Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Home to 2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Few places in the country grade higher. Lena earns an A, 96th of 767 graded towns in Illinois. Its schools outperform 85% of the state's and natural-hazard risk is low. Its lowest mark, a B+, is in health. Lena has 2 places on the National Register. Lena’s median rent is $664 a month, below both the Illinois town median ($1,129 a month) and the median of U.S. towns ($1,185 a month). Among 768 Illinois towns, just 3 have a lower January low than Lena.
Where Lena beats most towns.
Lena Water TowerWhere Lena’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 Lena is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 1,294 in 1870, 2,772 in 2020. The archive holds 15 old photos and papers going back to 1933 and 2 maps from 1942 on.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Lena, 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 Lena.
Lena pairs an A overall with homes cheaper than the Illinois norm and has added a third more jobs in ten years.
Jobs based here grew from 625 in 2013 to 825.
Most working residents leave Lena for work: only 13% work in town. 3.1% of residents live below the poverty line in Lena. Since 2013, Lena has added 200 jobs, to 825 in 2023.
| Lena | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 3.1% | 8.4% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 13% | 8.3% | 8% |
| Median household income | $73,000 | $83,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Lena grades A overall with a typical home of about $209K, below the Illinois typical value; only 48 of the 183 Illinois towns graded A− or better can say that. Home values rose 51% in five years, to about $209K, against 30% across Illinois.
The typical Lena home is worth about $209,000, up 9.1% in a year, 29% below the Illinois typical home.
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 74% of U.S. communities. One flood insurance claim has been paid in Lena since 2022.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Lena has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers. Lena’s July high is 83°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Lena beats the Illinois average on 8 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 4. 31% of Lena adults sleep under 7 hours.
| Lena | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 35% | 36% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 10% | 13% | 14% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 37% | 35% | 35% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 80% | 78% | 79% |
| What stands out | Lena | IL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 8.5% | 13.2% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 10.3% | 15.9% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 11.1% | 7.6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
0.1 miles of trail in 3 parks and preserves.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Lions Park | — | 13 |
| 2. Dodds Park | — | 8 |
| 3. Polhill Park | — | 1 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
1 within 15 miles of the center of Lena
About 2 of every 100 Lena residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Illinois.
Village in Illinois, United States
Lena is a village in Stephenson County, Illinois. The population was 2,772 at the 2020 census. Lena was platted in 1853 and named after a place mentioned in a poem by Ossian.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
2 towns share a border with Lena.
| Town | IL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lena | #96 | A | B+ | — | A | B+ |
| Erin Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Kent Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Lena reports no FBI crime data of its own. Erin Township and Kent Township aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Lena with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Yes, by almost any measure. Lena grades A overall, better than 92% of U.S. towns and #96 of 767 in Illinois. It grades B+ for health and A 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 B+.