Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Good on most counts; one lags. With a B overall, Elmwood Park is better than 60% of U.S. towns and ranks 404th of 767 in Illinois. Its strongest subject is walkability (A+): it is more walkable than 96% of U.S. towns. The trade-off is cost of living: the typical home is worth about $357K, 3.9 years of the Chicago metro’s $91K median household income. The town’s trail network density is 1.1 miles per square mile, above both Illinois’ towns (0.3) and U.S. towns (0.4). Elmwood Park’s mean commuting time is 32 minutes, above both the Illinois town median (26 minutes) and the median of U.S. towns (25 minutes). Its remaining grades are unremarkable: B for safety, B− for schools and B− for hazard risk.
Figures: home values, Zillow · incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24 · FBI crime data, 2025 · schools, state test and graduation results · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenStreetMap.
Where Elmwood Park beats most towns.
Where Elmwood Park’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Illinois), ordered by how far Elmwood Park is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 1,380 in 1920, 24,521 in 2020. The archive holds 16 old photos and papers going back to 1940 and 7 maps from 1891 on.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Elmwood Park. Close and well known come first.
Big draw9 mi Stadium & arenaWrigley Field
Big draw11 mi Stadium & arenaSoldier Field
Big draw15 mi MuseumBarack Obama Presidential Center
Big draw8 mi Stadium & arenaUnited Center
Big draw11 mi Stadium & arenaRate Field
Big draw10 mi MuseumArt Institute of Chicago1.5M visitors a yearWrigley Field: Ryan Dickey, CC BY 2.0 · Soldier Field: Photo by Joon Han Contact: [email protected], CC BY-SA 3.0 · Barack Obama Presidential Center: AlphaBeta135, CC0 · United Center: User:JeremyA, CC BY-SA 2.5 · Rate Field: User Enoch Lai on en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Art Institute of Chicago: ajay_suresh, CC BY 2.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Elmwood Park, 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 Elmwood Park.
Elmwood Park is healthier than River Grove and its other neighbors and is safe by national standards but not by Illinois’s; it also has a long record of flood insurance claims.
Trails total 2.1 miles in 4 parks and preserves.
| Elmwood Park | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 1.1 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 0.4% | 3.7% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Jerome Huppert Woods Preserve | 0.1 mi | 6 |
| 2. Central Park | — | 1 |
| 3. Mills Park | — | 1 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its A− for health tops all 3 graded neighbors; River Grove (B+) comes closest.
29% of Elmwood Park adults have high blood pressure. This Illinois town does better than the Illinois average on 4 of 32 CDC measures and worse on 1.
| Elmwood Park | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 18% | 16% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 37% | 35% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 35% | 35% |
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 7.9% | 8.1% |
| What stands out | Elmwood Park | IL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults with obesity | 29.7% | 34% |
| Fewer adults with high blood pressure | 29% | 33% |
| More uninsured adults | 12.3% | 9.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Elmwood Park has 2,608 jobs for its 11,413 working residents: even if every job went to a resident, most would still commute out.
The share of working residents in Elmwood Park who work locally: 3.8%. The top destinations are Chicago (35%), Elk Grove Village (2%) and Des Plaines (2%). Its middle household income comes in at $92,000. The median commute is under 9 miles.
| Elmwood Park | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 32 minutes | 26 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 3.8% | 8.4% | 8% |
| Work from home | 14% | 11% | 11% |
| Median household income | $92,000 | $83,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
The range runs from 17° on a January night to 84° on a July afternoon, with about 38 inches of snow a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
A typical home in Elmwood Park is worth about $357,000, up 6.6% in a year, 21% above the Illinois typical home. In Elmwood Park, the going rate for rent is $1,334 a month. Homes sold in Elmwood Park spent a median 58 days on the market.
| Elmwood Park | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 65% | 75% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,334 a month | $1,128 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Age groups here sit within 4 points of the Illinois average. Since 2020, Elmwood Park has lost 3.5% of its people, to 23,675 in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. The bachelor’s-degree share among adults 25 and older is 33%, against 38% across Illinois. 20% of residents are under 18 in the town.
| Elmwood Park | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 18 | 20% | 22% | 22% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 33% | 29% | 29% |
| Aged 65 or older | 17% | 19% | 18% |
| Median age | 41.5 years | 40.7 years | 40.5 years |
52% women, 48% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±2.7 points. Across Illinois, 50.6% of residents are women. Median age: women 45.2, men 36.9.
| Elmwood Park | IL | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 9.5% | 11.5% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 10.8% | 10.4% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 7.2% | 9.1% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 14.8% | 13.6% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 11% | 13.3% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 16.3% | 12.4% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 13.3% | 12.8% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 8.6% | 10% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 8.5% | 7% | 7% |
| No diploma | 11.3% | 9.5% | 10.4% |
| High school | 24% | 25.1% | 26% |
| Some college | 22.9% | 19.2% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 9.3% | 8.3% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 19.3% | 22.6% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 13.3% | 15.3% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
At 16.3 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports more crime than 57% of Illinois’s graded towns. Violent crime is rare: 22 reported in 2025, 0.9 per 1,000 residents.
Elmwood Park’s property offense rate stands at 11.9 per 1,000 residents. Its violent offense rate comes in at 0.9 per 1,000 residents.
| Elmwood Park | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 11.9 per 1,000 residents | 7.9 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.9 per 1,000 residents | 1 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
82 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 16 properties have flooded more than once.
FEMA expects less storm and flood damage in Elmwood Park than in 53% of U.S. communities. This Illinois town has had 82 paid flood insurance claims since 1978. 39% of the town’s expected losses from natural hazards come from inland flooding, followed by cold waves at 33%.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
55 within 15 miles of the center of Elmwood Park
About 5 of every 100 Elmwood Park residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Illinois.
4 notable people were born in Elmwood Park.
Village in Cook County, Illinois, US
Elmwood Park is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 24,521 at the 2020 census. The community has long maintained a large Italian American population, with a more recent influx of Hispanic and Latino Americans.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
3 towns share a border with Elmwood Park.
It grades higher overall than all 3 graded towns on its borders; River Grove (B−) comes closest.
| Town | IL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elmwood Park | #404 | B | C− | B | B− | A− |
| River Grove | #475 | B− | C+ | B− | C | B+ |
| Leyden Township | #543 | C+ | C | — | C− | B |
| Chicago | #676 | C− | C− | D | C | B+ |
Leyden Township reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Elmwood Park with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
For most people who can afford it, yes. It grades A− for health, B for safety and B− for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a C−.
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−.
4 notable people were born here, including Ray Nitschke and Lee Loughnane.
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