RidgewoodIL
A town of 2,795 in Illinois.
Is Ridgewood a good place to live?
A town with more to fix than most. At about $161K, a typical home costs 1.8 years of the Chicago metro’s $91K median household income. Its lowest grade is for health (D): residents are less healthy than 92% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. All told, that adds up to a D overall and a rank of 748th of 767 in Illinois. On that grade it does better than 5% of U.S. towns. Nearly a quarter of residents live below the poverty line in Ridgewood, against 8.4% in Illinois’ towns and 9.6% across U.S. towns. Ridgewood's schools rank behind 85% of the state's. Its remaining grades are unremarkable: C+ for incomes, B− for walkability and B− for hazard risk.
Figures: health, CDC PLACES · home values, Zillow · incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24 · schools, state test and graduation results · FEMA National Risk Index.
100% of working residents leave Ridgewood for work
Where Ridgewood’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
How Ridgewood grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Illinois), ordered by how far Ridgewood is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Ridgewood: who provides what
Ridgewood is unincorporated, so Will County and regional agencies provide most services.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Sep 12, 2025.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Ridgewood.
Ridgewood has homes that are cheap against local pay, but it has poverty well above the Illinois rate and has little public open land.
Ridgewood stands out in Illinois and nationally: a larger share of its adults get no exercise outside work
Only 4 of the 767 Illinois towns we compare have a higher share of adults who say their health is fair or poor than Ridgewood. Among adults in the town, 42% sleep under 7 hours. Against the Illinois average, Ridgewood comes out ahead on 1 CDC measures out of 32, and behind on 22.
| Ridgewood | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 32% | 18% | 19% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 39% | 23% | 25% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 34% | 13% | 14% |
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 7.9% | 8.1% |
| What stands out | Ridgewood | IL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 4.7% | 7.6% |
| More uninsured adults | 27.1% | 9.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Fewer of Ridgewood’s working residents work locally than in the typical Illinois or U.S. town
Ridgewood has 30 jobs for its 1,119 working residents: even if every job went to a resident, most would still commute out.
In Ridgewood, the mean commuting time is 29 minutes. The top destinations are Joliet (15%), Chicago (12%) and Bolingbrook (6%). The share of residents in Ridgewood who live below the poverty line: 23%. The median commute is under 17 miles.
| Ridgewood | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 23% | 8.4% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 0.3% | 8.4% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 29 minutes | 26 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $93,000 | $83,000 | $80,000 |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Four seasons and pleasant summers in Ridgewood
Summer afternoons peak near 85° in July, and January nights bottom out around 16°; snowfall runs to about 17 inches a winter. Summers in Ridgewood are warm, and winters chilly.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Ridgewood faces a moderate natural-hazard risk, led by inland flooding
Storm and flood damage is expected to run lower than in 53% of U.S. communities. 47% of Ridgewood’s expected losses from natural hazards come from inland flooding, followed by cold waves at 27%.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
0.2% of Ridgewood is conserved land
Just 1 of its 280 acres are conserved, so there is little public open land in Ridgewood itself; its outdoors grade is C−.
Ridgewood has one park or preserve, 1 acres in all.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Ridgewood Park | — | 1 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
A home in Ridgewood sells for about $237K at the median
At 1.8 years of the Chicago metro’s $91K median household income, the typical home costs less against local pay than in 85% of Illinois towns; that ratio is one input to its C+ for cost of living.
70% of households live in a home they own in the town. In Ridgewood, the median rent is $1,634 a month.
| Ridgewood | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,634 a month | $1,128 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 70% | 75% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Soldier Field and 145 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Ridgewood. Close and well known come first.
Big draw32 mi Stadium & arenaSoldier Field
Big draw35 mi Stadium & arenaWrigley Field
Big draw29 mi MuseumBarack Obama Presidential Center
Big draw29 mi Stadium & arenaRate Field
Big draw31 mi Stadium & arenaUnited Center
Big draw32 mi MuseumArt Institute of Chicago1.5M visitors a yearPhoto credits
Soldier 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
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Everything we know about Ridgewood
Colleges nearby
3 within 15 miles of the center of Ridgewood
About 3 of every 100 Ridgewood residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Illinois.
About Ridgewood
Place in Illinois, United States
Ridgewood is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Will County, Illinois, United States. It is northwest of the center of the county, bordered to the east and west by the city of Joliet. U.S. Route 30 runs along the southern edge of the CDP, leading west 2 miles (3 km) to the center of Joliet and east 3 miles (5 km) to Interstate 80. As of the 2020 census, Ridgewood had a population of 2,956. Ridgewood was first listed as a CDP prior to the 2020 census. Pace provides bus service on Route 508 connecting Ridgewood to downtown Joliet and other destinations.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Elevation
- 666 ft
Ridgewood’s neighbors
One town shares a border with Ridgewood.
Ridgewood reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Ridgewood with a neighbor →
Questions about Ridgewood
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Ridgewood, IL a good place to live?
Ridgewood grades D overall, better than 5% of U.S. towns and #748 of 767 in Illinois. It grades D for health and C− for schools. Health is its weak spot, with a D.
Is Ridgewood, IL expensive?
The typical home is worth about $161,000, 45% below the Illinois typical home. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C+.