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Place dossier plate
SheetIL-NORTH-CHICAGO-IL · North Chicago, IL 30,772 pop · income 30th 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 North Chicago
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest North Chicago on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Sanford · lowest
54,294
Sanford · lowest
54,294 median HH income
21.7% of the leader · rank #1
North Chicago · this city
56,815
North Chicago · this city
56,815 median HH income
22.7% of the leader · rank #2
Craigmont · near
56,818
Craigmont · near
56,818 median HH income
22.7% of the leader · rank #3
Martin · near
56,818
Martin · near
56,818 median HH income
22.7% of the leader · rank #4
Morongo Valley · near
56,821
Morongo Valley · near
56,821 median HH income
22.7% of the leader · rank #5
South Paris · near
56,823
South Paris · near
56,823 median HH income
22.7% of the leader · rank #6
Los Altos · highest
250,001
Los Altos · highest
250,001 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 North Chicago 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: 30,772.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
North Chicago - the verdict
Nationally, North Chicago sits in the 30th percentile for household income and the 75th percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
30th
percentile, household income
26th
percentile, home value
18th
percentile, median rent
75th
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: North Chicago, IL
North Chicago is a small city in Illinois, home to 30,772 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. North Chicago households earn a median of $56,815 annually, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 17.8%. Home values in North Chicago run a median of $147,800, and the median resident age is 23.6 years. About 19.1% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 37.7% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 10 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Rapid Growth), up 43% from five years earlier. North Chicago reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR figures show 742.1 crimes per 100,000 residents, below the national average (reporting is voluntary across agencies, so treat this as reporting activity rather than a definitive danger score).
Illinois tracks close to the national cost-of-living baseline: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Illinois at 100.0 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Near Average). Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,063 monthly. 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 North Chicago'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 reported crime to population change to schools and households to housing and income to comparison shortlist to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For North Chicago, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, annual population history, local building permits, commute-mode shares, 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.
1. Reported crime
What can the FBI record say about safety in North Chicago?
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 742.1 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 67% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Is North Chicago 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 +3,308 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +10.8% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 10 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
What does the education layer cover for North Chicago?
The NCES join finds 6 public schools within the city match. 19.1% 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for North Chicago?
Within Illinois, the closest population matches are Gurnee (30,486 residents, $121,410 income); Niles (30,262 residents, $78,563 income); Highland Park (30,229 residents, $161,875 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Westfield, NJ (30,760 residents); La Verne, CA (30,804 residents); Oakleaf Plantation, FL (30,737 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.
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 North Chicago?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 2.6 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 17.8%, 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. 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.
Household income
$56,815
Home value
$147,800
Value / income
2.6×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
What does the journey to work look like in North Chicago?
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.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 45.3%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Public transit
1.4%
Work from home
20.0%
Drive alone
45.3%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 17,228 workers age 16+.
Below median income · poverty 17.8% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
100.0 (US=100)
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Illinois average
F
City profile score · North Chicago, IL
34/100
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.
Violent crime C-
178 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger 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.
Bachelor's+ share F
19.1%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$56,815
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
17.8%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
North Chicago profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Violent crime: 51/100 (C-) · 178 /100k
Cost of living: 40/100 (D) · 100.0 index
Bachelor's+ share: 32/100 (F) · 19.1%
Household income: 30/100 (F) · $56,815
Poverty rate: 17/100 (F) · 17.8%
Where North Chicago sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
North Chicago'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 - North Chicago highlighted among 10 peers.Read the chart values
North Chicago, IL (this city): home $147,800, crime 742/100k
Westfield, NJ : home $930,500, crime 572/100k
La Verne, CA : home $793,900, crime 2,586/100k
Los Altos, CA : home $2,000,000+, crime 1,289/100k
Miami Lakes, FL : home $577,300, crime 1,415/100k
Gurnee, IL : home $331,100, crime 2,410/100k
Niles, IL : home $350,900, crime 2,278/100k
Highland Park, IL : home $594,400, crime 861/100k
Mundelein, IL : home $285,600, crime 772/100k
Algonquin, IL : home $324,000, crime 1,238/100k
How does North Chicago compare to other US cities?
Here's how North Chicago stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income30% higher than other cities
Home value26% pricier than other cities
Median rent18% pricier than other cities
Safety75% 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, North Chicago ranks #180 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 North Chicago 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 North Chicago near the bottom of Illinois's cities
Among the 1,336 Illinois cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, North Chicago ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares North Chicago only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#925 of 1,311
29th percentile in Illinois
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,336
0th percentile in Illinois
Median Home Value
#510 of 1,315
61st percentile in Illinois
Poverty Rate
#163 of 1,335
87th percentile in Illinois
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#620 of 1,336
53rd 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
30th percentile nationally for median household income · 75th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
North Chicago's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
North Chicago'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 North Chicago's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$147,800Among the most affordablemore affordable than 74% 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
North Chicago's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.6×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#4,512 of 15,516
More affordable than 71% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#444 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 2.6×, North Chicago sits in the affordable band:
national rank #4,512 of 15,516 and #444 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
$56,815North Chicago, IL median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context North Chicago, 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 North Chicago, IL.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)19.1%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)17.8%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)37.7%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
30,772
Median Income
$56,815
Median Home Value
$147,800
Median Age
23.6
Poverty Rate
17.8%
Labor force participation
37.7%
Bachelor's Degree+
19.1%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
742.1
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
178.1
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
564.0
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
6
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
North Chicago's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
30,742 residents
2021
31,372 residents
2022
31,504 residents
2023
31,399 residents
2024
34,086 residents
2025
34,050 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Rapid Growth
Total Permits (2024)
10
housing units authorized
Single-Family
10
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
0.3
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
7
7
0
$1.3M
2020
6
6
0
$1.7M
2021
4
4
0
$0.5M
2022
5
5
0
$0.3M
2023
13
13
0
$4.5M
2024
10
10
0
$3.5M
Permit volume increased 43% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
45.3%
Carpool
9.7%
Public Transit
1.4%
Walk
21.7%
Work from Home
20.0%
Other
1.9%
Based on 17,228 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 North Chicago. 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 North Chicago 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 North Chicago sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How North Chicago 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.