Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Fox Lake is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades C+ overall, ranked 509th of 767 in Illinois, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is schools: its schools outperform 60% of the state's. Its lowest everyday mark is in safety: its police reported 29 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025, a higher rate per resident than 64% of U.S. towns. A typical home there costs about $259K, 2.9 years of the Chicago metro’s $91K median household income. On hazard risk, just 95 of Illinois’ 1,285 towns do worse. Fox Lake is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 84% of U.S. towns. Mineola Hotel is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Where Fox Lake beats most towns.
Where Fox Lake’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 Fox Lake is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 400 in 1910, a low of 110 in 1940, 10,978 in 2020. The archive holds 11 old photos and papers going back to 1900 and 4 maps from 1920 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Fox Lake, 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 Fox Lake.
Fox Lake has seen reported crime fall by a third or more, but it carries more natural-hazard risk than most of Illinois (mostly inland flooding) and scores below Burton Township and its other neighbors on health.
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 96% of Illinois towns, with expected losses of about $465 per resident a year; that rating is what its D for hazard risk is built on. 259 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 41 properties have flooded more than once.
Fox Lake’s FEMA risk score is 84 of 100, above both the Illinois town median (50 of 100) and the median of U.S. towns (44 of 100). Since 1979, 259 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Fox Lake.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Most working residents leave Fox Lake for work: only 6% work in town. Fox Lake’s average trip to work is 34 minutes, above both Illinois’ towns (26 minutes) and U.S. towns (25 minutes). Jobs based in Fox Lake grew to 3,025 in 2023, 393 more than in 2013.
| Fox Lake | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 34 minutes | 26 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 13% | 8.4% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $71,000 | $83,000 | $80,000 |
| Work from home | 13% | 11% | 11% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Fox Lake has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers. The July high in Fox Lake is 83°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Reported crimes fell from 200 to 121 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
Fox Lake’s violent crime rate is 2.7 per 1,000 residents. Fox Lake reports more crime per resident than most U.S. towns we grade: about 64% report less.
| Fox Lake | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 2.7 per 1,000 residents | 1 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 8.4 per 1,000 residents | 7.9 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
63.7% of renter households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, against 47.9% across Illinois.
Typical home values rose 4.9% in the year to September 2026. 68% of Fox Lake households own their home.
| Fox Lake | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 68% | 75% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,047 a month | $1,129 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
1.0 miles of trail in 3 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Chain O'Lakes State Park, at 29 acres.
| Fox Lake | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.1 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 2.8% | 3.7% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Chain O'Lakes State Park | 0.4 mi | 29 |
| 2. Lakefront Park | — | 7 |
| 3. Gander Mountain Forest Preserve | — | 1 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
All 4 graded neighbors score healthier than its B−, from Burton Township (A−) to Volo (A).
Fox Lake beats the Illinois average on 0 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 9. 16% of adults binge drink in Fox Lake.
| Fox Lake | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 18% | 16% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 33% | 35% | 36% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 33% | 33% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 37% | 35% | 35% |
| What stands out | Fox Lake | IL |
|---|---|---|
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 13.5% | 10.3% |
| More adults with COPD | 8.2% | 6.3% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 9.3% | 7.6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Fox Lake. Close and well known come first.
Big draw13 mi Theme parkSix Flags Great America3.0M visitors a year
33 mi Stadium & arenaAllstate Arena
31 mi MuseumMcDonald's #1 Store Museum
22 mi MuseumIllinois Railway Museum
25 mi TheatreAlpine Valley Music Theatre7 mi MuseumVolo Auto MuseumSix Flags Great America: Feather Better, CC BY 4.0 · Allstate Arena: Nkon21, CC BY-SA 4.0 · McDonald's #1 Store Museum: Bruce Marlin, CC BY-SA 2.5 · Illinois Railway Museum: The original uploader was Slambo at English Wikipedia., CC BY-SA 2.0 · Alpine Valley Music Theatre: chad davis, CC BY-SA 2.0
3 within 15 miles of the center of Fox Lake
About 4 of every 100 Fox Lake residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Illinois.
Village in Illinois, United States
Fox Lake is a village in Lake County, Illinois and Burton Township, McHenry County, Illinois, United States. Fox Lake is a northwestern Chicago suburb. The population was 10,978 at the 2020 census. It is located 50 miles north of Chicago.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
4 towns share a border with Fox Lake.
All 4 graded towns on its borders grade higher than its C+; Antioch Township (B) is closest.
| Town | IL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fox Lake | #509 | C+ | C+ | C+ | B | B− |
| Spring Grove | #172 | A | D | A | A− | A− |
| Volo | #276 | A− | C− | — | B− | A |
| Burton Township | #207 | A− | C | — | A− | A− |
| Antioch Township | #397 | B | C+ | — | B | A− |
Volo, Burton Township and Antioch Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Fox Lake with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Fox Lake grades C+ overall, better than 44% of U.S. towns and #509 of 767 in Illinois. It grades B− for health, C+ for safety and B for schools. Hazard risk is its weak spot, with a D.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C+.
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