Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Wilmington is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades B overall, ranked 371st of 767 in Illinois, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is schools: its schools rank ahead of 82% of Illinois towns. A typical home there costs about $275K, 3 years of the Chicago metro’s $91K median household income. 31% of the land in Wilmington is conserved, above both Illinois’ towns (3.6%) and U.S. towns (4.3%). Wilmington has 2 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Eagle Hotel and Small-Towle House. Wilmington is more walkable than 72% of U.S. towns.
Where Wilmington beats most towns.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Illinois), ordered by how far Wilmington is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 1,828 in 1870, 5,664 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1900 and 5 maps from 1892 on.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Wilmington, 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 Wilmington.
Wilmington keeps more of its land conserved than most of Illinois, is healthier than towns with similar incomes and is safe by national standards but not by Illinois’s.
Its 2,888 conserved acres are a larger share of the town than in 99% of Illinois towns.
1.1 miles of trail in 5 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie, at 356 acres. At 0.1 miles per square mile, Wilmington’s trail density is below both the Illinois town median (0.3) and the median of U.S. towns (0.4).
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie | 0.5 mi | 356 |
| 2. South Island Park | — | 32 |
| 3. North Island Park | — | 12 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Wilmington has chilly winters and warm summers. July afternoons reach 85°, January nights drop to 17° and about 18 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
122 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 16 properties have flooded more than once.
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 67% of U.S. communities. Since 1978, 122 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Wilmington.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Jobs based here grew from 1,487 in 2013 to 3,557.
Most working residents leave Wilmington for work: only 10% work in town. Jobs based in Wilmington grew to 3,557 in 2023, 2,070 more than in 2013. 4.7% of Wilmington workers work from home.
| Wilmington | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 4.7% | 11% | 11% |
| Median household income | $66,000 | $83,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 24 minutes | 26 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 12% | 8.4% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Typical home values rose 5.6% in the year to September 2026. Wilmington’s median rent is $888 a month.
| Wilmington | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 64% | 75% | 73% |
| Median rent | $888 a month | $1,129 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
At 17 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports more crime than 58% of Illinois’s graded towns.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Against the 10,111 U.S. towns with household incomes like Wilmington’s, it is healthier than 63%, so its B− isn’t only a matter of income.
Wilmington beats the Illinois average on 3 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 5. 19% of adults binge drink in Wilmington.
| Wilmington | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 18% | 16% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 39% | 37% | 35% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 17% | 17% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 13% | 14% |
| What stands out | Wilmington | IL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 8% | 9.9% |
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 10.7% | 13.2% |
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 14% | 10.3% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Wilmington. Close and well known come first.
39 mi National ParkIndiana Dunes National Park2.6M visitors a year
36 mi Stadium & arenaSeatGeek Stadium
5 mi National forestMidewin National Tallgrass Prairie
39 mi Zoo & aquariumBrookfield Zoo
35 mi MuseumMorton ArboretumIndiana Dunes National Park: J. Crocker, Attribution · SeatGeek Stadium: Khvmty, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie: Alanscottwalker, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Brookfield Zoo: Ronincmc, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Morton Arboretum: Bruce Marlin, CC BY-SA 2.5
1 within 15 miles of the center of Wilmington
About 4 of every 100 Wilmington residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Illinois.
2 places in Wilmington on the National Register of Historic Places.
7 notable people were born in Wilmington.
City in Illinois, United States
Wilmington is a city in Will County, Illinois, United States. Located on Illinois Route 53 and Historic U.S. Route 66 along the east bank of the Kankakee River, it is approximately 60 miles (97 km) south-west from downtown Chicago. The population was 5,664 at the 2020 census. Wilmington is just south of Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie, which is home to the largest bison herd in the state.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
5 towns share a border with Wilmington.
| Town | IL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wilmington · Wilmington Township | #371 | B | B | B− | A− | B− |
| Lakewood Shores | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Custer Township | — | — | B− | — | A− | C+ |
| Wesley Township | — | — | B− | — | A− | B− |
| Florence Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Custer Township and Wesley Township have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Custer Township and Wesley Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Lakewood Shores and Florence Township aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Wilmington Township and Wilmington are one community, graded once. Compare Wilmington with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Wilmington grades B overall, better than 64% of U.S. towns and #371 of 767 in Illinois. It grades B− for health, B− for safety and A− for schools. Hazard risk is its weak spot, with a C−.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B.
7 notable people were born here, including Kiiara and Tanner Roark.
