Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Highwood grades B+ overall, ranked 298th of 767 in Illinois. Natural-hazard risk is low. Its public schools beat 92% of Illinois towns on state tests and graduation. What holds it back is price: the typical home is worth about $498K, 5.5 years of the Chicago metro’s $91K median household income. Highwood is more walkable than 95% of U.S. towns. Among 768 Illinois towns, just 9 have a lower July high than Highwood. Highwood has 1 place on the National Register.
Where Highwood beats most towns.
Where Highwood’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 Highwood is from typical.
Its grades run from A+ for hazard risk (better than 95% of comparable towns) to D for cost of living (better than 6%), so the B+ overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 451 in 1890, 5,074 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1887 and 8 maps from 1900 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Highwood. Close and well known come first.
Big draw20 mi Stadium & arenaWrigley Field
Big draw26 mi Stadium & arenaSoldier Field
Big draw31 mi MuseumBarack Obama Presidential Center
Big draw13 mi Theme parkSix Flags Great America3.0M visitors a year
Big draw28 mi Stadium & arenaRate Field
Big draw24 mi Stadium & arenaUnited CenterWrigley 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 · Six Flags Great America: Feather Better, CC BY 4.0 · Rate Field: User Enoch Lai on en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 · United Center: User:JeremyA, CC BY-SA 2.5
Who provides power, water and the rest in Highwood, 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 Highwood.
Highwood carries less natural-hazard risk than nearly all of Illinois (mostly inland flooding) and owes part of its health edge to its incomes, but it has property taxes 1.7 times the Illinois norm.
The median property tax bill is $9,161, against $5,298 across Illinois, another input to its cost-of-living grade.
At $1,900 a month, Highwood’s median rent is above both the Illinois town median ($1,128 a month) and the median of U.S. towns ($1,185 a month). 56% of Highwood households own their home. Typical home values rose 11% in the year to September 2026.
| Highwood | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,900 a month | $1,128 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 56% | 75% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk lower than 99% of Illinois towns, with expected losses of about $222 per resident a year; that rating is what its A+ for hazard risk is built on.
At 8 of 100, Highwood’s FEMA risk score is against 50 of 100 in Illinois’ towns and 44 of 100 across U.S. towns.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Most working residents leave Highwood for work: only 6% work in town. 16% of residents live below the poverty line in Highwood. Jobs based in Highwood grew to 1,021 in 2023, 175 more than in 2013.
| Highwood | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 16% | 8.4% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 31 minutes | 26 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $108,000 | $83,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 5.5% | 8.4% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Highwood 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
Against the 7,478 U.S. towns with household incomes like Highwood’s, it is less healthy than 60%: its national edge comes with its incomes.
Highwood beats the Illinois average on 1 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 2.
| Highwood | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 7.9% | 8.1% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 22% | 23% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 75% | 78% | 79% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 17% | 17% |
| What stands out | Highwood | IL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults with arthritis | 21.5% | 24.2% |
| More uninsured adults | 15.2% | 9.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Highwood's reported crime rate is well below Illinois's. The property crime rate in Highwood is 4.6 per 1,000 residents. Most reported incidents are property crimes, mainly thefts.
| Highwood | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 4.6 per 1,000 residents | 7.9 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.6 per 1,000 residents | 1 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
People 65 and older are 22% of residents (17% statewide). Highwood has grown 4.9% since 2020, to 5,323 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. 39% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 38% across Illinois.
| Highwood | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 39% | 29% | 29% |
| Median age | 41 years | 40.7 years | 40.5 years |
47% women, 53% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±5.9 points. Across Illinois, 50.6% of residents are women.
| Highwood | IL | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 10.9% | 11.5% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 10.8% | 10.4% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 12% | 9.1% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 8.1% | 13.6% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 12.8% | 13.3% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 10.2% | 12.4% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 13.6% | 12.8% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 13.9% | 10% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 7.6% | 7% | 7% |
| No diploma | 19.4% | 9.5% | 10.4% |
| High school | 20.2% | 25.1% | 26% |
| Some college | 18.7% | 19.2% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 2.6% | 8.3% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 21.5% | 22.6% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 17.6% | 15.3% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
| Highwood | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 1.2% | 3.7% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.6 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Everts Park | 0.2 mi | 2 |
| 2. Openlands Lakeshore Preserve | — | 2 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
10 within 15 miles of the center of Highwood
About 6 of every 100 Highwood residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Illinois.
City in Illinois, United States
Highwood is a North Shore suburb of Chicago in Moraine Township, Lake County, Illinois, United States, 28 miles (45 km) north of downtown Chicago. As of the 2020 census, the population was 5,074.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
2 towns share a border with Highwood.
| Town | IL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Highwood | #298 | B+ | D | — | A | B+ |
| Highland Park | #57 | A | D− | — | A | A+ |
| Lake Forest | #12 | A+ | D | A− | A | A+ |
Highwood and Highland Park report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Highwood with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Highwood grades B+ overall, better than 72% of U.S. towns and #298 of 767 in Illinois. It grades B+ for health 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.
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