Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Sycamore is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades A overall, 166th of 767 graded towns in Illinois, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is health: CDC estimates put its residents' health ahead of 82% of the country. It also does better than most on incomes: the median household earns $84K. Its lowest everyday mark is in cost of living: homes are expensive, about $318K for a typical one and 3.5 times the Chicago metro’s $91K median household income. Its National Register listings include Sycamore Historic District and William W. Marsh House. Sycamore is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 79% of U.S. towns. The biggest park or preserve is Old Mill Park, at 25 acres.
Where Sycamore beats most towns.
Sycamore Historic District| Widest gap | Sycamore | IL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 10.8% | 15.9% |
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Illinois), ordered by how far Sycamore is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 338 in 1850, 18,577 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1917 and 3 maps from 1937 on.
5 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Sycamore, 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 Sycamore.
Sycamore carries less natural-hazard risk than nearly all of Illinois (mostly inland flooding), trades workers with DeKalb and other neighbors and is safe by national standards but not by Illinois’s.
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk lower than 97% of Illinois towns, with expected losses of about $169 per resident a year; that rating is what its B+ for hazard risk is built on.
The FEMA risk score for Sycamore comes to 12 of 100, below both Illinois’ towns (50 of 100) and U.S. towns (44 of 100). Since 1979, Sycamore has seen 74 flood insurance claims paid out. Of the losses FEMA expects in the town, 37% come from inland flooding and 34% from cold waves. Households locally have drawn federal disaster aid in 5 declared disasters, most recently in 2013.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
The share of adults in Sycamore who binge drink is 20%, above both the Illinois town median (18%) and the median of U.S. towns (16%). 31% of adults have high blood pressure in the town. Among adults in the town, 12% report frequent physical distress and 33% sleep under 7 hours.
| Sycamore | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 18% | 16% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 13% | 14% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 33% | 35% | 36% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 23% | 25% |
| What stands out | Sycamore | IL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 10.8% | 15.9% |
| Fewer uninsured adults | 6.9% | 9.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Across 4 parks and preserves: 2.3 miles of trail. The trail density for Sycamore comes to 0.2 miles per square mile.
| Sycamore | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 8% | 3.6% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.2 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Old Mill Park | 0.5 mi | 25 |
| 2. Leon D. Larson Memorial Park | 0.3 mi | 22 |
| 3. Kiwanis Park | 0.1 mi | 6 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
At 12.9 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 51% of Illinois’s graded towns. Reported crimes fell from 221 to 166 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
Sycamore’s level of violent crime comes in at 0.5 per 1,000 residents. In Sycamore, the level of property crime is 8.2 per 1,000 residents.
| Sycamore | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.5 per 1,000 residents | 1 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 8.2 per 1,000 residents | 7.9 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Sycamore has about as many jobs (7,910) as working residents, but only 1,686 people both live and work here.
Half commute less than 20 miles. Employers in Sycamore added 401 jobs between 2013 and 2023, to 7,910. Also worth knowing: about one worker in five stays in Sycamore for work. The top destinations are DeKalb (14%), Elgin (4%) and Chicago (4%).
| Sycamore | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 20% | 8.3% | 8% |
| Work from home | 13% | 11% | 11% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
In Sycamore, the median age is 36.1 years. By age, Sycamore looks like Illinois: each broad group is within 4 points. Among adults 25 and older in the town, 46% hold a bachelor’s degree or more. Since 2020, Sycamore has grown 2.3%, to 19,083 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate.
| Sycamore | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 46% | 29% | 29% |
| Aged 65 or older | 13% | 19% | 18% |
| Median age | 36.1 years | 40.7 years | 40.5 years |
| Under 18 | 24% | 22% | 22% |
52% women, 48% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±2.1 points. Across Illinois, 50.6% of residents are women. Median age: women 36.3, men 35.9.
| Sycamore | IL | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 13.2% | 11.5% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 10.3% | 10.4% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 10.4% | 9.1% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 14.7% | 13.6% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 13.1% | 13.3% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 12.8% | 12.4% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 12.2% | 12.8% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 8.3% | 10% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 4.9% | 7% | 7% |
| No diploma | 3.4% | 9.5% | 10.4% |
| High school | 20.3% | 25.1% | 26% |
| Some college | 22% | 19.2% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 8.3% | 8.3% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 26.1% | 22.6% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 19.9% | 15.3% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
The typical home value in Sycamore is about $318,000, up 3.9% in a year, 7% above the Illinois typical home. On the market in the town: a median 56 days to sell. Bidding over the asking price: 35% of homes sold in the town.
| Sycamore | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 72% | 75% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,140 a month | $1,128 a month | $1,185 a month |
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Sycamore. Close and well known come first.
18 mi MuseumIllinois Railway Museum
34 mi MuseumMorton Arboretum
6 mi TheatreEgyptian Theatre, DeKalb
29 mi Stadium & arenaBMO Center
6 mi MuseumEllwood House
22 mi Theme parkSanta's Village Amusement & Water ParkIllinois Railway Museum: The original uploader was Slambo at English Wikipedia., CC BY-SA 2.0 · Morton Arboretum: Bruce Marlin, CC BY-SA 2.5 · Egyptian Theatre, DeKalb: Andy McMurray, CC BY 2.5 · BMO Center: SimLibrarian, CC0 · Ellwood House: Paul R. Burley, CC0 · Santa's Village Amusement & Water Park: Martin Lewison from The Hague, Zuid-Holland, The Netherlands, CC BY-SA 2.0
2 within 15 miles of the center of Sycamore
About 9 of every 100 Sycamore residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Illinois.
5 places in Sycamore on the National Register of Historic Places.
5 notable people were born in Sycamore.
3 towns share a border with Sycamore.
| Town | IL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sycamore | #166 | A | C+ | B+ | B+ | A− |
| DeKalb | #654 | C− | B | C− | C− | B− |
| Sycamore Township | #227 | A− | C | — | B+ | A− |
| Mayfield Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Sycamore Township reports no FBI crime data of its own. Mayfield Township isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Sycamore with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Sycamore grades A overall, better than 86% of U.S. towns and #166 of 767 in Illinois. It grades A− for health, B+ for safety and B+ for schools.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C+.
5 notable people were born here, including Mark Walrod Harrington and Mark Johnston.
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