Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Wheeling Township is a city of 154,050, and it grades A− overall, ranked 199th of 767 in Illinois. It is healthier than 93% of U.S. towns and the median household earns $106K. The trade-off: the typical home is worth about $316K, 3.5 years of the Chicago metro’s $91K median household income. Wheeling Township is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 91% of U.S. towns. 52% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more in Wheeling Township, above both Illinois’ towns (29%) and U.S. towns (29%). Wheeling Township's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) trails 87% of U.S. towns.
Where Wheeling Township beats most towns.
| School | Grades | Students |
|---|---|---|
| Olive-Mary Stitt School | K–5 | 671 |
| Westgate Elem School | K–5 | 633 |
| Eugene Field Elem School | PK–5 | 613 |
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Illinois), ordered by how far Wheeling Township 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 Township. Close and well known come first.
Big draw19 mi Stadium & arenaWrigley Field
Big draw24 mi Stadium & arenaSoldier Field
8 mi Stadium & arenaAllstate Arena
Big draw29 mi MuseumBarack Obama Presidential Center
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 · Allstate Arena: Nkon21, CC BY-SA 4.0 · 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
Who provides power, water and the rest in Wheeling 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 Wheeling Township.
Wheeling Township trades workers with Chicago and other neighbors, but it has property taxes 1.5 times the Illinois norm.
26% of adults have obesity in Wheeling Township. Wheeling Township beats the Illinois average on 18 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 0. 13% of adults report frequent mental distress in Wheeling Township.
| Wheeling Township | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 26% | 37% | 35% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 17% | 17% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 11% | 13% | 14% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 9.3% | 13% | 14% |
| What stands out | Wheeling Township | IL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing a utility shut-off | 5.5% | 7.8% |
| Fewer adults without reliable transportation | 6.1% | 8% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Three of its 56 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thomas Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 1,024 | A |
| Prospect High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 2,245 | A+ |
| John Hersey High SchoolTop results in townGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 2,040 | A+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within IL on state tests and graduation
19 miles of trail in 93 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Dam Number 1 Woods Preserve, at 607 acres.
| Wheeling Township | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.5 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 5.1% | 3.6% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Heritage Park | 2.5 mi | 121 |
| 2. Potawatomi Woods Preserve | 1.4 mi | 333 |
| 3. Frontier Park | 0.9 mi | 31 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Wheeling Township has chilly, snowy winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 84°, January nights drop to 16° and about 34 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Wheeling Township has about as many jobs (65,194) as working residents, but only 10,462 people both live and work here.
Most working residents leave Wheeling Township for work: only 14% work in town. 21% of Wheeling Township workers work from home. The top destinations are Chicago (17%), Arlington Heights (7%) and Wheeling (4%).
| Wheeling Township | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 21% | 11% | 11% |
| Median household income | $106,000 | $83,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 14% | 8.3% | 8% |
| Below the poverty line | 6.9% | 8.4% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
The median property tax bill is $8,190, against $5,298 across Illinois, another input to its cost-of-living grade.
Wheeling Township’s median rent is $1,670 a month. The typical Wheeling Township home is worth about $316,000, up 4.3% in a year, 7% above the Illinois typical home.
| Wheeling Township | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,670 a month | $1,128 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Renters paying 30%+ of income on rent | 45% | 46% | 48% |
| Households that own their home | 76% | 75% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 53% of U.S. communities. Since 1978, 378 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Wheeling Township.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
17 within 15 miles of the center of Wheeling Township
About 5 of every 100 Wheeling Township residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Illinois.
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)
9 towns share a border with Wheeling Township.
| Town | IL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wheeling Township | #199 | A− | D | — | A− | A |
| Northfield Township | #117 | A | D− | — | A | A+ |
| Palatine Township | #203 | A− | D | — | A− | A+ |
| Vernon Township | #36 | A+ | D | — | A+ | A+ |
| Arlington Heights | #88 | A | D | B+ | A | A+ |
| Wheeling | #319 | B+ | C− | B+ | B+ | A− |
| Palatine | #194 | A− | D | B+ | A− | A |
| Rolling Meadows | #279 | A− | D | B− | A− | A |
Wheeling Township, Northfield Township, Palatine Township and Vernon Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Wheeling Township with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Wheeling Township grades A− overall, better than 83% of U.S. towns and #199 of 767 in Illinois. It grades A for health 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.
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