Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
For most people who can afford it, yes. St. Charles grades A overall, 153rd of 767 graded towns in Illinois. It has 17 miles of trail. CDC estimates put its residents' health ahead of 92% of the country and its schools rank ahead of 90% of Illinois towns. St. Charles’ trail density is 1.2 miles per square mile, above both Illinois’ towns (0.3) and U.S. towns (0.4). St. Charles has 8 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Hotel Baker and City Building. St. Charles is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 81% of U.S. towns.
Where St. Charles beats most towns.
Census counts: 1,822 in 1860, 33,081 in 2020. The archive holds 24 old photos and papers going back to 1853 and 6 maps from 1932 on.
8 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Illinois), ordered by how far St. Charles is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around St. Charles. Close and well known come first.
Big draw36 mi Stadium & arenaSoldier Field
Big draw34 mi Stadium & arenaWrigley Field
Big draw38 mi MuseumBarack Obama Presidential Center
Big draw35 mi Stadium & arenaRate Field
Big draw33 mi Stadium & arenaUnited Center
23 mi Stadium & arenaAllstate ArenaSoldier 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 · Allstate Arena: Nkon21, CC BY-SA 4.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in St. Charles, 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 St. Charles.
St. Charles gets more snow than almost anywhere else in Illinois and has less food insecurity than most of Illinois, but it reports more crime than West Chicago and its other graded neighbors.
The biggest place to walk is Hickory Knolls Nature Preserve, 235 acres with 3.1 miles of trail.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Hickory Knolls Nature Preserve | 3.1 mi | 235 |
| 2. East Side Sports Complex | 1.8 mi | 95 |
| 3. Pottawatomie Park | 1 mi | 20 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
The median property tax bill is $8,309, against $5,298 across Illinois, another input to its cost-of-living grade.
The typical St. At $1,819 a month, St. Charles’ median rent is against $1,128 a month in Illinois’ towns and $1,185 a month across U.S. towns. Typical home values rose 6.4% in the year to September 2026.
| St. Charles | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,819 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
Its widest gap with Illinois is food insecurity: 8.5% of its 25,892 adults worry about having enough food, against 15.9% statewide.
11% of adults report frequent physical distress in St. Charles. Charles beats the Illinois average on 16 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 1. 9.3% of adults smoke cigarettes in St. Charles.
| St. Charles | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 11% | 13% | 14% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 9.3% | 13% | 14% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 17% | 17% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 35% | 35% |
| What stands out | St. Charles | IL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 8.5% | 15.9% |
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 7.9% | 13.2% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 9.1% | 7.6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 71% of U.S. communities. Since 1978, 44 flood insurance claims have been paid out in St. Charles.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
The St. Charles 0.1 E weather station records that 46 inches of snow fall in a normal winter, the highest of 2,880 Illinois places with climate records.
Charles has cold, snowy winters and warm summers. July afternoons reach 84° and January nights drop to 15°.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Most working residents leave St. The median household income in St. Charles is $114,000. Jobs based in St. Charles grew to 23,412 in 2023, 1,699 more than in 2013.
| St. Charles | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $114,000 | $83,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 4.4% | 8.4% | 9.6% |
| Work from home | 15% | 11% | 11% |
| Working residents who work in town | 13% | 8.3% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
St. Charles is safe by national standards, yet each of the 3 graded towns on its borders reports less crime per resident, from West Chicago (B+) to Campton Hills (A+). At 14.1 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports more crime than 53% of Illinois’s graded towns.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
11 within 15 miles of the center of St. Charles
About 5 of every 100 St. Charles residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Illinois.
10.8% of the town is conserved land, across 38 parks and preserves.
8 places in St. Charles on the National Register of Historic Places.
28 notable people were born in St. Charles.
City in Illinois, United States
St. Charles or Saint Charles is a city in Kane and DuPage counties, Illinois, United States. The population was 33,081 at the 2020 census, and was estimated at 33,482 in 2024. It lies roughly 35 miles west of Chicago on Illinois Route 64. The official city slogan is "Pride of the Fox", after the Fox River that runs through the center of town. St. Charles is part of a tri-city area along with Geneva and Batavia, all western Chicago suburbs of similar size and socioeconomic condition.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
7 towns share a border with St. Charles.
| Town | IL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Charles | #153 | A | D | B | A | A |
| Wayne | — | — | D− | — | B | A |
| St. Charles Township | #146 | A | D | — | A | A |
| Geneva | #47 | A+ | D | B+ | A | A+ |
| Geneva Township | #68 | A | D | — | A | A |
| West Chicago | #378 | B | D | B+ | A− | B+ |
| Campton Township | #137 | A | C− | — | A | A |
| Campton Hills | #6 | A+ | C | A+ | A | A+ |
Wayne has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Wayne, St. Charles Township, Geneva Township and Campton Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare St. Charles with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
For most people who can afford it, yes. St. Charles grades A overall, better than 87% of U.S. towns and #153 of 767 in Illinois. It grades A for health, B for safety and A 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.
St. 28 notable people were born here, including Ethan Cutkosky and Chris Kappler.
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