Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Morris Township is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades B− overall, 468th of 767 graded towns in Illinois, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is incomes: the median household earns $74K. It also does better than most on health: it is healthier than 61% of U.S. towns. Its lowest everyday mark is in schools: its schools rank behind 63% of the state's. A typical home there costs about $206K, 2.3 years of the Chicago metro’s $91K median household income. History is its standout character grade: an A, better than 94% of U.S. towns. Only 63 of Illinois’ 1,285 towns score higher on history. 47% of households own their home in Morris Township, against 75% in Illinois’ towns and 73% across U.S. towns. The biggest park or preserve is Gebhard Woods State Park, at 49 acres.
Where Morris Township beats most towns.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Illinois), ordered by how far Morris Township is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 2,105 in 1860, 14,163 in 2020. The archive holds 18 old photos and papers going back to 1874 and 6 maps from 1892 on.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Morris Township, 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 Morris Township.
Morris Township trades workers with Morris and other neighbors and is mostly renters.
| Morris Township | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 6.6% | 3.6% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.5 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Gebhard Woods State Park | 0.4 mi | 49 |
| 2. Goold Park | — | 16 |
| 3. William G. Stratton State Park | 0.1 mi | 14 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its public schools are run by the Morris CHSD 101 school district. Two of its 5 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Morris Community High School, with 926 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shabbona Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 360 | B− |
| Morris Community High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 926 | B+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within IL on state tests and graduation
Morris Township has chilly winters and warm summers. July afternoons reach 85°, January nights drop to 16° and about 25 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Morris Township has about as many jobs (3,702) as working residents, but only 481 people both live and work here. The average commute takes 21.2 minutes, against 27.8 across Illinois.
Most working residents leave Morris Township for work: only 14% work in town. The average trip to work in Morris Township is 21 minutes. Since 2013, Morris Township has added 652 jobs, to 3,702 in 2023.
| Morris Township | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 21 minutes | 26 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 14% | 8.3% | 8% |
| Median household income | $74,000 | $83,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 10% | 8.4% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
19% of Morris Township adults binge drink. Morris Township beats the Illinois average on 4 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 2.
| Morris Township | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 18% | 16% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 35% | 35% | 36% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 32% | 33% | 33% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 22% | 22% | 23% |
| What stands out | Morris Township | IL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 13% | 15.9% |
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 10.9% | 13.2% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 9.2% | 7.6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 59% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
None within 15 miles of Morris Township; the nearest are
About 8 of every 100 Morris Township residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Illinois.
City in Illinois, United States
Morris is a city in and the county seat of Grundy County, Illinois, United States and part of the southwest Chicago metropolitan area. The population was 14,163 as of the 2020 census. A team of ten anthropologists and sociologists from the nearby University of Chicago studied the city in depth and reported its findings in W. Lloyd Warner, editor, Democracy in Jonesville: A Study of Quality and Inequality (1949).
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
5 towns share a border with Morris Township.
| Town | IL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Morris Township | #468 | B− | B− | — | C+ | B |
| Morris | #442 | B | B− | C+ | B+ | B |
| Wauponsee Township | — | — | B+ | — | C+ | B |
| Goose Lake Township | — | — | C+ | — | A− | B |
| Erienna Township | — | — | B | — | B+ | B |
| Saratoga Township | #289 | B+ | C+ | — | A | B |
Wauponsee Township, Goose Lake Township and Erienna Township have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Morris Township, Wauponsee Township, Goose Lake Township, Erienna Township and Saratoga Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Morris Township with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Morris Township grades B− overall, better than 51% of U.S. towns and #468 of 767 in Illinois. It grades B for health and C+ for schools. Hazard risk 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 B−.