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Place dossier plate
SheetIL-RIVERWOODS-IL · Riverwoods, IL 3,988 pop · income 99th 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 Riverwoods
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Riverwoods on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Hawkinsville · lowest
37,199
Hawkinsville · lowest
37,199 median HH income
15.2% of the leader · rank #1
Lloyd Harbor · near
242,434
Lloyd Harbor · near
242,434 median HH income
99.2% of the leader · rank #2
Riverwoods · this city
243,036
Riverwoods · this city
243,036 median HH income
99.5% of the leader · rank #3
Mamanasco Lake · near
243,750
Mamanasco Lake · near
243,750 median HH income
99.8% of the leader · rank #4
Lyons · near
243,958
Lyons · near
243,958 median HH income
99.9% of the leader · rank #5
Lake Sherwood · near
244,239
Lake Sherwood · near
244,239 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #6
Lakes West · highest
244,286
Lakes West · highest
244,286 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 Riverwoods 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: 3,988.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Riverwoods - the verdict
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Riverwoods lands in the 99th percentile for household income and the 79th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
99th
percentile, household income
95th
percentile, home value
18th
percentile, median rent
79th
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: Riverwoods, IL
Illinois's Riverwoods is a small town, with 3,988 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Households in Riverwoods report a median income of $243,036 per year, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 0.0%. Typical homes in Riverwoods are valued around $796,100, and the median resident age is 50.1 years. Educational attainment runs 76.4% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 56.3% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 2 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Low Activity). Riverwoods reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 645.2 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: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Illinois at 100.0 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Near Average). 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. FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 54.5 out of 100 (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Riverwoods'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 comparison shortlist to housing and income to work and mobility to reported crime to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Riverwoods, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history, local building permits.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, matched public-school count; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Which cities make useful reference points for Riverwoods?
Within Illinois, the closest population matches are Marshall (3,987 residents, $70,950 income); Indian Head Park (3,992 residents, $107,019 income); Burnham (3,978 residents, $55,708 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Pittsboro, IN (3,988 residents); Esperance, WA (3,988 residents); Ladonia, AL (3,987 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Riverwoods?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.3 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 0.0%, 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Riverwoods?
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 61.8%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Riverwoods?
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 645.2 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 72% 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.
Population change
Is Riverwoods growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
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.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -21 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -0.6% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 2 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
-0.6%
2025 estimate
3,766
2020 estimate
3,787
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Top-decile income · poverty 0.0% (Very low poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
100.0 (US=100)
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Illinois average
A
City profile score · Riverwoods, IL
86/100
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+
$243,036
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate A+
0.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share A+
76.4%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime A+
27 /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.
Riverwoods profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 100/100 (A+) · $243,036
Poverty rate: 100/100 (A+) · 0.0%
Bachelor's+ share: 100/100 (A+) · 76.4%
Violent crime: 90/100 (A+) · 27 /100k
Cost of living: 40/100 (D) · 100.0 index
Where Riverwoods sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Riverwoods'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 - Riverwoods highlighted among 27 peers.Read the chart values
Riverwoods, IL (this city): home $796,100, crime 645/100k
Pittsboro, IN : home $289,700, crime 477/100k
Chilton, WI : home $160,100, crime 488/100k
Marshall, IL : home $118,500, crime 1,375/100k
Indian Head Park, IL : home $337,700, crime 312/100k
Millstadt, IL : home $205,400, crime 179/100k
South Chicago Heights, IL : home $136,000, crime 3,519/100k
New York, NY : home $751,700, crime 3,039/100k
Los Angeles, CA : home $879,500, crime 2,212/100k
Chicago, IL : home $315,200, crime 4,012/100k
Houston, TX : home $253,400, crime 5,442/100k
Phoenix, AZ : home $381,900, crime 3,125/100k
Philadelphia, PA : home $232,400, crime 5,457/100k
San Antonio, TX : home $219,700, crime 5,218/100k
San Diego, CA : home $848,500, crime 2,082/100k
Dallas, TX : home $295,300, crime 4,010/100k
San Jose, CA : home $1,187,800, crime 3,195/100k
Austin, TX : home $512,700, crime 3,709/100k
Fort Worth, TX : home $277,300, crime 3,158/100k
Columbus, OH : home $234,500, crime 3,088/100k
Indianapolis, IN : home $207,000, crime 4,214/100k
San Francisco, CA : home $1,380,500, crime 4,526/100k
Seattle, WA : home $912,100, crime 5,783/100k
Denver, CO : home $586,700, crime 5,755/100k
Oklahoma City, OK : home $215,100, crime 3,570/100k
El Paso, TX : home $171,700, crime 1,772/100k
Washington, DC : home $724,600, crime 4,514/100k
How does Riverwoods compare to other US cities?
Where Riverwoods sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income99% higher than other cities
Home value95% pricier than other cities
Median rent18% pricier than other cities
Safety79% 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, Riverwoods ranks #149 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 Riverwoods 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 Riverwoods near the bottom of Illinois's cities
Among the 1,336 Illinois cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Riverwoods ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Riverwoods only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#6 of 1,311
100th percentile in Illinois
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,336
0th percentile in Illinois
Median Home Value
#12 of 1,315
99th percentile in Illinois
Poverty Rate
#1,245 of 1,335
0th percentile in Illinois
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#16 of 1,336
99th 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
99th percentile nationally for median household income · 79th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Riverwoods's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Riverwoods'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 Riverwoods's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$796,1005th percentilemore affordable than 5% 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
Riverwoods's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.3×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#8,004 of 15,516
More affordable than 48% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#6,561 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.3×, Riverwoods sits in the moderate band:
national rank #8,004 of 15,516 and #6,561 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
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
$243,036Riverwoods, IL median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Riverwoods, 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 Riverwoods, IL.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)76.4%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)0.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)56.3%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
3,988
Median Income
$243,036
Median Home Value
$796,100
Median Age
50.1
Poverty Rate
0.0%
Labor force participation
56.3%
Bachelor's Degree+
76.4%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
645.2
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
26.9
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
618.3
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.
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Riverwoods's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
3,787 residents
2021
3,774 residents
2022
3,762 residents
2023
3,759 residents
2024
3,771 residents
2025
3,766 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Low Activity
Total Permits (2024)
2
housing units authorized
Single-Family
2
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
0.5
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
0
0
0
-
2020
0
0
0
-
2021
2
2
0
$2.0M
2022
2
2
0
$2.0M
2023
3
3
0
$3.0M
2024
2
2
0
$2.2M
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
61.8%
Carpool
2.4%
Public Transit
4.1%
Walk
1.5%
Work from Home
29.8%
Based on 1,814 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 Riverwoods. 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 Riverwoods 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 Riverwoods sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Riverwoods 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, 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.