Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Lansing is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades C− overall, 668th among Illinois's 767 graded towns, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is health: residents are healthier than 55% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. Its lowest everyday mark is in schools: its public schools trail 80% of Illinois towns on state tests and graduation. A typical home there costs about $201K, 2.2 years of the Chicago metro’s $91K median household income. Lansing is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 86% of U.S. towns. Lansing’s average trip to work is 33 minutes, above both the Illinois town median (26 minutes) and the median of U.S. towns (25 minutes). Ford Airport Hangar is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Where Lansing beats most towns.
Where Lansing’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 Lansing is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 830 in 1900, 29,076 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1926 and 8 maps from 1892 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Lansing. Close and well known come first.
Big draw21 mi Stadium & arenaSoldier Field
Big draw15 mi MuseumBarack Obama Presidential Center
Big draw27 mi Stadium & arenaWrigley Field
Big draw19 mi Stadium & arenaRate Field
Big draw23 mi Stadium & arenaUnited Center
Big draw22 mi MuseumArt Institute of Chicago1.5M visitors a yearSoldier Field: Photo by Joon Han Contact: [email protected], CC BY-SA 3.0 · Barack Obama Presidential Center: AlphaBeta135, CC0 · Wrigley Field: Ryan Dickey, CC BY 2.0 · Rate Field: User Enoch Lai on en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 · United Center: User:JeremyA, CC BY-SA 2.5 · Art Institute of Chicago: ajay_suresh, CC BY 2.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Lansing, 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 Lansing.
Lansing has seen reported crime fall by a third or more, but it has a long record of flood insurance claims.
Reported crimes fell from 794 to 518 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
Lansing’s property crime rate is 15.8 per 1,000 residents.
| Lansing | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 15.8 per 1,000 residents | 7.9 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 2.7 per 1,000 residents | 1 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Most working residents leave Lansing for work: only 7% work in town. 14% of Lansing residents live below the poverty line. Jobs based in Lansing fell to 7,142 in 2023, 1,103 fewer than in 2013.
| Lansing | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 14% | 8.4% | 9.6% |
| Work from home | 8.9% | 11% | 11% |
| Median household income | $76,000 | $83,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
| Lansing | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 3.1% | 3.7% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.3 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Erfert Park | 0.6 mi | 19 |
| 2. Rotary Park | 0.5 mi | 9 |
| 3. Lan-Oak Park | 0.3 mi | 17 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
The typical Lansing home is worth about $201,000, up 1.7% in a year, 32% below the Illinois typical home.
| Lansing | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,268 a month | $1,128 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 72% | 75% | 73% |
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
209 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 15 properties have flooded more than once.
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 72% of U.S. communities. Since 1979, 209 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Lansing.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Lansing has chilly winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 84°, January nights drop to 17° and about 28 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
No broad age group is more than 4 points off the Illinois average. Lansing has lost 3.5% of its people since 2020, down to 28,068 in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. 16% of residents are 65 or older in Lansing.
| Lansing | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aged 65 or older | 16% | 19% | 18% |
| Under 18 | 24% | 22% | 22% |
53% women, 47% men
About 90 men for every 100 women (the survey’s margin: ±2.2 points). Across Illinois, 50.6% of residents are women.
| Lansing | IL | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 11.5% | 11.5% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 12.2% | 10.4% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 6.8% | 9.1% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 12.9% | 13.6% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 12.2% | 13.3% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 14.8% | 12.4% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 14% | 12.8% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 9% | 10% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 6.7% | 7% | 7% |
| No diploma | 6.4% | 9.5% | 10.4% |
| High school | 30.5% | 25.1% | 26% |
| Some college | 26.2% | 19.2% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 8.7% | 8.3% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 16.8% | 22.6% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 11.3% | 15.3% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Lansing beats the Illinois average on 1 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 12.
| Lansing | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 24% | 13% | 14% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 22% | 23% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 40% | 35% | 36% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 36% | 33% | 33% |
| What stands out | Lansing | IL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 6.7% | 7.6% |
| More adults facing a utility shut-off | 12.2% | 7.8% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
12 within 15 miles of the center of Lansing
About 5 of every 100 Lansing residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Illinois.
Village in the United States
Lansing is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Lansing is a south suburb of Chicago. The population was 29,076 at the 2020 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
8 towns share a border with Lansing.
| Town | IL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lansing | #668 | C− | C+ | C− | C− | B− |
| Calumet City | #733 | D | C+ | — | D | C− |
| Lynwood | #691 | D | C | — | C− | C |
| South Holland | #743 | D | C− | C− | D | C+ |
| Thornton Township | #693 | D | C+ | — | C− | C |
| Bloom Township | #663 | C− | C+ | — | C− | C |
Calumet City, Lynwood, Thornton Township and Bloom Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Lansing with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Lansing grades C− overall, better than 18% of U.S. towns and #668 of 767 in Illinois. It grades B− for health, C− for safety and C− for schools. Schools is its weak spot, with a C−.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C+.
2 notable people were born here, including Harry Smith and Tristen Gaspadarek.
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