Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Hillsboro gives you more for your money than most places: a typical home costs about $153K, 2.4 years of the county’s $64K median household income. It grades B+ overall, 354th among Illinois's 767 graded towns. 28% of working residents work locally in Hillsboro, above both the Illinois town median (8.3%) and the median of U.S. towns (8%). On history, just 128 of Illinois’ 1,285 towns do better. The biggest place to walk is H & B Bremer Wildlife Sanctuary, 193 acres with 4.2 miles of trail.
Where Hillsboro beats most towns.
Hayward-Hill HouseEach subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Illinois), ordered by how far Hillsboro is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 853 in 1860, 5,902 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1912 and 2 maps from 1947 on.
4 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Hillsboro, 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 Hillsboro.
Hillsboro trades lower home prices for longer drives to work, is healthier than towns with similar incomes and is safe by national standards but not by Illinois’s.
Homes are within reach (about $153K for the typical one, A for cost of living), but half of working residents commute more than 21 miles. The median property tax bill is $1,714, against $5,298 across Illinois, another input to its cost-of-living grade.
The median rent in Hillsboro is $715 a month. Typical home values rose 12% in the year to September 2026.
| Hillsboro | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $715 a month | $1,129 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 78% | 75% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. H & B Bremer Wildlife Sanctuary | 4.2 mi | 193 |
| 2. Challacombe Park | — | 17 |
| 3. Central Park | — | 6 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Against the 5,851 U.S. towns with household incomes like Hillsboro’s, it is healthier than 67%, so its C isn’t only a matter of income.
Hillsboro beats the Illinois average on 0 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 10. 20% of adults binge drink in Hillsboro.
| Hillsboro | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 18% | 16% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 13% | 14% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 42% | 37% | 35% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 75% | 78% | 79% |
| What stands out | Hillsboro | IL |
|---|---|---|
| More smokers | 18% | 12.1% |
| More adults facing a utility shut-off | 10.1% | 7.8% |
| More adults with COPD | 8.1% | 6.3% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
At 12.4 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 54% of Illinois’s graded towns. Reported crimes fell from 67 to 34 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
Hillsboro’s property crime rate is 4.5 per 1,000 residents.
| Hillsboro | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 4.5 per 1,000 residents | 7.9 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 1 per 1,000 residents | 1 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Hillsboro has chilly winters and warm summers. July afternoons reach 87°, January nights drop to 21° and about 16 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The average commute for its 2,057 working residents takes 20.4 minutes, against 27.8 across Illinois.
About one in 4 of Hillsboro’s working residents works in town. Since 2013, Hillsboro has added 327 jobs, to 2,695 in 2023. 12% of Hillsboro residents live below the poverty line.
| Hillsboro | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 20 minutes | 26 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $50,000 | $83,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 12% | 8.4% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 55% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
None within 15 miles of Hillsboro; the nearest are
About 5 of every 100 Hillsboro residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Illinois.
4 places in Hillsboro on the National Register of Historic Places.
12 notable people were born in Hillsboro.
City in Illinois, United States
Hillsboro is a city in and the county seat of Montgomery County, Illinois, United States. The population was 5,902 at the 2020 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
5 towns share a border with Hillsboro.
| Town | IL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hillsboro · Hillsboro Township | #354 | B+ | A | B+ | B | C |
| Taylor Springs | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Irving Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Butler Grove Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| East Fork Township | — | — | A | — | B | C− |
East Fork Township has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. East Fork Township reports no FBI crime data of its own. Taylor Springs, Irving Township and Butler Grove Township aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Hillsboro Township and Hillsboro are one community, graded once. Compare Hillsboro with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Hillsboro grades B+ overall, better than 68% of U.S. towns and #354 of 767 in Illinois. It grades C for health, B+ for safety and B for schools.
Not for the area. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades A.
12 notable people were born here, including Matt Hughes and Harry Bellaver.
