chicago has added 145,921 jobs, to 1,359,301 in 2023. 21% of workers work from home in Chicago.
| Chicago | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 21% | 11% | 11% |
| Average trip to work | 33 minutes | 26 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 17% | 8.4% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Only 46% of households own their home, against 67.1% across Illinois.
Adults 18 to 34 are 29% of residents (23% statewide). 44% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 38% across Illinois.
| Chicago | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 44% | 29% | 29% |
| Median age | 35.8 years | 40.7 years | 40.5 years |
| Aged 65 or older | 14% | 19% | 18% |
| Under 18 | 19% | 22% | 22% |
51.4% women, 48.6% men
About 95 men for every 100 women. Across Illinois, 50.6% of residents are women. Median age: women 36.3, men 35.3.
| Chicago | IL | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 10.5% | 11.5% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 8.8% | 10.4% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 9.6% | 9.1% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 19.6% | 13.6% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 14.7% | 13.3% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 11.8% | 12.4% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 11.1% | 12.8% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 8.2% | 10% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 5.6% | 7% | 7% |
| No diploma | 12.8% | 9.5% | 10.4% |
| High school | 21.1% | 25.1% | 26% |
| Some college | 16.1% | 19.2% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 5.8% | 8.3% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 25.4% | 22.6% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 19% | 15.3% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
At about $334K, home values are up 14% in five years, against a rise of 30% across Illinois.
Typical home values rose 5.6% in the year to September 2026.
| Chicago | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 46% | 75% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,440 a month | $1,128 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
550 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 71 properties have flooded more than once.
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 53% of U.S. communities. Since 1978, 550 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Chicago.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
52 within 15 miles of the center of Chicago
About 7 of every 100 Chicago residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Illinois.
41 colleges in town.
415 places in Chicago on the National Register of Historic Places.
37 notable people were born in Chicago.
Most populous city in Illinois, US
Chicago is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the third-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 2.74 million at the 2020 census. The Chicago metropolitan area has approximately 9.62 million residents according to the 2020 census and is the third-largest metropolitan area in the country. Chicago is the county seat of Cook County, the second-most populous county in the U.S. Chicago was incorporated as a city in 1837 near a portage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River watershed. It grew rapidly in the mid-19th century. In 1871, the Great Chicago Fire de…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
10 towns share a border with Chicago.
All 7 graded towns on its borders grade higher than its C−; Stickney Township (C) is closest.
| Town | IL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago | #676 | C− | C− | D | C | B+ |
| Leyden Township | #543 | C+ | C | — | C− | B |
| Maine Township | #176 | A− | D | — | A− | A |
| Rosemont | #471 | B− | C | D− | B+ | B+ |
| Worth Township | #531 | C+ | C | — | C | B+ |
| Schiller Park | #403 | B | C | — | C | A− |
| Niles Township | #290 | B+ | D | — | A− | A |
| Stickney Township | #604 | C | C | — | C− | B |
Leyden Township, Maine Township, Worth Township, Schiller Park, Niles Township and Stickney Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Chicago with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Chicago grades C− overall, better than 16% of U.S. towns and #676 of 767 in Illinois. It grades B+ for health, D for safety and C for schools. Safety is its weak spot, with a D.
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−.
37 notable people were born here, including Walt Disney and Leo XIV.
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