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Place dossier plate
SheetIL-ROUND-LAKE-HEIGHTS-IL · Round Lake Heights, IL 2,585 pop · income 57th 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 Round Lake Heights
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Round Lake Heights on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Tularosa · lowest
45,147
Tularosa · lowest
45,147 median HH income
18.1% of the leader · rank #1
Laingsburg · near
75,547
Laingsburg · near
75,547 median HH income
30.2% of the leader · rank #2
Edwards · near
75,547
Edwards · near
75,547 median HH income
30.2% of the leader · rank #3
Fredericksburg · near
75,547
Fredericksburg · near
75,547 median HH income
30.2% of the leader · rank #4
Round Lake He… · this city
75,556
Round Lake He… · this city
75,556 median HH income
30.2% of the leader · rank #5
Louisburg · near
75,556
Louisburg · near
75,556 median HH income
30.2% of the leader · rank #6
Kenilworth · highest
250,001
Kenilworth · 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 Round Lake Heights 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: 2,585.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Round Lake Heights - the verdict
Round Lake Heights ranks in the 57th percentile for household income and the 92nd percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
57th
percentile, household income
42nd
percentile, home value
18th
percentile, median rent
92nd
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: Round Lake Heights, IL
2,585 people live in Round Lake Heights, Illinois - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Round Lake Heights brings in $75,556 a year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 14.5%. Round Lake Heights's housing stock carries a median value of $196,100, and the median resident age is 29.6 years. Educational attainment runs 17.7% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 69.3% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 0 residential units were authorized in 2024 (No Permits). Round Lake Heights reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR figures show 312.4 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. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Illinois run around $240, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. 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 Round Lake Heights'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 schools and households to reported crime to work and mobility to housing and income to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Round Lake Heights, 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.
1. Comparison shortlist
Which cities make useful reference points for Round Lake Heights?
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 Petersburg (2,590 residents, $59,850 income); Rockdale (2,598 residents, $56,799 income); Sheridan (2,610 residents, $73,214 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Mohave Valley, AZ (2,585 residents); Hampton Beach, NH (2,585 residents); Kingston, WA (2,585 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.
What does the education layer cover for Round Lake Heights?
The matched institution count is small, so district boundaries and schools outside the city line may matter more than the municipal count suggests. Use the number as a coverage cue, then verify attendance zones with the district before making a household decision.
The NCES join finds 2 public schools within the city match. 17.7% 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.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Round Lake Heights?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 312.4 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 86% 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Round Lake Heights?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 74.3%. 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. 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.
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 Round Lake Heights?
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 2.6 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 14.5%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
2.6×
Home value
$196,100
Household income
$75,556
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Is Round Lake Heights growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -34 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -1.3% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 0 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Recent estimates point downward. A falling count can reflect migration, household size, annexation boundaries, or estimation noise, so it is a prompt to inspect the full series rather than a claim about local economic health.
2020 estimate
2,614
2025 estimate
2,580
Period change
-1.3%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Above median income · poverty 14.5% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
100.0 (US=100)
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Illinois average
D
City profile score · Round Lake Heights, IL
46/100
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 B+
78 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Household income C
$75,556
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
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
17.7%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
14.5%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Round Lake Heights profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Violent crime: 76/100 (B+) · 78 /100k
Household income: 55/100 (C) · $75,556
Cost of living: 40/100 (D) · 100.0 index
Bachelor's+ share: 28/100 (F) · 17.7%
Poverty rate: 24/100 (F) · 14.5%
Where Round Lake Heights sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Round Lake Heights'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 - Round Lake Heights highlighted among 25 peers.Read the chart values
Round Lake Heights, IL (this city): home $196,100, crime 312/100k
Tularosa, NM : home $117,600, crime 497/100k
Marshville, NC : home $147,100, crime 2,925/100k
Rockdale, IL : home $183,500, crime 204/100k
Kenilworth, IL : home $1,409,800, crime 380/100k
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 Round Lake Heights compare to other US cities?
Round Lake Heights measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income57% higher than other cities
Home value42% pricier than other cities
Median rent18% pricier than other cities
Safety92% 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, Round Lake Heights ranks #70 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 Round Lake Heights 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 Round Lake Heights near the bottom of Illinois's cities
Among the 1,336 Illinois cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Round Lake Heights ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Round Lake Heights only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#480 of 1,311
63rd percentile in Illinois
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,336
0th percentile in Illinois
Median Home Value
#367 of 1,315
72nd percentile in Illinois
Poverty Rate
#260 of 1,335
80th percentile in Illinois
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#684 of 1,336
48th 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
57th percentile nationally for median household income · 92nd percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Round Lake Heights's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Round Lake Heights'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 Round Lake Heights's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$196,100Among the most affordablemore affordable than 58% 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
Round Lake Heights's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.6×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#4,479 of 15,516
More affordable than 71% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#3,990 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.6×, Round Lake Heights sits in the affordable band:
national rank #4,479 of 15,516 and #3,990 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
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
$75,556Round Lake Heights, IL median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Round Lake Heights, 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 Round Lake Heights, IL.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)17.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)14.5%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)69.3%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
2,585
Median Income
$75,556
Median Home Value
$196,100
Median Age
29.6
Poverty Rate
14.5%
Labor force participation
69.3%
Bachelor's Degree+
17.7%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
312.4
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
78.1
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
234.3
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
2
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Round Lake Heights's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
2,614 residents
2021
2,604 residents
2022
2,593 residents
2023
2,585 residents
2024
2,588 residents
2025
2,580 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
Total Permits (2024)
0
housing units authorized
Single-Family
0
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
0
0
0
-
2020
0
0
0
-
2021
0
0
0
-
2022
0
0
0
-
2023
0
0
0
-
2024
0
0
0
-
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
74.3%
Carpool
16.0%
Public Transit
0.5%
Walk
1.0%
Work from Home
8.0%
Based on 1,244 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 Round Lake Heights. 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 Round Lake Heights 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 Round Lake Heights sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Round Lake Heights 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.