Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Lockport grades A overall, 127th of 767 graded towns in Illinois. It has 12 miles of trail. The median household earns $112K and it reports less crime per resident than 83% of U.S. towns. The trade-off is money: homes are expensive, about $374K for a typical one and 4.1 times the Chicago metro’s $91K median household income. Lockport’s average trip to work is 35 minutes, where Illinois’ towns sit at 26 minutes and U.S. towns at 25 minutes. Lockport has 5 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Illinois and Michigan Canal and Will County Historical Society Headquarters. Lockport's public schools beat 79% of Illinois towns on state tests and graduation.
Where Lockport beats most towns.
Illinois and Michigan Canal is a National Historic Landmark, the National Register’s top tier.
Census counts: 1,772 in 1870, 26,094 in 2020. The archive holds 18 old photos and papers going back to 1898 and 6 maps from 1892 on.
5 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Illinois), ordered by how far Lockport is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Lockport. Close and well known come first.
Big draw29 mi Stadium & arenaSoldier Field
Big draw31 mi Stadium & arenaWrigley Field
Big draw27 mi MuseumBarack Obama Presidential Center
Big draw26 mi Stadium & arenaRate Field
Big draw27 mi Stadium & arenaUnited Center
Big draw29 mi MuseumArt Institute of Chicago1.5M visitors a yearSoldier Field: Photo by Joon Han Contact: [email protected], CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wrigley Field: Ryan Dickey, CC BY 2.0 · Barack Obama Presidential Center: AlphaBeta135, CC0 · 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 Lockport, 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 Lockport.
Lockport has less food insecurity than most of Illinois and has seen reported crime fall by a fifth or more, but it has a long record of flood insurance claims.
Lockport’s trail density is 1.0 miles per square mile. The biggest park or preserve is Dellwood Park, at 131 acres.
| Lockport | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 1.0 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 7.1% | 3.6% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Dellwood Park | 0.7 mi | 131 |
| 2. Willow Walk Park | 0.7 mi | 12 |
| 3. Lambs Woods | — | 71 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Reported crimes fell from 163 to 123 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings. Violent crime is rare: 10 reported in 2025, 0.4 per 1,000 residents.
The property crime rate in Lockport is 4.2 per 1,000 residents.
| Lockport | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 4.2 per 1,000 residents | 7.9 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.4 per 1,000 residents | 1 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Its widest gap with Illinois is food insecurity: 9.7% of its 19,493 adults worry about having enough food, against 15.9% statewide. Against the 6,861 U.S. towns with household incomes like Lockport’s, it is healthier than 63%, a smaller edge than it has nationally: part of it comes with its incomes.
21% of Lockport adults binge drink.
| Lockport | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 21% | 18% | 16% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 35% | 35% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 8.8% | 11% | 12% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 11% | 13% | 14% |
| What stands out | Lockport | IL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 9.7% | 15.9% |
| Fewer uninsured adults | 6.6% | 9.9% |
| More binge drinkers | 21.4% | 17.8% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
The average commute for its 13,398 working residents takes 35.3 minutes, against 27.8 across Illinois. Jobs based here grew from 4,987 in 2013 to 7,024.
Most working residents leave Lockport for work: only 7% work in town. Jobs based in Lockport grew to 7,024 in 2023, 2,037 more than in 2013. The top destinations are Chicago (15%), Joliet (5%) and Bolingbrook (3%).
| Lockport | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $112,000 | $83,000 | $80,000 |
| Work from home | 14% | 11% | 11% |
| Below the poverty line | 6.8% | 8.4% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
85% of households own their home in Lockport. The typical Lockport home is worth about $374,000, up 4% in a year, 26% above the Illinois typical home.
| Lockport | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,525 a month | $1,128 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 85% | 75% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
73 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 10 properties have flooded more than once.
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 69% of U.S. communities. Since 1978, 73 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Lockport.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Lockport has chilly, snowy winters and warm summers. July afternoons reach 84°, January nights drop to 16° and about 33 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Adults 35 to 64 are 43% of residents (39% statewide); people 65 and older are 13% of residents (17% statewide). Lockport has grown 6.6% since 2020, to 27,822 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. 45% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 38% across Illinois.
| Lockport | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 45% | 29% | 29% |
| Aged 65 or older | 13% | 19% | 18% |
| Median age | 38.5 years | 40.7 years | 40.5 years |
| Under 18 | 23% | 22% | 22% |
51% women, 49% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±1.5 points. Across Illinois, 50.6% of residents are women. Median age: women 38.3, men 38.7.
| Lockport | IL | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 12.5% | 11.5% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 10.9% | 10.4% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 8.2% | 9.1% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 12.8% | 13.6% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 14.3% | 13.3% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 15.7% | 12.4% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 12.9% | 12.8% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 7.9% | 10% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 4.9% | 7% | 7% |
| No diploma | 2.7% | 9.5% | 10.4% |
| High school | 24.9% | 25.1% | 26% |
| Some college | 18.9% | 19.2% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 9% | 8.3% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 28.3% | 22.6% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 16.2% | 15.3% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
7 within 15 miles of the center of Lockport
About 7 of every 100 Lockport residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Illinois.
Where Lockport’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
5 places in Lockport on the National Register of Historic Places.
13 notable people were born in Lockport.
City in Illinois, United States
Lockport is a city in Will County, Illinois, United States, located 30 miles southwest of Chicago. Per the 2020 census, the population was 26,094. The city was incorporated in 1853. It is situated along the Illinois and Michigan (I&M) Canal, and was the headquarters of the canal when the canal was operating. A section of the canal runs through Lockport, including the remains of the canal's Lock No. 1 from which the town received its name. The canal right-of-way is now the Illinois and Michigan National Heritage Corridor.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
4 towns share a border with Lockport.
| Town | IL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lockport | #127 | A | C− | A− | A− | A− |
| Bonnie Brae | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Fairmont | #547 | C+ | B− | — | B+ | D |
| Homer Glen | #160 | A | D | A+ | A− | A− |
| Lockport Heights | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Fairmont reports no FBI crime data of its own. Bonnie Brae and Lockport Heights aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Lockport with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Lockport grades A overall, better than 90% of U.S. towns and #127 of 767 in Illinois. It grades A− for health, A− for safety and A− for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a C−.
Yes. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C−.
13 notable people were born here, including Richaun Holmes and Merritt Giffin.
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