Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Wauconda Township grades B+ overall, 301st among Illinois's 767 graded towns, with clear strengths and some subjects that lag. The median household earns $112K and residents are healthier than 81% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. Its lowest everyday mark is in cost of living: the typical home is worth about $289K, 3.2 years of the Chicago metro’s $91K median household income. Wauconda Township’s typical journey to work is 31 minutes, above both the Illinois town median (26 minutes) and the median of U.S. towns (25 minutes). The biggest park or preserve is Singing Hills Forest Preseve, at 736 acres.
Where Wauconda Township beats most towns.
| Widest gap | Wauconda Township | IL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 12.1% | 15.9% |
Where Wauconda Township’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Illinois), ordered by how far Wauconda Township is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 298 in 1880, 14,084 in 2020. The archive holds 4 old photos and papers going back to 2019 and 5 maps from 1920 on.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Wauconda 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 Wauconda Township.
Against the 6,813 U.S. towns with household incomes like Wauconda Township’s, it is healthier than 65%, a smaller edge than it has nationally: part of it comes with its incomes.
The share of adults in Wauconda Township who sleep under 7 hours: 32%. Two figures for adults here: 20% get no exercise outside work, 31% feel lonely.
| Wauconda Township | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 32% | 35% | 36% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 23% | 25% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 33% | 33% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 17% | 17% |
| What stands out | Wauconda Township | IL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 12.1% | 15.9% |
| Fewer adults facing a utility shut-off | 6.2% | 7.8% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Two of its 9 schools are below, each with the reason it’s listed. Its public schools are run by Wauconda CUSD 118. 4 public schools serve Wauconda Township, with 2,154 students in all.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Robert Crown SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–5 | Grades K–5 | 776 | B |
| Wauconda High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,452 | B |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within IL on state tests and graduation
The top destinations are Chicago (12%), Wauconda (7%) and Lake Zurich (4%). For most workers, Wauconda Township is a place to come home to: only 9% work in town. Since 2013, Wauconda Township has added 606 jobs, to 7,214 in 2023. Half commute less than 15 miles.
| Wauconda Township | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $112,000 | $83,000 | $80,000 |
| Work from home | 16% | 11% | 11% |
| Below the poverty line | 5.3% | 8.4% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Summer afternoons peak near 83° in July, and January nights bottom out around 15°; snowfall runs to about 35 inches a winter. Expect cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers in Wauconda Township.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
1.9 miles of trail wind through 15 parks and preserves. For Wauconda Township, the concentration of trails is 0.1 miles per square mile.
| Wauconda Township | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.1 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 4.3% | 3.6% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Converse Park | 0.4 mi | 17 |
| 2. Homer T. Cook Memorial Park | 0.3 mi | 48 |
| 3. Singing Hills Forest Preseve | — | 736 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Expected damage from storms and floods is lower here than in 57% of U.S. communities. 31 flood insurance claims have been paid in Wauconda Township since 1978. Also worth knowing: households here have drawn federal disaster aid once, in 2008.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
For adults 25 and older in Wauconda Township, the share who hold a bachelor’s degree or more is 38%. No age group stands out against Illinois: all are within 4 points. In Wauconda Township, the midpoint age is 38.8 years.
| Wauconda Township | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aged 65 or older | 14% | 19% | 18% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 38% | 29% | 29% |
| Under 18 | 24% | 22% | 22% |
| Median age | 38.8 years | 40.7 years | 40.5 years |
49% women, 51% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±1.8 points. Across Illinois, 50.6% of residents are women. Median age: women 40.2, men 37.5.
| Wauconda Township | IL | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 11.9% | 11.5% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 12.1% | 10.4% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 10.1% | 9.1% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 10.3% | 13.6% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 15.4% | 13.3% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 13.7% | 12.4% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 12.4% | 12.8% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 9.5% | 10% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 4.6% | 7% | 7% |
| No diploma | 7.9% | 9.5% | 10.4% |
| High school | 20.3% | 25.1% | 26% |
| Some college | 23.3% | 19.2% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 10.8% | 8.3% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 25% | 22.6% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 12.6% | 15.3% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Wauconda Township. Close and well known come first.
Big draw35 mi Stadium & arenaWrigley Field
Big draw13 mi Theme parkSix Flags Great America3.0M visitors a year
Big draw38 mi Stadium & arenaUnited Center
24 mi Stadium & arenaAllstate Arena
Big draw39 mi MuseumArt Institute of Chicago1.5M visitors a year
22 mi MuseumMcDonald's #1 Store MuseumWrigley Field: Ryan Dickey, CC BY 2.0 · Six Flags Great America: Feather Better, CC BY 4.0 · United Center: User:JeremyA, CC BY-SA 2.5 · Allstate Arena: Nkon21, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Art Institute of Chicago: ajay_suresh, CC BY 2.0 · McDonald's #1 Store Museum: Bruce Marlin, CC BY-SA 2.5
5 within 15 miles of the center of Wauconda Township
About 6 of every 100 Wauconda Township residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Illinois.
Village in Illinois, United States
Wauconda ( or ) is a village in Lake County, Illinois, United States, a northwest suburb of Chicago. Per the 2020 census, the population was 14,084. It is the site of the Wauconda Bog Nature Preserve, a National Natural Landmark. Wauconda Community Unit School District 118 serves students from Pre-K through 12th grade who live in Wauconda and surrounding communities (Island Lake, Lakemoor, Volo, and unincorporated sections of McHenry County). Fremont School District 79 also serves students from communities from northern part of Wauconda.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
10 towns share a border with Wauconda Township.
Cuba Township next door grades higher for schools (A to Wauconda Township’s B) and lower for cost of living (D to C).
| Town | IL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wauconda Township | #301 | B+ | C | — | B | A− |
| Fremont Township | #173 | A− | C− | — | A− | A |
| Grant Township | #479 | B− | C | — | B− | B |
| Nunda Township | #391 | B | C− | — | B | A− |
| Cuba Township | #171 | A | D | — | A | A+ |
| Wauconda | #95 | A | C+ | A+ | B | A− |
| McHenry Township | #452 | B− | C | — | B− | B+ |
| Volo | #276 | A− | C− | — | B− | A |
Wauconda Township, Fremont Township, Grant Township, Nunda Township, Cuba Township, McHenry Township and Volo report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Wauconda Township with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Wauconda Township grades B+ overall, better than 72% of U.S. towns and #301 of 767 in Illinois. It grades A− for health 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.
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