Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A city of 50,043, settled in 1816.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Plainfield grades A− overall, ranked 183rd of 767 in Illinois. The median household earns $144K. It is healthier than 89% of U.S. towns and it reports less crime per resident than 80% of U.S. towns. What holds it back is price: homes are expensive, about $429K for a typical one and 4.7 times the Chicago metro’s $91K median household income. Plainfield’s median rent is $2,119 a month, against $1,128 a month in Illinois’ towns and $1,185 a month across U.S. towns. Plainfield has 4 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Plainfield Halfway House (Additional Documentation) and Standard Oil Gasoline Station. Plainfield's schools outperform 71% of the state's.
Where Plainfield beats most towns.
Its founding year, 1816, comes before those of 98% of the Illinois towns we grade with a known year.
Census counts: 723 in 1870, 44,762 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1907 and 7 maps from 1892 on.
4 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Illinois), ordered by how far Plainfield is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Plainfield. Close and well known come first.
Big draw36 mi Stadium & arenaSoldier Field
Big draw37 mi Stadium & arenaWrigley Field
Big draw35 mi MuseumBarack Obama Presidential Center
Big draw34 mi Stadium & arenaRate Field
Big draw34 mi Stadium & arenaUnited Center
Big draw36 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 Plainfield, 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 Plainfield.
Plainfield reports less crime than Naperville or any other graded neighbor, has less food insecurity than most of Illinois and has household incomes well above the Illinois norm.
Its widest gap with Illinois is food insecurity: 9.3% of its 31,753 adults worry about having enough food, against 15.9% statewide. Against the 3,223 U.S. towns with household incomes like Plainfield’s, it is healthier than 57%, a smaller edge than it has nationally: part of it comes with its incomes.
20% of Plainfield adults binge drink. Plainfield beats the Illinois average on 18 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 0. 10% of Plainfield adults report frequent physical distress.
| Plainfield | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 18% | 16% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 10% | 13% | 14% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 35% | 35% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 8.6% | 11% | 12% |
| What stands out | Plainfield | IL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 9.3% | 15.9% |
| Fewer uninsured adults | 6% | 9.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
The median property tax bill is $9,490, against $5,298 across Illinois, another input to its cost-of-living grade.
88% of households own their home in Plainfield. The typical Plainfield home is worth about $429,000, up 1.9% in a year, 45% above the Illinois typical home.
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
12 miles of trail in 54 parks and preserves. Community Park at Grande Park, at 91 acres with 1 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve.
| Plainfield | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 7% | 3.6% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.4 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Lake Renwick Preserve | 1.4 mi | 33 |
| 2. Community Park at Grande Park | 1 mi | 91 |
| 3. Four Seasons Park | 1 mi | 78 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its A− tops all 3 graded towns on its borders; Naperville (B+) comes closest. Reported crimes fell from 347 to 245 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
The property crime rate in Plainfield is 4.2 per 1,000 residents.
| Plainfield | 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) | 0.7 per 1,000 residents | 1 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Most working residents leave Plainfield for work: only 9% work in town. Plainfield’s average trip to work is 33 minutes. Since 2013, Plainfield has added 2,809 jobs, to 14,677 in 2023.
| Plainfield | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $144,000 | $83,000 | $80,000 |
| Work from home | 23% | 11% | 11% |
| Average trip to work | 33 minutes | 26 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 4.2% | 8.4% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Plainfield has chilly winters and warm summers. July afternoons reach 84°, January nights drop to 16° and about 29 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 57% of U.S. communities. Since 1980, 77 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Plainfield.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
7 within 15 miles of the center of Plainfield
About 6 of every 100 Plainfield residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Illinois.
39,581 counted in 2010 and 44,762 in 2020; an estimated 50,043 in 2025.
Growth hasn’t slowed: 11.5% since 2020, after 13.1% in the decade before.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts · Census Bureau estimate, July 1, 2025
4 places in Plainfield on the National Register of Historic Places.
6 notable people were born in Plainfield.
Village in Illinois, United States
Plainfield is a village in Will and Kendall counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. The population was 44,762 at the 2020 census. The village includes land in Will County's Plainfield and Wheatland townships, as well as Na-Au-Say and Oswego townships in Kendall County. With the growth in the Chicago suburbs in the 1990s and 2000s, the village has seen a population increase from 4,500 in 1990 to nearly 45,000 in 2020. It is midway between the cities of Naperville and Joliet in Chicago's collar counties. The village has established a community Preservation Commission and historic preservation ordinance. It is the home of the Lake Renwick Preserve, a county forest preserve used for birdwatchin…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
3 towns share a border with Plainfield.
Joliet next door grades lower for schools (C− to Plainfield’s B+) and higher for cost of living (C+ to D).
| Town | IL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plainfield | #183 | A− | D | A− | B+ | A |
| Joliet | #667 | C− | C+ | C | C− | C+ |
| Bolingbrook | #395 | B | D | B | B+ | B |
| Naperville | #46 | A+ | D | B+ | A | A+ |
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Plainfield grades A− overall, better than 84% of U.S. towns and #183 of 767 in Illinois. It grades A for health, A− for safety and B+ for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a D.
Yes. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades D.
6 notable people were born here, including Melissa McCarthy and RayJ Dennis.
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