Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Cicero's standout: it is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 98% of U.S. towns. Overall it grades C−, 662nd of 767 graded towns in Illinois. Its weakest subject is schools: its public schools trail 89% of Illinois towns on state tests and graduation. No town in Illinois scores lower than Cicero on civic life. Cicero is home to Morton College. 11% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more in Cicero, against 29% in Illinois’ towns and 29% across U.S. towns.
Where Cicero beats most towns.
Morton, J. Sterling, High School East Auditorium| College | Students |
|---|---|
| Morton College | 3,619 |
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Illinois), ordered by how far Cicero is from typical.
Its grades run from A+ for walkability (better than 98% of comparable towns) to D for schools (better than 11%), so the C− overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 1,272 in 1860, 85,268 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1880 and 8 maps from 1891 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Cicero. Close and well known come first.
Big draw7 mi Stadium & arenaSoldier Field
Big draw9 mi Stadium & arenaWrigley Field
Big draw10 mi MuseumBarack Obama Presidential Center
Big draw7 mi Stadium & arenaRate Field
Big draw5 mi Stadium & arenaUnited Center
Big draw7 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 Cicero, 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 Cicero.
Cicero has seen reported crime fall beyond ordinary swings, but it scores below Stickney Township and its other neighbors on health and trails Chicago and its other neighbors on schools.
Each of its 4 graded neighbors has a higher School Grade than its D, Chicago highest at C.
Its public schools are run by Cicero SD 99. Two of its 20 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unity Jr High SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 7–8 | Grades 7–8 | 1,919 | C− |
| J Sterling Morton East High SchLargest public high schoolGrades 10–12 | Grades 10–12 | 3,394 | C− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within IL on state tests and graduation
Jobs based here grew from 14,062 in 2013 to 18,351.
Most working residents leave Cicero for work: only 9% work in town. 15% of residents live below the poverty line in Cicero. Jobs based in Cicero grew to 18,351 in 2023, 4,289 more than in 2013.
| Cicero | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 15% | 8.4% | 9.6% |
| Work from home | 5.5% | 11% | 11% |
| Average trip to work | 29 minutes | 26 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $71,000 | $83,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
| Cicero | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 1.6% | 3.7% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.3 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Cicero Community Park | 0.8 mi | 9 |
| 2. Columbus Park | 0.4 mi | 12 |
| 3. Warren Park | 0.3 mi | 3 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 77% of U.S. communities. Since 2011, 13 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Cicero.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Cicero has chilly, snowy winters and warm 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
All 4 graded neighbors score healthier than its C+, from Stickney Township (B) to Stickney (B+).
35% of Cicero adults worry about having enough food. Cicero beats the Illinois average on 7 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 17. 30% of Cicero adults 18 to 64 have no health insurance.
| Cicero | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 35% | 13% | 14% |
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 7.9% | 8.1% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 72% | 78% | 79% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 34% | 23% | 25% |
| What stands out | Cicero | IL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 3.9% | 7.6% |
| Fewer adults with arthritis | 17.4% | 24.2% |
| More uninsured adults | 29.7% | 9.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Reported crimes fell from 1,189 to 967 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
The violent crime rate in Cicero is 2.1 per 1,000 residents.
| Cicero | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 2.1 per 1,000 residents | 1 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 9.8 per 1,000 residents | 7.9 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
The typical Cicero home is worth about $278,000, up 5.2% in a year, 6% below the Illinois typical home.
| Cicero | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 55% | 75% | 73% |
| Renters paying 30%+ of income on rent | 47% | 46% | 48% |
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
54 within 15 miles of the center of Cicero
About 6 of every 100 Cicero residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Illinois.
Where Cicero’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
20 notable people were born in Cicero.
Town in Illinois, United States
Cicero is a town in Cook County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 85,268, making it the 11th-most populous municipality in Illinois. The town is named after Marcus Tullius Cicero, a Roman statesman and orator. With a population more than 89% Hispanic, the town is the most Hispanic in the state of Illinois.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
5 towns share a border with Cicero.
| Town | IL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cicero | #662 | C− | C+ | C+ | D | C+ |
| Chicago | #676 | C− | C− | D | C | B+ |
| Berwyn · Berwyn Township | #522 | C+ | C− | B+ | C− | B+ |
| Stickney | #485 | B− | C | A− | C− | B+ |
| Stickney Township | #604 | C | C | — | C− | B |
Stickney Township reports no FBI crime data of its own. Berwyn Township and Berwyn are one community, graded once. Compare Cicero with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Cicero grades C− overall, better than 19% of U.S. towns and #662 of 767 in Illinois. It grades C+ for health, C+ for safety and D for schools. Schools is its weak spot, with a D.
That is 3.1 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 C+.
20 notable people were born here, including Paul Marcinkus and Robert Kurka.
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