Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 26,584, incorporated in 1874.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Norwood Park Township grades A overall, 133rd among Illinois's 767 graded towns. It is more walkable than 98% of U.S. towns. CDC estimates put its residents' health ahead of 86% of the country and the median household earns $90K. What holds it back is price: the typical home is worth about $381K, 4.2 years of the Chicago metro’s $91K median household income. Norwood Park Township’s density of trails is 1.7 miles per square mile, where Illinois’ towns sit at 0.3 and U.S. towns at 0.4.
Where Norwood Park Township beats most towns.
| School | Grades | Students |
|---|---|---|
| Union Ridge Elem School | PK–8 | 664 |
| J Leigh Elem School | PK–4 | 612 |
| St. Sava Academy | PK–8 | 127 |
8.5% of the town is conserved land, across 3 parks and preserves.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Illinois), ordered by how far Norwood Park Township is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 14,408 in 1930, 38,303 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1978 and 7 maps from 1891 on.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Norwood Park Township. Close and well known come first.
Big draw9 mi Stadium & arenaWrigley Field
Big draw13 mi Stadium & arenaSoldier Field
Big draw17 mi MuseumBarack Obama Presidential Center
Big draw10 mi Stadium & arenaUnited Center
4 mi Stadium & arenaAllstate Arena
Big draw14 mi Stadium & arenaRate FieldWrigley Field: Ryan Dickey, CC BY 2.0 · Soldier Field: Photo by Joon Han Contact: [email protected], CC BY-SA 3.0 · Barack Obama Presidential Center: AlphaBeta135, CC0 · United Center: User:JeremyA, CC BY-SA 2.5 · Allstate Arena: Nkon21, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Rate Field: User Enoch Lai on en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Norwood Park 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 Norwood Park Township.
Walkers can cover 6.0 miles of trail in 3 parks and preserves.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Norridge Park | 0.6 mi | 18 |
| 2. Jaycee Park | — | 5 |
| 3. Brickton Park | — | 4 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
The largest public high school is Ridgewood Comm High School, with 988 students. Three of its 5 schools are below, each with the reason it’s listed. 4 public schools serve Norwood Park Township, with 2,763 students in all.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Union Ridge Elem SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–8 | Grades PK–8 | 664 | A− |
| Ridgewood Comm High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 988 | B− |
| J Giles Elem SchoolTop results in townGrades 5–8 | Grades 5–8 | 499 | A |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within IL on state tests and graduation
In Norwood Park Township, just over a fifth of adults get no exercise outside work, below both Illinois’ towns (23%) and U.S. towns (25%). 27% of Norwood Park Township adults have obesity. Also worth knowing: the town does better than the Illinois average on 9 of 32 CDC measures and worse on 1. Two figures for adults locally: 14% report frequent mental distress, 32% sleep under 7 hours.
| Norwood Park Township | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 37% | 35% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 17% | 17% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 32% | 35% | 36% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 18% | 16% |
| What stands out | Norwood Park Township | IL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing a utility shut-off | 5.5% | 7.8% |
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 10.1% | 13.2% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 9.2% | 7.6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Expect July afternoons of 84° and January nights of 17°, with about 38 inches of snow a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
FEMA expects less storm and flood damage in Norwood Park Township than in nearly two thirds of U.S. communities. Federal disaster aid has reached households in Norwood Park Township after 2 declared disasters, most recently in 2000. Expected losses in Norwood Park Township break down as 36% from inland flooding and 34% from cold waves.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Among adults 25 and older in Norwood Park Township, 37% hold a bachelor’s degree or more. Adults 18 to 34 are 16% of residents (23% statewide); people 65 and older are 21% of residents (17% statewide). Its midpoint age comes in at 45.1 years. It has lost 3.1% of its people since 2020, down to 26,584 in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate.
| Norwood Park Township | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 45.1 years | 40.7 years | 40.5 years |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 37% | 29% | 29% |
| Aged 65 or older | 21% | 19% | 18% |
| Under 18 | 20% | 22% | 22% |
52% women, 48% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±1.7 points. Across Illinois, 50.6% of residents are women. Median age: women 46.1, men 43.9.
| Norwood Park Township | IL | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 10.1% | 11.5% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 9.9% | 10.4% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 6.6% | 9.1% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 9.3% | 13.6% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 13.9% | 13.3% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 12.4% | 12.4% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 16.5% | 12.8% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 10.9% | 10% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 10.4% | 7% | 7% |
| No diploma | 11.6% | 9.5% | 10.4% |
| High school | 24.7% | 25.1% | 26% |
| Some college | 18.6% | 19.2% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 7.6% | 8.3% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 22.9% | 22.6% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 14.5% | 15.3% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Jobs based in Norwood Park Township grew to 9,822 in 2023, 1,049 more than in 2013. Commuting out is the norm here: 7% of working residents work locally. For residents here, the share who live below the poverty line is 4.8%. Half of commuters travel less than 9 miles.
| Norwood Park Township | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 32 minutes | 26 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 4.8% | 8.4% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $90,000 | $83,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
42 within 15 miles of the center of Norwood Park Township
About 6 of every 100 Norwood Park Township residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Illinois.
Community area in Chicago, Illinois
Norwood Park is one of the 77 community areas of Chicago, Illinois, United States. It encompasses the smaller neighborhoods of Big Oaks, Norwood Park East, Norwood Park West, Old Norwood Park, Oriole Park, and Union Ridge. The community area contains the oldest extant building in Chicago, the Noble–Seymour–Crippen House, built in 1833 and greatly expanded in 1868. The area was organized in 1873 as a township from the adjacent townships of Jefferson, Leyden, Niles, and Maine, and named after Henry Ward Beecher's 1868 novel Norwood, or Village Life in New England. The word "Park" added to account for another post office in Illinois with the Norwood name). Norwood Park was incorporated as a vi…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
5 towns share a border with Norwood Park Township.
| Town | IL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Norwood Park Township | #133 | A | C− | — | A− | A |
| Norridge | #257 | A− | C− | — | A− | A− |
| Harwood Heights | #72 | A | C | — | A− | A |
| Park Ridge | #30 | A+ | C− | B+ | A | A+ |
| Chicago | #676 | C− | C− | D | C | B+ |
| Leyden Township | #543 | C+ | C | — | C− | B |
Norwood Park Township, Norridge, Harwood Heights and Leyden Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Norwood Park Township with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
For most people who can afford it, yes. It grades A for health 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−.
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