LakewoodIL
A town of 4,293, incorporated in 1933.
Is Lakewood a good place to live?
Lakewood is one of the best-graded places in America: an A+, 29th among Illinois's 767 graded towns. The median household earns $174K, it reports less crime per resident than 97% of U.S. towns, and CDC estimates put its residents' health ahead of 91% of the country. Its lowest mark, a C, is in cost of living. Lakewood’s median household income is $174,000, above both Illinois’ towns ($83,000) and U.S. towns ($80,000). Lakewood's schools rank ahead of 71% of Illinois towns.
What makes Lakewood stand out
Where Lakewood beats most towns.
Lakewood has grown 13% since 2010
3,811 counted in 2010 and 4,283 in 2020; an estimated 4,293 in 2025.
Growth has leveled off: within 1% of 2020, after 12.4% in the decade before.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts · Census Bureau estimate, July 1, 2025
How Lakewood grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Illinois), ordered by how far Lakewood is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Lakewood: who provides what
Who provides power, water and the rest in Lakewood, 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.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Lakewood.
Lakewood has less food insecurity than most of Illinois and sends most of its workers to Crystal Lake and beyond, but it has homes that cost more against local pay than most of Illinois.
A typical Lakewood home is worth about $606K
At 6.7 years of the Chicago metro’s $91K median household income, the typical home (about $606K) costs more against local pay than in 95% of Illinois towns; that ratio is one input to its C for cost of living. Home values rose 45% in five years, to about $606K, against 30% across Illinois.
The typical Lakewood home is worth about $606,000, up 7.2% in a year, about twice the Illinois typical home.
Typical home value
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Lakewood earns an A+ for safety
Violent crime is rare: 0 reported in 2025, 0 per 1,000 residents.
Lakewood’s property crime rate is 1.4 per 1,000 residents.
| Lakewood | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 1.4 per 1,000 residents | 7.9 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0 per 1,000 residents | 1 | 1.6 |
Violent crime per 1,000 residents
Property crime per 1,000 residents
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Lakewood earns an A for health
Its widest gap with Illinois is food insecurity: 8.1% of its 3,195 adults worry about having enough food, against 15.9% statewide. Against the 1,570 U.S. towns with household incomes like Lakewood’s, it is less healthy than 65%: its national edge comes with its incomes.
29% of adults sleep under 7 hours in Lakewood. Lakewood beats the Illinois average on 14 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 1. 11% of adults report frequent physical distress in Lakewood.
| Lakewood | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 35% | 36% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 17% | 17% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 11% | 13% | 14% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 23% | 25% |
| What stands out | Lakewood | IL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 8.1% | 15.9% |
| Fewer uninsured adults | 5.1% | 9.9% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 9.3% | 7.6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
| Lakewood | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 6.7% | 3.6% | 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. Brighton Oaks Park | — | 2 |
| 2. West Park | — | 2 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Most working residents commute out of Lakewood
Lakewood has 403 jobs for its 2,064 working residents: even if every job went to a resident, most would still commute out. 26.1% of workers work from home, against 15.9% across Illinois.
Most working residents leave Lakewood for work: only 1% work in town. 3.5% of Lakewood residents live below the poverty line. Since 2013, Lakewood has added 48 jobs, to 403 in 2023.
| Lakewood | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 3.5% | 8.4% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 1.2% | 8.4% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 28 minutes | 26 minutes | 25 minutes |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Four seasons and pleasant summers in Lakewood
Lakewood has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers. The July high in Lakewood is 83°F.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Lakewood faces a low natural-hazard risk, led by inland flooding
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 64% of U.S. communities. Since 1978, 3 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Lakewood.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Six Flags Great America and 48 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Lakewood. Close and well known come first.
Big draw25 mi Theme parkSix Flags Great America3.0M visitors a year
30 mi Stadium & arenaAllstate Arena
7 mi MuseumIllinois Railway Museum
29 mi MuseumMcDonald's #1 Store Museum
39 mi Zoo & aquariumBrookfield Zoo
36 mi TheatreAlpine Valley Music TheatrePhoto credits
Six Flags Great America: Feather Better, CC BY 4.0 · Allstate Arena: Nkon21, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Illinois Railway Museum: The original uploader was Slambo at English Wikipedia., CC BY-SA 2.0 · McDonald's #1 Store Museum: Bruce Marlin, CC BY-SA 2.5 · Brookfield Zoo: Ronincmc, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Alpine Valley Music Theatre: chad davis, CC BY-SA 2.0
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Everything we know about Lakewood
Colleges nearby
4 within 15 miles of the center of Lakewood
About 6 of every 100 Lakewood residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Illinois.
99% of working residents leave Lakewood for work
Where Lakewood’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
About Lakewood
Village in Illinois, United States
The Village of Lakewood is a village in McHenry County, Illinois, United States. It was incorporated as a village on July 10, 1933. Per the 2020 census, the population was 4,283.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 5.0 sq mi
Lakewood’s neighbors
One town shares a border with Lakewood.
| Town | IL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lakewood | #29 | A+ | C | A+ | B+ | A |
| Crystal Lake | #232 | A− | C | B | B+ | A |
Questions about Lakewood
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Lakewood, IL a good place to live?
Yes, by almost any measure. Lakewood grades A+ overall, better than 97% of U.S. towns and #29 of 767 in Illinois. It grades A for health, A+ for safety and B+ for schools.
Is Lakewood, IL expensive?
That is 6.7 years of the area's median household income ($90,887 across the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN metro area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C.