Shields TownshipIL
A town of 41,282.
Is Shields Township a good place to live?
For most people who can afford it, yes. Shields Township grades A− overall, 209th among Illinois's 767 graded towns. Natural-hazard risk is low. Residents are healthier than 92% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. What holds it back is price: the typical home is worth about $621K, 6.8 years of the Chicago metro’s $91K median household income. History is its standout character grade: an A, better than 93% of U.S. towns, with 1 place on the National Register. Shields Township’s median age is 25.5 years, against 40.7 years in Illinois’ towns and 40.5 years across U.S. towns. Shields Township is more walkable than 97% of U.S. towns. On the outdoors, just 33 of Illinois’ 1,285 towns do better.
What makes Shields Township stand out
Where Shields Township beats most towns.
26 miles of trails in Shields Township
14% of the town is conserved land, across 34 parks and preserves.
How Shields Township grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Illinois), ordered by how far Shields Township is from typical.
Its grades run from A+ for hazard risk (better than 99% of comparable towns) to D for cost of living (better than 7%), so the A− overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Wrigley Field and 146 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Shields Township. Close and well known come first.
Big draw26 mi Stadium & arenaWrigley Field
Big draw32 mi Stadium & arenaSoldier Field
Big draw7 mi Theme parkSix Flags Great America3.0M visitors a year
Big draw37 mi MuseumBarack Obama Presidential Center
Big draw34 mi Stadium & arenaRate Field
Big draw30 mi Stadium & arenaUnited CenterPhoto credits
Wrigley Field: Ryan Dickey, CC BY 2.0 · Soldier Field: Photo by Joon Han Contact: [email protected], CC BY-SA 3.0 · Six Flags Great America: Feather Better, CC BY 4.0 · 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
_-_Chicago,_IL_-_June_2026.jpg){kind=link}
Moving to Shields Township: who provides what
Who provides power, water and the rest in Shields 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.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Shields Township.
Shields Township carries less natural-hazard risk than nearly all of Illinois (mostly inland flooding) and has commutes shorter than most of Illinois.
14% of Shields Township is conserved land
The biggest park or preserve is Middlefork Savanna Forest Preserve, at 199 acres. Count the trails in 34 parks and preserves and they come to 26 miles. Shields Township’s trail density is 1.5 miles per square mile.
| Shields Township | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 1.5 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 14% | 3.6% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Skokie River Nature Preserve | 3.2 mi | 83 |
| 2. Derwen Mawr Nature Preserve | 2 mi | 63 |
| 3. Oriole Grove Forest Preserve | 1.3 mi | 85 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Shields Township’s schools rank ahead of 74% of Illinois districts
Three of its 15 schools are below, each with the reason it’s listed. The 6 public schools in Shields Township teach 2,410 students between them.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neal Math Science AcademyLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 601 | D |
| Lake Forest High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,359 | A+ |
| Lake Bluff Elem SchTop results in townGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 572 | A+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within IL on state tests and graduation
Shields Township earns an A for health
Among adults in Shields Township, 8.8% smoke cigarettes. On the CDC’s 32 measures, Shields Township is ahead of Illinois on 14 and behind on 1.
| Shields Township | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 10% | 13% | 14% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 22% | 23% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 8.8% | 13% | 14% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 35% | 36% |
| What stands out | Shields Township | IL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer smokers | 8.8% | 12.1% |
| Fewer adults with COPD | 4.6% | 6.3% |
| Fewer adults treating high blood pressure | 70.3% | 75.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
The FEMA risk score in Shields Township is lower than in the typical Illinois or U.S. town
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk lower than 100% of Illinois towns, with expected losses of about $254 per resident a year; that rating is what its A+ for hazard risk is built on.
Shields Township has had 102 paid flood insurance claims since 1979. Of the losses FEMA expects here, 44% come from inland flooding and 24% from tornadoes.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Shields Township stands out in Illinois and nationally, with a typical July afternoon cooler than most
Shields Township brings chilly, snowy winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 82°, January nights drop to 17° and about 34 inches of snow falls in a winter.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
With 1.5 jobs for every working resident, Shields Township draws in 16,387 commuters
The average commute for its 12,116 working residents takes 20.8 minutes, against 27.8 across Illinois. 29.7% of workers work from home, against 15.9% across Illinois.
For half of commuters, work is under 19 miles away. In Shields Township, 30% of workers work remotely from home. Most people who work leave Shields Township to do it: just 13% work in town. Its middle household income stands at $113,000.
| Shields Township | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 30% | 11% | 11% |
| Median household income | $113,000 | $83,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 21 minutes | 26 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 13% | 8.3% | 8% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Everything we know about Shields Township
Colleges nearby
5 within 15 miles of the center of Shields Township
About 11 of every 100 Shields Township residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Illinois.
About Shields Township
Township in Illinois, United States
Shields Township is a township in Lake County, Illinois, USA. As of the 2020 census, its population was 37,685. The Naval Station Great Lakes is located in this township.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 18 sq mi
- Elevation
- 709 ft
Shields Township’s neighbors
9 towns share a border with Shields Township.
| Town | IL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shields Township | #209 | A− | D | — | B+ | A |
| Lake Forest | #12 | A+ | D | A− | A | A+ |
| Lake Bluff | #15 | A+ | D | B+ | A+ | A+ |
| North Chicago | #337 | B+ | C+ | B | B+ | B |
| Libertyville Township | #40 | A+ | C− | — | A+ | A+ |
| Waukegan Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Green Oaks | #55 | A+ | C− | — | A+ | A |
| Moraine Township | #58 | A | D | — | A | A+ |
Shields Township, Libertyville Township, Green Oaks and Moraine Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Waukegan Township isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Shields Township with a neighbor →
Questions about Shields Township
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Shields Township, IL a good place to live?
For most people who can afford it, yes. Shields Township grades A− overall, better than 82% of U.S. towns and #209 of 767 in Illinois. It grades A for health and B+ for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a D.