Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A city of 74,003, settled in 1853.
Rich Township is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades C overall, 601st of 767 graded towns in Illinois, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is health: it is healthier than 64% of U.S. towns. Expect to pay for it: the typical home is worth about $224K, 2.5 years of the Chicago metro’s $91K median household income. Rich Township is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 89% of U.S. towns. 11% of the land in Rich Township is conserved, against 3.6% in Illinois’ towns and 4.3% across U.S. towns. The biggest place to walk is Bartel Grassland Land and Water Reserve, 623 acres with 2.2 miles of trail.
Where Rich Township beats most towns.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Illinois), ordered by how far Rich Township is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 67,816 in 2000, 76,138 in 2020. The archive holds 2 old photos and papers going back to 1880 and 7 maps from 1892 on.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Rich Township. Close and well known come first.
Big draw25 mi Stadium & arenaSoldier Field
Big draw30 mi Stadium & arenaWrigley Field
Big draw20 mi MuseumBarack Obama Presidential Center
Big draw22 mi Stadium & arenaRate Field
Big draw25 mi Stadium & arenaUnited Center
Big draw26 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 Rich 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 Rich Township.
29 miles of trail in 44 parks and preserves. Rich Township’s trail density is 0.8 miles per square mile, where Illinois’ towns sit at 0.3 and U.S. towns at 0.4.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Bartel Grassland Land and Water Reserve | 2.2 mi | 623 |
| 2. Central Park | 1.3 mi | 88 |
| 3. Bicentennial Park | 0.5 mi | 13 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Two of its 28 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parker Junior High SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 822 | C+ |
| Homewood-Flossmoor High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 2,707 | B− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within IL on state tests and graduation
Rich Township has chilly winters and warm summers. July afternoons reach 84°, January nights drop to 17° and about 28 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
82% of adults had a checkup this year in Rich Township. Rich Township beats the Illinois average on 7 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 10. 17% of adults have been diagnosed with depression in Rich Township.
| Rich Township | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 22% | 23% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 41% | 35% | 36% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 82% | 78% | 79% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 21% | 13% | 14% |
| What stands out | Rich Township | IL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 7.9% | 9.9% |
| Fewer binge drinkers | 15.3% | 17.8% |
| More adults facing a utility shut-off | 11.2% | 7.8% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Most working residents leave Rich Township for work: only 10% work in town. The average trip to work in Rich Township is 33 minutes. The top destinations are Chicago (29%), Matteson (4%) and Chicago Heights (2%).
| Rich Township | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 33 minutes | 26 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Work from home | 18% | 11% | 11% |
| Working residents who work in town | 10% | 8.3% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Adults 18 to 34 are 18% of residents (23% statewide). 37% of Rich Township adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more. Rich Township has lost 2.8% of its people since 2020, down to 74,003 in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate.
| Rich Township | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 37% | 29% | 29% |
| Median age | 42.5 years | 40.7 years | 40.5 years |
| Aged 65 or older | 20% | 19% | 18% |
55% women, 45% men
About 81 men for every 100 women (the survey’s margin: ±1.4 points). Across Illinois, 50.6% of residents are women. Among residents 65 to 74, 61% are women (IL 53%). Median age: women 45.1, men 39.4.
| Rich Township | IL | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 11.2% | 11.5% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 10.9% | 10.4% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 6.4% | 9.1% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 11.9% | 13.6% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 12% | 13.3% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 12.9% | 12.4% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 15.3% | 12.8% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 11.6% | 10% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 7.9% | 7% | 7% |
| No diploma | 4.9% | 9.5% | 10.4% |
| High school | 22.8% | 25.1% | 26% |
| Some college | 25.6% | 19.2% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 9.6% | 8.3% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 20.7% | 22.6% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 16.4% | 15.3% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 52% of U.S. communities. Since 1978, 125 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Rich Township.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
9 within 15 miles of the center of Rich Township
About 5 of every 100 Rich Township residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Illinois.
Township in Illinois, United States
Rich Township is one of 29 townships in Cook County, Illinois, United States located south of Chicago. As of the 2020 census, its population was 76,138. Richton Park serves as the governmental seat for the township.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
9 towns share a border with Rich Township.
Flossmoor next door grades higher for schools (B to Rich Township’s C−) and lower for cost of living (D to C).
| Town | IL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rich Township | #601 | C | C | — | C− | B |
| Frankfort Township | #94 | A | C− | — | A | A |
| Bremen Township | #534 | C+ | C | — | C+ | B |
| Bloom Township | #663 | C− | C+ | — | C− | C |
| Matteson | #620 | C | C− | — | C− | B |
| Flossmoor | #456 | B− | D | C | B | A |
| Homewood | #429 | B | C+ | C | B | A− |
| Frankfort Square | #255 | A− | C | — | A | A− |
Rich Township, Frankfort Township, Bremen Township, Bloom Township, Matteson and Frankfort Square report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Rich Township with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Rich Township grades C overall, better than 29% of U.S. towns and #601 of 767 in Illinois. It grades B for health and C− for schools. Schools 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 C.
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