Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 8,724, settled in 1857.
Few places in the country grade higher. Glencoe earns an A+, 11th among Illinois's 767 graded towns. On CDC health estimates it is near the top nationally, its schools outperform 98% of the state's, and the median household earns $249K. The exception is cost of living: the typical home is worth about $1.7 million, 18.5 years of the Chicago metro’s $91K median household income. 88% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more in Glencoe, above both Illinois’ towns (29%) and U.S. towns (29%). Few places in the country are easier to get around without a car. Only 28 of Illinois’ 1,285 towns score higher on hazard risk.
Where Glencoe beats most towns.
| Widest gap | Glencoe | IL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 5% | 15.9% |
Census counts: 387 in 1880, 8,849 in 2020. The archive holds 24 old photos and papers going back to 1891 and 8 maps from 1900 on.
6 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Illinois), ordered by how far Glencoe is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Glencoe. Close and well known come first.
Big draw14 mi Stadium & arenaWrigley Field
Big draw20 mi Stadium & arenaSoldier Field
Big draw26 mi MuseumBarack Obama Presidential Center
Big draw18 mi Stadium & arenaUnited Center
Big draw22 mi Stadium & arenaRate Field
11 mi Stadium & arenaAllstate ArenaWrigley 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 · Allstate Arena: Nkon21, CC BY-SA 4.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Glencoe, 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 Glencoe.
Glencoe is the healthiest town in Illinois and carries less natural-hazard risk than nearly all of Illinois (mostly inland flooding), but it has homes that cost more against local pay than most of Illinois.
At 18.5 years of the Chicago metro’s $91K median household income, the typical home (about $1.68M) costs more against local pay than in any other Illinois town; that ratio is one input to its D− for cost of living. Home values rose 59% in five years, to about $1.68M, against 30% across Illinois.
Glencoe’s median rent is $2,211 a month. Typical home values rose 15% in the year to September 2026. 92% of Glencoe households own their home.
| Glencoe | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $2,211 a month | $1,128 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 92% | 75% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
5.8 miles of trail in 26 parks and preserves. The trail density in Glencoe is 1.5 miles per square mile. The biggest park or preserve is Forest Preserve District of Cook County, at 138 acres.
| Glencoe | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 1.5 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 3.2% | 3.7% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Skokie Lagoons Central | 0.8 mi | 124 |
| 2. Forest Preserve District of Cook County | 0.7 mi | 138 |
| 3. Skokie Lagoons North | 0.7 mi | 43 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
It is the healthiest of the 767 Illinois towns we grade on the CDC estimates behind the Health Grade. Its widest gap with Illinois is food insecurity: 5% of its 6,343 adults worry about having enough food, against 15.9% statewide.
24% of adults have obesity in Glencoe. Among 767 Illinois towns, just 5 have a lower share of adults who have diabetes than Glencoe. 27% of adults have high blood pressure in Glencoe.
| Glencoe | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 24% | 37% | 35% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 11% | 17% | 17% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 8.2% | 13% | 14% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 5.6% | 13% | 14% |
| What stands out | Glencoe | IL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 5% | 15.9% |
| Fewer uninsured adults | 3.5% | 9.9% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 9.9% | 7.6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk lower than 96% of Illinois towns, with expected losses of about $470 per resident a year; that rating is what its A for hazard risk is built on.
Since 1978, 15 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Glencoe.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Reported crimes fell from 72 to 45 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings. Violent crime is rare: 0 reported in 2025, 0 per 1,000 residents.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Glencoe has chilly, snowy winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 82°, January nights drop to 18° and about 34 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The average commute for its 3,643 working residents takes 36.3 minutes, against 27.8 across Illinois. 33.7% of workers work from home, against 15.9% across Illinois.
Most working residents leave Glencoe for work: only 4% work in town. Only 5 of the 768 Illinois towns we compare have a higher median household income than Glencoe. Since 2013, Glencoe has added 211 jobs, to 2,997 in 2023.
| Glencoe | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $249,000 | $83,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 36 minutes | 26 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 2.1% | 8.4% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 4.4% | 8.4% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
16 within 15 miles of the center of Glencoe
About 6 of every 100 Glencoe residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Illinois.
3.2% of the town is conserved land, across 26 parks and preserves.
6 places in Glencoe on the National Register of Historic Places.
11 notable people were born in Glencoe.
Village in the United States
Glencoe () is a lakefront village in northeastern Cook County, Illinois, United States, 21 miles (34 km) north of downtown Chicago. As of the 2020 census, the population was 8,849. Glencoe is part of Chicago's North Shore and one of the wealthiest communities in Illinois. Based on 2023 census data, the median household income in Glencoe was $250,001 making it the second wealthiest Illinois ZIP code.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
7 towns share a border with Glencoe.
| Town | IL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glencoe | #11 | A+ | D− | A− | A+ | A+ |
| Winnetka | #10 | A+ | D | A− | A+ | A+ |
| New Trier Township | #45 | A+ | D− | — | A+ | A+ |
| Northbrook | #61 | A | D | B+ | A+ | A+ |
| Northfield | #26 | A+ | D | A− | A+ | A+ |
| Northfield Township | #117 | A | D− | — | A | A+ |
| Highland Park | #57 | A | D− | — | A | A+ |
| Moraine Township | #58 | A | D | — | A | A+ |
New Trier Township, Northfield Township, Highland Park and Moraine Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Glencoe with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Yes, by almost any measure. Glencoe grades A+ overall, among the top 2% of U.S. towns and #11 of 767 in Illinois. It grades A+ for health, A− for safety and A+ for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a D−.
Yes. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades D−.
11 notable people were born here, including Archibald MacLeish and Lili Taylor.
_-_Chicago,_IL_-_June_2026.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}