Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Empire Township gives you more for your money than most places: a typical home costs about $175K, 2.2 years of the Bloomington metro’s $80K median household income. It grades A overall, 126th among Illinois's 767 graded towns. On the plus side, the median household earns $88K. LeRoy Commercial Historic District is on the National Register of Historic Places. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 75% of U.S. towns. 4.2% of residents live below the poverty line in Empire Township, where Illinois’ towns sit at 8.4% and U.S. towns at 9.6%.
Where Empire Township beats most towns.
Where Empire Township’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 Empire Township is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The archive holds 2 maps from 1952 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Empire 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 Empire Township.
Its widest gap with Illinois is no health insurance: 6.1% of those 18–64 have no health insurance, against 9.9% statewide.
Empire Township beats the Illinois average on 6 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 1. 33% of adults sleep under 7 hours in Empire Township.
| Empire Township | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 33% | 35% | 36% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 23% | 25% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 18% | 16% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 18% | 19% |
| What stands out | Empire Township | IL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 6.1% | 9.9% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 9.9% | 15.9% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 9.3% | 7.6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Its public schools are run by LeRoy CUSD 2. Two of its 3 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| LeRoy Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–6 | Grades PK–6 | 405 | A− |
| LeRoy High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 232 | B+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within IL on state tests and graduation
Most working residents leave Empire Township for work: only 14% work in town. 17% of Empire Township workers work from home. The top destinations are Bloomington (31%), Le Roy (13%) and Normal (11%).
| Empire Township | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 17% | 11% | 11% |
| Working residents who work in town | 14% | 8.3% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 23 minutes | 26 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $88,000 | $83,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Empire Township has chilly winters and warm summers. July afternoons reach 85°, January nights drop to 17° and about 20 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
No broad age group is more than 4 points off the Illinois average. 37% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 38% across Illinois.
| Empire Township | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 37% | 29% | 29% |
| Under 18 | 25% | 22% | 22% |
48% women, 52% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±3.7 points. Across Illinois, 50.6% of residents are women. Among residents 18 to 24, 73% are men (IL 51%).
| Empire Township | IL | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 11.3% | 11.5% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 13.2% | 10.4% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 8.6% | 9.1% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 11.2% | 13.6% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 12.1% | 13.3% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 12.5% | 12.4% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 13.3% | 12.8% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 10.2% | 10% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 7.5% | 7% | 7% |
| No diploma | 3.8% | 9.5% | 10.4% |
| High school | 30.7% | 25.1% | 26% |
| Some college | 20% | 19.2% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 8.8% | 8.3% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 27.8% | 22.6% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 8.8% | 15.3% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 4,000, single groups can be off by several points
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 53% of U.S. communities. Since 2008, 2 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Empire Township.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
0.5 miles of trail in 2 parks and preserves.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Brickyard Park | — | 8 |
| 2. Bowman Park | — | 2 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Empire Township. Close and well known come first.
32 mi LandmarkAmerican Football House
32 mi Stadium & arenaGies Memorial Stadium
24 mi GardenRobert Allerton Park
22 mi MuseumMonticello Railway Museum17 mi Zoo & aquariumMiller Park Zoo
31 mi MuseumOctave Chanute Aerospace MuseumAmerican Football House: BanjoZebra, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Gies Memorial Stadium: T.J. Blakeman, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Robert Allerton Park: D. Finnigan, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Monticello Railway Museum: Daniel Schwen, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Octave Chanute Aerospace Museum: Chris Light (talk), CC BY-SA 3.0
None within 15 miles of Empire Township; the nearest are
About 3 of every 100 Empire Township residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Illinois.
Township in Illinois, United States
Empire Township is located in McLean County, Illinois. As of the 2010 census, its population was 4,093 and it contained 1,719 housing units. Empire Township changed its name from Le Roy Township on May 17, 1858.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
4 towns share a border with Empire Township.
| Town | IL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Empire Township | #126 | A | A− | — | B+ | A− |
| West Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Dawson Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Downs Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Rutledge Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Empire Township reports no FBI crime data of its own. West Township, Dawson Township, Downs Township and Rutledge Township aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Empire Township with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Empire Township grades A overall, better than 90% of U.S. towns and #126 of 767 in Illinois. It grades A− for health and B+ for schools.
Not for the area. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades A−.
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