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Place dossier plate
SheetIL-LOVES-PARK-IL · Loves Park, IL 23,185 pop · income 33rd pct
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 Loves Park
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Loves Park on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Athens · lowest
37,059
Athens · lowest
37,059 median HH income
18.8% of the leader · rank #1
Castile · near
58,625
Castile · near
58,625 median HH income
29.7% of the leader · rank #2
DuBois · near
58,626
DuBois · near
58,626 median HH income
29.7% of the leader · rank #3
Clintondale · near
58,627
Clintondale · near
58,627 median HH income
29.7% of the leader · rank #4
Loves Park · this city
58,633
Loves Park · this city
58,633 median HH income
29.7% of the leader · rank #5
South Hill · near
58,633
South Hill · near
58,633 median HH income
29.7% of the leader · rank #6
Cottage Lake · highest
197,331
Cottage Lake · highest
197,331 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 Loves Park 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: 23,185.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Loves Park - the verdict
Nationally, Loves Park sits in the 33rd percentile for household income and the 39th percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
33rd
percentile, household income
25th
percentile, home value
18th
percentile, median rent
39th
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: Loves Park, IL
23,185 people live in Loves Park, Illinois - a small city by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Loves Park brings in $58,633 a year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 9.4%. Home values in Loves Park run a median of $144,900, and the median resident age is 36.8 years. Educational attainment runs 24.9% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 60.5% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 37 residential building permits were authorized in Loves Park (Construction Slowdown), down 52% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Loves Park reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 1737.3 incidents per 100,000 residents, below the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects 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. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Illinois's average monthly utility costs around $240 (state average). On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 54.5 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Loves Park'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 schools and households to housing and income to comparison shortlist to reported crime to work and mobility to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Loves Park, city-specific coverage includes local building permits, commute-mode shares, annual population history, matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates.
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 education layer cover for Loves Park?
The NCES join finds 5 public schools within the city match. 24.9% 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.
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.
How far does income reach against housing in Loves Park?
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 2.5 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 9.4%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
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. The ratio makes housing the clearest place to start this profile, but a low multiple can coexist with slow demand, older stock, or household-level hardship. Compare the home-value distribution and same-state peer table before treating it as an advantage.
Which cities make useful reference points for Loves Park?
Within Illinois, the closest population matches are Maywood (23,173 residents, $66,498 income); Lisle (23,413 residents, $106,173 income); Blue Island (23,416 residents, $60,965 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Wilmington, MA (23,195 residents); Cottage Lake, WA (23,170 residents); Athens, OH (23,211 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.
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.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Loves Park?
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.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1737.3 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 24% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
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.
Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Loves Park?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 80.7%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Public transit
0.1%
Work from home
7.9%
Drive alone
80.7%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 11,262 workers age 16+.
Is Loves Park growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Recent estimates point upward. Growth can increase housing demand and service needs, but the permit record must move in the same direction before calling it a supply response; the two series measure different things.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +281 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +1.2% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 37 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Period change
+1.2%
2025 estimate
23,712
2020 estimate
23,431
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Below median income · poverty 9.4% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
100.0 (US=100)
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Illinois average
F
City profile score · Loves Park, IL
37/100
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.
Bachelor's+ share D
24.9%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate D
9.4%
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.
Household income F
$58,633
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime F
356 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Loves Park profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 49/100 (D) · 24.9%
Poverty rate: 42/100 (D) · 9.4%
Cost of living: 40/100 (D) · 100.0 index
Household income: 33/100 (F) · $58,633
Violent crime: 25/100 (F) · 356 /100k
Where Loves Park sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Loves Park'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 - Loves Park highlighted among 8 peers.Read the chart values
Loves Park, IL (this city): home $144,900, crime 1,737/100k
Wilmington, MA : home $646,200, crime 1,177/100k
Athens, OH : home $242,200, crime 1,060/100k
Oakdale, CA : home $432,800, crime 1,605/100k
Lisle, IL : home $407,000, crime 498/100k
Blue Island, IL : home $169,800, crime 3,121/100k
Machesney Park, IL : home $162,500, crime 1,855/100k
Freeport, IL : home $86,100, crime 1,770/100k
How does Loves Park compare to other US cities?
Here's how Loves Park stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income33% higher than other cities
Home value25% pricier than other cities
Median rent18% pricier than other cities
Safety39% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just Illinois and the picture shifts: Loves Park ranks #337 of 455 Illinois cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Loves Park 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 Loves Park near the bottom of Illinois's cities
Among the 1,336 Illinois cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Loves Park ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Loves Park only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#870 of 1,311
34th percentile in Illinois
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,336
0th percentile in Illinois
Median Home Value
#524 of 1,315
60th percentile in Illinois
Poverty Rate
#497 of 1,335
62nd percentile in Illinois
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#409 of 1,336
69th 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
33rd percentile nationally for median household income · 39th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Loves Park's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Loves Park'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 Loves Park's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$144,900Among the most affordablemore affordable than 75% 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
Loves Park's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.5×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#3,856 of 15,516
More affordable than 75% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#339 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 2.5×, Loves Park sits in the affordable band:
national rank #3,856 of 15,516 and #339 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
$58,633Loves Park, IL median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Loves Park, 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 Loves Park, IL.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)24.9%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)9.4%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)60.5%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
23,185
Median Income
$58,633
Median Home Value
$144,900
Median Age
36.8
Poverty Rate
9.4%
Labor force participation
60.5%
Bachelor's Degree+
24.9%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1737.3
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
356.0
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1381.3
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
Loves Park's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
23,431 residents
2021
23,378 residents
2022
23,368 residents
2023
23,439 residents
2024
23,616 residents
2025
23,712 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
37
housing units authorized
Single-Family
37
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
1.6
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
77
61
16
$10.5M
2020
41
41
0
$5.2M
2021
66
56
10
$8.4M
2022
46
40
6
$5.5M
2023
47
47
0
$5.6M
2024
37
37
0
$5.8M
Permit volume decreased 52% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
80.7%
Carpool
8.7%
Public Transit
0.1%
Walk
0.6%
Work from Home
7.9%
Other
2.0%
Based on 11,262 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 Loves Park. 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 Loves Park 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 Loves Park sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Loves Park 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.