Gages LakeIL
A town of 10,819.
Is Gages Lake a good place to live?
For most people who can afford it, yes. Gages Lake grades B+ overall, 310th among Illinois's 767 graded towns. It is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 89% of U.S. towns. CDC estimates put its residents' health ahead of 87% of the country. What holds it back is price: the typical home is worth about $338K, 3.7 years of the Chicago metro’s $91K median household income. Only 36 of Illinois’ 1,285 towns score higher on hazard risk. Gages Lake’s trail density is 1.0 miles per square mile, against 0.3 in Illinois’ towns and 0.4 across U.S. towns. On history, just 127 of Illinois’ 1,285 towns do worse.
What makes Gages Lake stand out
Where Gages Lake beats most towns.
98% of working residents leave Gages Lake for work
Where Gages Lake’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
How Gages Lake grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Illinois), ordered by how far Gages Lake is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Six Flags Great America and 124 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Gages Lake. Close and well known come first.
Big draw3 mi Theme parkSix Flags Great America3.0M visitors a year
Big draw33 mi Stadium & arenaWrigley Field
Big draw39 mi Stadium & arenaSoldier Field
Big draw36 mi Stadium & arenaUnited Center
24 mi Stadium & arenaAllstate Arena
Big draw37 mi MuseumArt Institute of Chicago1.5M visitors a yearPhoto credits
Six Flags Great America: Feather Better, CC BY 4.0 · Wrigley Field: Ryan Dickey, CC BY 2.0 · Soldier Field: Photo by Joon Han Contact: [email protected], CC BY-SA 3.0 · United Center: User:JeremyA, CC BY-SA 2.5 · Allstate Arena: Nkon21, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Art Institute of Chicago: ajay_suresh, CC BY 2.0
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
Moving to Gages Lake: who provides what
Gages Lake is unincorporated, so Lake County and regional agencies provide most services.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Sep 12, 2025.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Gages Lake.
Gages Lake carries less natural-hazard risk than nearly all of Illinois (mostly inland flooding) and sends most of its workers to Chicago and beyond.
8.6% of Gages Lake is conserved land
On this, Gages Lake is where Illinois’ towns sit at 3.6% and U.S. towns at 4.3%. 3.3 miles of trail in 8 parks and preserves. The biggest place to walk is Warren Special Recreation, 68 acres with 1.7 miles of trail.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Warren Special Recreation | 1.7 mi | 68 |
| 2. Twin Lakes Park | 0.2 mi | 10 |
| 3. Rule Park | 0.2 mi | 7 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Gages Lake earns an A for health
18% of Gages Lake adults get no exercise outside work. Gages Lake beats the Illinois average on 12 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 0. 11% of Gages Lake adults report frequent physical distress.
| Gages Lake | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 23% | 25% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 11% | 13% | 14% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 33% | 33% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 17% | 17% |
| What stands out | Gages Lake | IL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 10.7% | 15.9% |
| Fewer uninsured adults | 6.9% | 9.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Inland flooding leads a very low hazard risk in Gages Lake
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk lower than 95% of Illinois towns, with expected losses of about $296 per resident a year; that rating is what its A for hazard risk is built on.
Gages Lake’s FEMA risk score is 15 of 100. Since 1982, 4 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Gages Lake.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Most working residents commute out of Gages Lake
Gages Lake has 1,329 jobs for its 5,048 working residents: even if every job went to a resident, most would still commute out. Jobs based here fell from 2,432 in 2013 to 1,329.
Most working residents leave Gages Lake for work: only 2% work in town. 22% of workers work from home in Gages Lake. Jobs based in Gages Lake fell to 1,329 in 2023, 1,103 fewer than in 2013.
| Gages Lake | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 22% | 11% | 11% |
| Median household income | $103,000 | $83,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 2.2% | 8.4% | 8% |
| Below the poverty line | 7% | 8.4% | 9.6% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Snowy winters and pleasant summers in Gages Lake
Gages Lake has chilly, snowy winters and pleasant summers. The July high in Gages Lake is 83°F.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Gages Lake earns a C− for cost of living
Typical home values rose 6.6% in the year to September 2026.
| Gages Lake | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,693 a month | $1,128 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 83% | 75% | 73% |
Typical home value
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
An age mix much like Illinois’s
No broad age group is more than 4 points off the Illinois average. 43% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 38% across Illinois.
| Gages Lake | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 43% | 29% | 29% |
| Aged 65 or older | 15% | 19% | 18% |
Ages · share of residents
Education · adults 25 and older
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±1.6 points. Across Illinois, 50.6% of residents are women.
| Gages Lake | IL | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 12.3% | 11.5% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 9.8% | 10.4% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 8.6% | 9.1% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 13.5% | 13.6% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 12.7% | 13.3% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 11.9% | 12.4% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 16.6% | 12.8% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 10% | 10% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 4.6% | 7% | 7% |
| No diploma | 4% | 9.5% | 10.4% |
| High school | 21% | 25.1% | 26% |
| Some college | 20.8% | 19.2% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 11.7% | 8.3% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 26.3% | 22.6% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 16.2% | 15.3% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Everything we know about Gages Lake
Colleges nearby
5 within 15 miles of the center of Gages Lake
About 7 of every 100 Gages Lake residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Illinois.
About Gages Lake
Census-designated place in Illinois, United States
Gages Lake is a census-designated place (CDP) in Warren Township, Lake County, Illinois, United States. The population was 10,637 at the 2020 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 3.2 sq mi
- Elevation
- 771 ft
- Area code
- 847
Gages Lake’s neighbors
5 towns share a border with Gages Lake.
| Town | IL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gages Lake | #310 | B+ | C− | — | B | A |
| Gurnee | #450 | B− | C− | C | B− | A |
| Third Lake | — | — | B− | — | B+ | A |
| Grayslake | #52 | A+ | C+ | A− | B+ | A |
| Warren Township | #362 | B+ | C− | — | B− | A |
| Avon Township | #401 | B | C | — | B− | A− |
Third Lake has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Gages Lake, Third Lake, Warren Township and Avon Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Gages Lake with a neighbor →
Questions about Gages Lake
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Gages Lake, IL a good place to live?
For most people who can afford it, yes. Gages Lake grades B+ overall, better than 72% of U.S. towns and #310 of 767 in Illinois. It grades A for health and B for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a C−.
Is Gages Lake, IL expensive?
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−.