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Place dossier plate
SheetIL-TOWER-LAKES-IL · Tower Lakes, IL 1,148 pop · income 96th 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 Tower Lakes
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Tower Lakes on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Milford · lowest
45,000
Milford · lowest
45,000 median HH income
26.1% of the leader · rank #1
Paragon Estat… · near
172,625
Paragon Estat… · near
172,625 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #2
Keller · near
172,654
Keller · near
172,654 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #3
Tower Lakes · this city
172,656
Tower Lakes · this city
172,656 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #4
Acalanes Ridge · near
172,667
Acalanes Ridge · near
172,667 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #5
Genesee · near
172,692
Genesee · near
172,692 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #6
Hockessin · highest
172,695
Hockessin · highest
172,695 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
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Tower Lakes on ACS population and median household income
. 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: 1,148.
Nationally, Tower Lakes sits in the 96th percentile for household income and the 99th percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
96th
percentile, household income
85th
percentile, home value
18th
percentile, median rent
99th
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: Tower Lakes, IL
Tower Lakes is a small town in Illinois, home to 1,148 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Tower Lakes report a median income of $172,656 per year, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 3.0%. Home values in Tower Lakes run a median of $495,900, and the median resident age is 48.8 years. 77.8% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 61.0% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 0 residential building permits were authorized in Tower Lakes (No Permits), per Census BPS data. Tower Lakes reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 0.0 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. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Illinois's average monthly utility costs around $240 (state average). 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 Tower Lakes'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 population change to reported crime to work and mobility to comparison shortlist to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Tower Lakes, city-specific coverage includes local building permits, commute-mode shares, annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates.
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.
1. Population change
Is Tower Lakes growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
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.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -21 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -1.7% 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.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Tower Lakes?
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 0.0 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 100% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
What does the journey to work look like in Tower Lakes?
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 72.5%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Which cities make useful reference points for Tower Lakes?
Within Illinois, the closest population matches are Forreston (1,148 residents, $68,042 income); Newark (1,152 residents, $129,688 income); Greenfield (1,137 residents, $70,469 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Cave Spring, GA (1,148 residents); Frederic, WI (1,148 residents); Ballplay, AL (1,149 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.
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 Tower Lakes?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 2.9 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 3.0%, 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.
Household income
$172,656
Home value
$495,900
Value / income
2.9×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Illinois average
A-
City profile score · Tower Lakes, IL
83/100
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+
$172,656
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share A+
77.8%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime A+
0 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Poverty rate B+
3.0%
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.
Tower Lakes profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 100/100 (A+) · $172,656
Bachelor's+ share: 100/100 (A+) · 77.8%
Violent crime: 97/100 (A+) · 0 /100k
Poverty rate: 79/100 (B+) · 3.0%
Cost of living: 40/100 (D) · 100.0 index
How does Tower Lakes compare to other US cities?
Where Tower Lakes sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income96% higher than other cities
Home value85% pricier than other cities
Median rent18% pricier than other cities
Safety99% 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, Tower Lakes ranks #10 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 Tower Lakes 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 Tower Lakes near the bottom of Illinois's cities
Among the 1,336 Illinois cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Tower Lakes ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Tower Lakes only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#31 of 1,311
98th percentile in Illinois
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,336
0th percentile in Illinois
Median Home Value
#44 of 1,315
97th percentile in Illinois
Poverty Rate
#1,022 of 1,335
23rd percentile in Illinois
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#13 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
96th percentile nationally for median household income · 99th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Tower Lakes's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Tower Lakes'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 Tower Lakes's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$495,90015th percentilemore affordable than 15% 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
Tower Lakes's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.9×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#5,971 of 15,516
More affordable than 62% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#5,140 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.9×, Tower Lakes sits in the affordable band:
national rank #5,971 of 15,516 and #5,140 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
$172,656Tower Lakes, IL median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Tower Lakes, 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 Tower Lakes, IL.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)77.8%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)3.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)61.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,148
Median Income
$172,656
Median Home Value
$495,900
Median Age
48.8
Poverty Rate
3.0%
Labor force participation
61.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
77.8%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
0.0
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
0.0
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
0.0
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.
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Tower Lakes's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
1,222 residents
2021
1,216 residents
2022
1,210 residents
2023
1,207 residents
2024
1,205 residents
2025
1,201 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
72.5%
Carpool
1.6%
Public Transit
3.5%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
20.2%
Other
2.2%
Based on 550 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 Tower Lakes. 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 Tower Lakes 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 Tower Lakes sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Tower Lakes 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.