Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Wheeling grades B+ overall, ranked 319th of 767 in Illinois. It is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns. It is healthier than 84% of U.S. towns. What holds it back is price: homes are expensive, about $266K for a typical one and 2.9 times the Chicago metro’s $91K median household income. Only 25 of Illinois’ 1,240 towns score lower on civic life. Wheeling’s midpoint rent is $1,663 a month, against $1,128 a month in Illinois’ towns and $1,185 a month across U.S. towns. The biggest park or preserve is Dam Number 1 Woods Preserve, at 428 acres.
Where Wheeling beats most towns.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Illinois), ordered by how far Wheeling is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 811 in 1890, a low of 260 in 1910, 39,137 in 2020. The archive holds 8 old photos and papers going back to 2005 and 7 maps from 1900 on.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Wheeling. Close and well known come first.
Big draw18 mi Stadium & arenaWrigley Field
Big draw24 mi Stadium & arenaSoldier Field
Big draw29 mi MuseumBarack Obama Presidential Center
9 mi Stadium & arenaAllstate Arena
Big draw25 mi Stadium & arenaRate Field
Big draw21 mi Stadium & arenaUnited CenterWrigley Field: Ryan Dickey, CC BY 2.0 · Soldier Field: Photo by Joon Han Contact: [email protected], CC BY-SA 3.0 · Barack Obama Presidential Center: AlphaBeta135, CC0 · Allstate Arena: Nkon21, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Rate Field: User Enoch Lai on en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 · United Center: User:JeremyA, CC BY-SA 2.5
Who provides power, water and the rest in Wheeling, 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 Wheeling.
Wheeling reports more crime than Northbrook and its other graded neighbors, but it has a long record of flood insurance claims.
CDC measures, 32 in all: Wheeling beats Illinois on 9 and trails on 1. Wheeling: 14% of adults report frequent mental distress. Among adults in the town, 28% have high blood pressure and 18% have been diagnosed with depression.
| Wheeling | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 37% | 35% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 35% | 35% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 22% | 23% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 17% | 17% |
| What stands out | Wheeling | IL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults with obesity | 27.4% | 34% |
| Fewer smokers | 10.3% | 12.1% |
| More uninsured adults | 12.5% | 9.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Trails run 4.0 miles in 9 parks and preserves. Parks and preserves in Wheeling: 9, covering 634 acres. In Wheeling, the trail density is 0.5 miles per square mile.
| Wheeling | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.5 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 3.1% | 3.7% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Heritage Park | 2.4 mi | 119 |
| 2. Husky Park | 0.4 mi | 12 |
| 3. Chamber Park | 0.3 mi | 7 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Wheeling is safe by national standards, yet each of the 4 graded towns on its borders reports less crime per resident, from Northbrook (B+) to Buffalo Grove (A−). At 12.4 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 54% of Illinois’s graded towns.
Wheeling’s violent crime rate stands at 0.9 per 1,000 residents. The level of property crime for Wheeling comes to 7.8 per 1,000 residents.
| Wheeling | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.9 per 1,000 residents | 1 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 7.8 per 1,000 residents | 7.9 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Expect July afternoons of 83° and January nights of 16°, with about 34 inches of snow a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The top destinations are Chicago (16%), Northbrook (4%) and Arlington Heights (4%). Commuting out is the norm in Wheeling: nearly a tenth of working residents work locally. In Wheeling, 14% of workers work from home.
| Wheeling | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 14% | 11% | 11% |
| Below the poverty line | 10% | 8.4% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
143 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 18 properties have flooded more than once.
Wheeling’s FEMA hazard score comes in at 61 of 100. Paid flood insurance claims in the town since 1978: 143. Of the losses FEMA expects in the town, 53% come from inland flooding and 25% from cold waves. Households here have drawn federal disaster aid in 9 declared disasters, most recently in 2024.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Just over two in five adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 38% across Illinois. No broad age group is more than 4 points off the Illinois average. Wheeling has lost 2% of its people since 2020, down to 38,391 in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate.
| Wheeling | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 41% | 29% | 29% |
| Under 18 | 21% | 22% | 22% |
52% women, 48% men
About 91 men for every 100 women (the survey’s margin: ±2 points). Across Illinois, 50.6% of residents are women. Median age: women 41.0, men 38.7.
| Wheeling | IL | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 12.1% | 11.5% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 8.4% | 10.4% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 6.7% | 9.1% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 14.5% | 13.6% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 15.7% | 13.3% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 13% | 12.4% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 11.8% | 12.8% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 10.2% | 10% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 7.3% | 7% | 7% |
| No diploma | 12.5% | 9.5% | 10.4% |
| High school | 21% | 25.1% | 26% |
| Some college | 17% | 19.2% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 8.8% | 8.3% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 27.1% | 22.6% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 13.7% | 15.3% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
For households in Wheeling, the share who live in a home they own is 63%. In Wheeling, 44% of sales closed above the list price. A home in Wheeling typically sold within 40 days of listing.
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
14 within 15 miles of the center of Wheeling
About 5 of every 100 Wheeling residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Illinois.
4 notable people were born in Wheeling.
Village in Illinois, United States
Wheeling is a village in Cook and Lake counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is part of Wheeling and Vernon townships. Wheeling is a suburb of Chicago, it is primarily in Cook County, approximately 23 miles (37 km) northwest of downtown Chicago. The population was 39,137 at the 2020 census. Wheeling is named after Wheeling, West Virginia.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
7 towns share a border with Wheeling.
All 6 graded towns on its borders grade higher than its B+; Prospect Heights (A−) is closest.
| Town | IL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wheeling | #319 | B+ | C− | B+ | B+ | A− |
| Prospect Heights | #258 | A− | C− | B+ | B+ | A |
| Buffalo Grove | #31 | A+ | C− | A− | A | A+ |
| Arlington Heights | #88 | A | D | B+ | A | A+ |
| Wheeling Township | #199 | A− | D | — | A− | A |
| Northfield Township | #117 | A | D− | — | A | A+ |
| Vernon Township | #36 | A+ | D | — | A+ | A+ |
| Northbrook | #61 | A | D | B+ | A+ | A+ |
Wheeling Township, Northfield Township and Vernon Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Wheeling with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Wheeling grades B+ overall, better than 71% of U.S. towns and #319 of 767 in Illinois. It grades A− for health, B+ for safety and B+ for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a C−.
Yes. The typical home is worth about $266,000, 10% below the Illinois typical home. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C−.
4 notable people were born here, including John Francis Daley and Haley Reinhart.
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