Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 32,655, settled in 1959.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Glendale Heights grades B+ overall, 360th of 767 graded towns in Illinois. Natural-hazard risk is low. The catch is cost: the typical home is worth about $324K, 3.6 years of the Chicago metro’s $91K median household income. Only 6 of Illinois’ 1,285 towns score lower on history. Glendale Heights is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 80% of U.S. towns. Glendale Heights’ median rent is $1,590 a month, above both Illinois’ towns ($1,128 a month) and U.S. towns ($1,185 a month).
Where Glendale Heights beats most towns.
Where Glendale Heights’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 Glendale Heights is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 173 in 1960, 33,176 in 2020. The archive holds 1 old photo or paper going back to 2008 and 7 maps from 1908 on.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Glendale Heights. Close and well known come first.
Big draw22 mi Stadium & arenaWrigley Field
Big draw24 mi Stadium & arenaSoldier Field
Big draw27 mi MuseumBarack Obama Presidential Center
Big draw24 mi Stadium & arenaRate Field
Big draw21 mi Stadium & arenaUnited Center
12 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 · Rate Field: User Enoch Lai on en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 · United Center: User:JeremyA, CC BY-SA 2.5 · Allstate Arena: Nkon21, CC BY-SA 4.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Glendale Heights, 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 Glendale Heights.
Glendale Heights carries less natural-hazard risk than nearly all of Illinois (mostly inland flooding) and is safe by national standards but not by Illinois’s.
4.4 miles of trail in 14 parks and preserves. Glendale Heights’ trail density is 0.8 miles per square mile. The biggest place to walk is East Branch Forest Preserve, 109 acres with 1.1 miles of trail.
| Glendale Heights | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.8 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 5.5% | 3.6% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. East Branch Forest Preserve | 1.1 mi | 109 |
| 2. Siems Park | 0.7 mi | 16 |
| 3. Ollman Park | 0.3 mi | 9 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk lower than 99% of Illinois towns, with expected losses of about $186 per resident a year; that rating is what its A for hazard risk is built on.
The FEMA risk score in Glendale Heights is 7 of 100. Since 1978, 46 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Glendale Heights.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Most working residents leave Glendale Heights for work: only 5% work in town. Since 2013, Glendale Heights has lost 917 jobs, to 10,313 in 2023. The top destinations are Chicago (14%), Carol Stream (6%) and Addison (4%).
| Glendale Heights | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 5.1% | 8.4% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 27 minutes | 26 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 10% | 8.4% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $87,000 | $83,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
17% of adults have been diagnosed with depression in Glendale Heights. Glendale Heights beats the Illinois average on 8 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 4. 30% of adults have high blood pressure in Glendale Heights.
| Glendale Heights | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 22% | 23% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 36% | 33% | 33% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 35% | 35% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 18% | 16% |
| What stands out | Glendale Heights | IL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 5.4% | 7.6% |
| Fewer adults with arthritis | 19.1% | 24.2% |
| More uninsured adults | 12.6% | 9.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
At 12.5 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 51% of Illinois’s graded towns. Violent crime is rare: 34 reported in 2025, 1 per 1,000 residents.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Glendale Heights has chilly, snowy winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 84°, January nights drop to 16° and about 42 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Adults 18 to 34 are 29% of residents (23% statewide); people 65 and older are 13% of residents (17% statewide). 20% of Glendale Heights residents are under 18. 30% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 38% across Illinois.
| Glendale Heights | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aged 65 or older | 13% | 19% | 18% |
| Median age | 36.1 years | 40.7 years | 40.5 years |
| Under 18 | 20% | 22% | 22% |
49% women, 51% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±1.6 points. Across Illinois, 50.6% of residents are women.
| Glendale Heights | IL | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 9.9% | 11.5% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 9.9% | 10.4% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 13.6% | 9.1% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 15.2% | 13.6% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 14% | 13.3% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 12.8% | 12.4% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 11.6% | 12.8% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 8.3% | 10% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 4.5% | 7% | 7% |
| No diploma | 17.3% | 9.5% | 10.4% |
| High school | 29.7% | 25.1% | 26% |
| Some college | 16.8% | 19.2% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 6.4% | 8.3% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 22.7% | 22.6% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 7.2% | 15.3% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
The typical Glendale Heights home is worth about $324,000, up 4.2% in a year, 10% above the Illinois typical home.
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
18 within 15 miles of the center of Glendale Heights
About 8 of every 100 Glendale Heights residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Illinois.
Village in Illinois, United States
Glendale Heights is a village in DuPage County, Illinois, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 33,176. The village is almost entirely residential, and is a far west suburb of Chicago.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
3 towns share a border with Glendale Heights.
| Town | IL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glendale Heights | #360 | B+ | C− | B+ | B | B+ |
| Bloomingdale | #202 | A− | D | — | A− | A− |
| Carol Stream | #147 | A | C− | A− | B+ | A |
| Addison | #430 | B | C | B | C+ | B |
Bloomingdale reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Glendale Heights with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Glendale Heights grades B+ overall, better than 66% of U.S. towns and #360 of 767 in Illinois. It grades B+ 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−.
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