Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Few places in the country grade higher. Western Springs earns an A+, ranked 4th of 767 in Illinois. It is among the healthiest towns in the country on CDC estimates, the median household earns $230K, and it reports less crime per resident than 96% of U.S. towns. The exception is hazard risk: FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 76% of U.S. communities, with inland flooding at the top. 84% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more in Western Springs, above both the Illinois town median (29%) and the median of U.S. towns (29%). Western Springs is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 95% of U.S. towns. Only 120 of Illinois’ 1,240 towns score higher on civic life.
Where Western Springs beats most towns.
| Widest gap | Western Springs | IL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 5.3% | 15.9% |
Where Western Springs’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 Western Springs is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 172 in 1880, 13,629 in 2020. The archive holds 8 old photos and papers going back to 1917 and 8 maps from 1891 on.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Western Springs. Close and well known come first.
Big draw15 mi Stadium & arenaSoldier Field
Big draw16 mi Stadium & arenaWrigley Field
Big draw16 mi MuseumBarack Obama Presidential Center
Big draw14 mi Stadium & arenaRate Field
Big draw13 mi Stadium & arenaUnited Center
Big draw15 mi MuseumArt Institute of Chicago1.5M visitors a yearSoldier 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
Who provides power, water and the rest in Western Springs, 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 Western Springs.
Western Springs is the healthiest town in Illinois and has household incomes well above the Illinois norm, but it has homes that cost more against local pay than most of Illinois.
At 10 years of the Chicago metro’s $91K median household income, the typical home (about $906K) costs more against local pay than in 99% of Illinois towns; that ratio is one input to its C− for cost of living.
The typical Western Springs home is worth about $906,000, up 12.5% in a year, 3 times the Illinois typical home. Western Springs’ median rent is $2,006 a month.
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
It is the healthiest of the 767 Illinois towns we grade on the CDC estimates behind the Health Grade. Its widest gap with Illinois is food insecurity: 5.3% of its 9,617 adults worry about having enough food, against 15.9% statewide.
12% of Western Springs adults report frequent mental distress. Only 2 of the 767 Illinois towns we compare have a lower share of adults who say their health is fair or poor than Western Springs. 8.3% of Western Springs adults report frequent physical distress.
| Western Springs | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 17% | 17% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 24% | 37% | 35% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 8.3% | 13% | 14% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 23% | 25% |
| What stands out | Western Springs | IL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 5.3% | 15.9% |
| Fewer uninsured adults | 3.7% | 9.9% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 9.6% | 7.6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Violent crime is rare: 3 reported in 2025, 0.2 per 1,000 residents.
The property crime rate in Western Springs is 2.3 per 1,000 residents.
| Western Springs | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 2.3 per 1,000 residents | 7.9 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.2 per 1,000 residents | 1 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
1.0 miles of trail in 14 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Spring Rock Park, at 46 acres.
| Western Springs | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 5% | 3.6% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.4 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Spring Rock Park | 0.7 mi | 46 |
| 2. Springdale Park | — | 7 |
| 3. Field Park | — | 6 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Jobs based here grew from 2,062 in 2013 to 2,713. 31.2% of workers work from home, against 15.9% across Illinois.
1.3% of residents live below the poverty line in Western Springs. Among 768 Illinois towns, just 7 have a higher median household income than Western Springs. 31% of workers work from home in Western Springs.
| Western Springs | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 31% | 11% | 11% |
| Median household income | $230,000 | $83,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 1.3% | 8.4% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 31 minutes | 26 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Since 1980, 19 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Western Springs.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Western Springs has chilly, snowy winters and warm summers. July afternoons reach 84°, January nights drop to 17° and about 42 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
33 within 15 miles of the center of Western Springs
About 4 of every 100 Western Springs residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Illinois.
2 places in Western Springs on the National Register of Historic Places.
7 notable people were born in Western Springs.
Village in Illinois, United States
Western Springs is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, and a suburb of Chicago. As of the 2020 census, the village had a total population of 13,629. Named for local mineral springs on the southwest side of town, Western Springs originally consisted of flat prairie land with a swamp on its western border. It is located along the BNSF Railway (formerly the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad) between Chicago and Aurora, encompassing roughly the area between Willow Springs Road (Gilbert Avenue), Ogden Avenue, Interstate 294, and West Plainfield Road.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
4 towns share a border with Western Springs.
At #4 in IL, it grades higher overall than all 4 graded towns on its borders; Hinsdale (A+) comes closest.
| Town | IL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Western Springs | #4 | A+ | C− | A+ | A+ | A+ |
| Hinsdale | #5 | A+ | D | A | A+ | A+ |
| Indian Head Park | #128 | A | C− | — | A | A+ |
| Lyons Township | #219 | A− | C− | — | A− | A |
| Proviso Township | #512 | C+ | C | — | C | B+ |
Indian Head Park, Lyons Township and Proviso Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Western Springs with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Yes, by almost any measure. Western Springs grades A+ overall, among the top 2% of U.S. towns and #4 of 767 in Illinois. It grades A+ for health, A+ for safety and A+ for schools. Hazard risk is its weak spot, with a C−.
Yes. That is 10 years of the area's median household income ($90,887 across the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN metro area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C−.
7 notable people were born here, including Jonathan Franzen and Melinda Culea.
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