Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Chicago Heights grades D overall, 724th of 767 graded towns in Illinois, mostly because of safety and incomes. It reports more crime per resident than 98% of U.S. towns, including 211 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025. The median household income is $55K, and 27% of residents live below the poverty line. What it does well: it is more walkable than 92% of U.S. towns. 27% of residents live below the poverty line in Chicago Heights, above both the Illinois town median (8.4%) and the median of U.S. towns (9.6%). On civic life, just 47 of Illinois’ 1,240 towns do worse. Chicago Heights is home to Prairie State College.
Where Chicago Heights beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
John StosselEach subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Illinois), ordered by how far Chicago Heights is from typical.
Its grades run from A for walkability (better than 92% of comparable towns) to D− for safety (better than 2%), so the D overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 5,100 in 1900, a peak of 40,900 in 1970, 27,480 in 2020. The archive holds 20 old photos and papers going back to 1908 and 5 maps from 1929 on.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Chicago Heights. Close and well known come first.
Big draw24 mi Stadium & arenaSoldier Field
Big draw30 mi Stadium & arenaWrigley Field
Big draw19 mi MuseumBarack Obama Presidential Center
Big draw22 mi Stadium & arenaRate Field
Big draw26 mi Stadium & arenaUnited Center
Big draw26 mi 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 Heights, 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 Heights.
Chicago Heights is healthier than towns with similar incomes and has homes that are cheap against local pay, but it reports violent crime at 3 times the Illinois rate.
Violent crime runs at 8 per 1,000 residents, 3 times the Illinois rate; the Safety Grade counts each violent crime four times, so this weighs most on its D−. Each of the 6 graded towns on its borders reports less crime per resident, from Olympia Fields (D) to Park Forest (C+).
Chicago Heights’ violent crime rate is 8 per 1,000 residents. Chicago Heights reports more crime per resident than most U.S. towns we grade: about 98% report less. Chicago Heights’ property crime rate is 29.6 per 1,000 residents.
| Chicago Heights | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 8 per 1,000 residents | 1 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 29.6 per 1,000 residents | 7.9 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
At 1.9 years of the Chicago metro’s $91K median household income, the typical home (about $175K) costs less against local pay than in 82% of Illinois towns; that ratio is one input to its B− for cost of living.
The typical Chicago Heights home is worth about $175,000, up 3% in a year, 41% below the Illinois typical home. 63% of Chicago Heights households own their home.
| Chicago Heights | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 63% | 75% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,038 a month | $1,129 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Against the 7,358 U.S. towns with household incomes like Chicago Heights’s, it is healthier than 50%, so its C isn’t only a matter of income.
33% of adults worry about having enough food in Chicago Heights. Chicago Heights beats the Illinois average on 1 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 21. 18% of adults 18 to 64 have no health insurance in Chicago Heights.
| Chicago Heights | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 33% | 13% | 14% |
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 7.9% | 8.1% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 11% | 12% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 37% | 33% | 33% |
| What stands out | Chicago Heights | IL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 5.7% | 7.6% |
| More adults facing a utility shut-off | 16.2% | 7.8% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
2.7 miles of trail in 16 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Joe Orr Woods, at 86 acres.
| Chicago Heights | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.3 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 3.1% | 3.7% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Joe Orr Woods | 0.8 mi | 86 |
| 2. Halsted Woods | 0.5 mi | 60 |
| 3. Woodrow Wilson Woods | 0.5 mi | 31 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Chicago Heights has chilly winters and warm summers. July afternoons reach 84°, January nights drop to 17° and about 28 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 67% of U.S. communities. Since 1978, 44 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Chicago Heights.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Jobs based here fell from 11,578 in 2013 to 8,313.
Most working residents leave Chicago Heights for work: only 9% work in town. The average trip to work in Chicago Heights is 30 minutes. Jobs based in Chicago Heights fell to 8,313 in 2023, 3,265 fewer than in 2013.
| Chicago Heights | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 30 minutes | 26 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $55,000 | $83,000 | $80,000 |
| Work from home | 6.7% | 11% | 11% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
10 within 15 miles of the center of Chicago Heights
About 6 of every 100 Chicago Heights residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Illinois.
2 places in Chicago Heights on the National Register of Historic Places.
39 notable people were born in Chicago Heights.
City in Illinois, United States
Chicago Heights is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 27,480 at the 2020 census, and was estimated at 26,533 in 2024. A southern suburb in the Chicago metropolitan area, its nicknames include "The Crossroads of the Nation" and "Da Heights”.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
6 towns share a border with Chicago Heights.
All 6 graded towns on its borders grade higher than its D; Olympia Fields (D) is closest. Flossmoor next door grades higher for schools (B to Chicago Heights’s C) and lower for cost of living (D to B−).
| Town | IL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago Heights | #724 | D | B− | D− | C | C |
| Glenwood | #680 | C− | C | C | C− | B− |
| South Chicago Heights | #688 | D | B | C− | C− | C− |
| Olympia Fields | #706 | D | D− | D | C− | B+ |
| Flossmoor | #456 | B− | D | C | B | A |
| Park Forest | #675 | C− | C+ | C+ | C− | C |
| Steger | #649 | C− | B | C | D | C− |
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Chicago Heights grades D overall, better than 9% of U.S. towns and #724 of 767 in Illinois. It grades C for health, D− for safety and C for schools. Safety is its weak spot, with a D−.
That is 1.9 years of the area's median household income ($90,887 across the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN metro area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B−.
39 notable people were born here, including John Stossel and Don Bacon.
_-_Chicago,_IL_-_June_2026.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}