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Place dossier plate
SheetIL-LAKE-ZURICH-IL · Lake Zurich, IL 19,727 pop · income 92nd pct
Nearest income peer: Westlake, FL (+ $41 income $)
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Lake Zurich
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Lake Zurich on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Nogales · lowest
40,745
Nogales · lowest
40,745 median HH income
29.1% of the leader · rank #1
Herald Harbor · near
139,877
Herald Harbor · near
139,877 median HH income
99.9% of the leader · rank #2
Lake Zurich · this city
139,959
Lake Zurich · this city
139,959 median HH income
99.9% of the leader · rank #3
Westlake · near
140,000
Westlake · near
140,000 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #4
Wynnedale · near
140,000
Wynnedale · near
140,000 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #5
East Renton H… · near
140,048
East Renton H… · near
140,048 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #6
Camas · highest
140,053
Camas · highest
140,053 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Lake Zurich on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 19,727.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Lake Zurich - the verdict
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Lake Zurich lands in the 92nd percentile for household income and the 53rd percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
92nd
percentile, household income
79th
percentile, home value
18th
percentile, median rent
53rd
percentile, safety
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Lake Zurich, IL
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 19,727 residents in Lake Zurich, a small town within Illinois. Median household income here is $139,959 per year, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 2.9%. Home values in Lake Zurich run a median of $418,300, and the median resident age is 41.3 years. 61.2% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 71.7% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 18 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Building Boom), up 157% from five years earlier. Lake Zurich reports a comparatively low crime rate: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 1272.3 total incidents per 100,000 residents here, below the national average (agency reporting is voluntary, so this measures reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
Illinois tracks close to the national cost-of-living baseline: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Illinois scores 100.0 (Near Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,063 per month. Monthly utility costs average around $240 across Illinois, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. Natural-hazard exposure scores 54.5 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Lake Zurich's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from work and mobility to schools and households to comparison shortlist to population change to housing and income to reported crime; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Lake Zurich, city-specific coverage includes FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, matched public-school count, commute-mode shares, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
What does the journey to work look like in Lake Zurich?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 73.2%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. Remote work has a visible role in the local pattern. That can reduce commute exposure for some workers, but it says nothing about job availability or broadband quality; read it alongside income and housing rather than as a stand-alone lifestyle score.
What does the education layer cover for Lake Zurich?
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
The NCES join finds 5 public schools within the city match. 61.2% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
Which cities make useful reference points for Lake Zurich?
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
Within Illinois, the closest population matches are Crest Hill (19,754 residents, $71,408 income); Harvey (19,831 residents, $41,091 income); Mokena (19,906 residents, $129,017 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Tavares, FL (19,738 residents); Clifton, CO (19,746 residents); Nogales, AZ (19,753 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
Is Lake Zurich growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +80 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +0.4% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 18 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
The recent population line is broadly flat. That makes the composition of change more important than the headline count: housing turnover, household size, and age structure can shift even when the total barely moves.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Lake Zurich?
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Income and home value move within the same broad scale here. The useful next check is not a generic affordability label, but whether similar-size cities offer a materially different income, housing, or commute trade-off.
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.0 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 2.9%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
3.0×
Home value
$418,300
Household income
$139,959
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Lake Zurich?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1272.3 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 44% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
Total reported rate
1272.3
Violent rate
61.1
Property rate
1211.2
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Illinois average
B+
City profile score · Lake Zurich, IL
77/100
5 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Household income A+
$139,959
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share A+
61.2%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime A-
61 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Poverty rate B+
2.9%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Cost of living D
100.0 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Lake Zurich profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 93/100 (A+) · $139,959
Bachelor's+ share: 92/100 (A+) · 61.2%
Violent crime: 81/100 (A-) · 61 /100k
Poverty rate: 79/100 (B+) · 2.9%
Cost of living: 40/100 (D) · 100.0 index
Where Lake Zurich sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Lake Zurich's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Lake Zurich highlighted among 12 peers.Read the chart values
Lake Zurich, IL (this city): home $418,300, crime 1,272/100k
Tavares, FL : home $225,500, crime 308/100k
Nogales, AZ : home $172,800, crime 3,830/100k
Monroe, WA : home $594,300, crime 2,010/100k
Lexington, NC : home $158,100, crime 3,458/100k
Albany, CA : home $1,188,600, crime 2,631/100k
Crest Hill, IL : home $222,600, crime 1,089/100k
Harvey, IL : home $86,100, crime 2,218/100k
Mokena, IL : home $377,100, crime 821/100k
Evergreen Park, IL : home $255,700, crime 5,957/100k
Homewood, IL : home $210,500, crime 2,277/100k
Brookfield, IL : home $314,000, crime 737/100k
How does Lake Zurich compare to other US cities?
Here's how Lake Zurich stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income92% higher than other cities
Home value79% pricier than other cities
Median rent18% pricier than other cities
Safety53% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
A national percentile can hide a lot of local variation: narrowed to Illinois alone, Lake Zurich ranks #288 of 455 Illinois cities by lowest crime rate - a different, more locally useful comparison than stacking it against the entire country.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Lake Zurich against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Illinois only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Illinois-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Lake Zurich near the bottom of Illinois's cities
Among the 1,336 Illinois cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Lake Zurich ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Lake Zurich only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#63 of 1,311
95th percentile in Illinois
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,336
0th percentile in Illinois
Median Home Value
#61 of 1,315
95th percentile in Illinois
Poverty Rate
#1,029 of 1,335
22nd percentile in Illinois
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#58 of 1,336
96th percentile in Illinois
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within Illinois only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
92nd percentile nationally for median household income · 53rd percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Lake Zurich's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Lake Zurich's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Lake Zurich's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$418,30021st percentilemore affordable than 21% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Lake Zurich's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.0×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#6,628 of 15,516
More affordable than 57% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#883 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 3.0×, Lake Zurich sits in the affordable band:
national rank #6,628 of 15,516 and #883 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
The multiple is comparatively compact among tracked cities, but a low ratio can still coexist with slow demand or household-level hardship.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$139,959Lake Zurich, IL median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Lake Zurich, IL median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Lake Zurich, IL.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)61.2%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)2.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)71.7%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
19,727
Median Income
$139,959
Median Home Value
$418,300
Median Age
41.3
Poverty Rate
2.9%
Labor force participation
71.7%
Bachelor's Degree+
61.2%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1272.3
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
61.1
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1211.2
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Schools
Total Schools
5
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Lake Zurich's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
19,788 residents
2021
19,740 residents
2022
19,720 residents
2023
19,824 residents
2024
19,865 residents
2025
19,868 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
18
housing units authorized
Single-Family
14
detached homes
Multifamily
4
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
0.9
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
7
7
0
$2.4M
2020
7
7
0
$2.6M
2021
31
31
0
$9.1M
2022
51
39
12
$17.2M
2023
13
11
2
$4.8M
2024
18
14
4
$5.7M
Permit volume increased 157% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
73.2%
Carpool
3.8%
Public Transit
2.7%
Walk
0.9%
Work from Home
18.5%
Other
0.9%
Based on 10,878 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Illinois statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $240
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Illinois at $240 (electricity about $100 , water and sewer about $50 ).
These are Illinois statewide averages, not a meter reading for Lake Zurich. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Illinois's BEA cost-of-living index is 100.0 (Near Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Lake Zurich is $1,063/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Illinois statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 54.5 / 100 (Low).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Illinois statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Lake Zurich sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Lake Zurich compares to similar-size Illinois cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, FBI UCR, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.