Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 19% of U.S. towns · #647 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
Most of Worth was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1968. Below: maps from 1890 on and the census since 1920.
The Worth post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 19% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Worth is more historic than 19% of U.S. towns, #647 of 768 in Illinois. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
Few Illinois towns list much on the Register (a typical Illinois town has 0.5 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Worth’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (28% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Worth’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Worth. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Worth.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Worth yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Worth is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, a suburb of Chicago. As of the 2020 census, the population was 10,970.
Its first post office opened in 1850. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 10,789 in 2010, 10,970 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Between 240 and 11,999 people in every census since 1920.
11 censuses, 1920–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Worth’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Worth itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Worth had its own post office from 1850 to 1860.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Worth post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Worth is more historic than 19% of U.S. towns, #647 of 768 in Illinois. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
3% of Worth’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.9 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1968.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikimedia Commons (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
2016
