Will County, IL

County Profile

701,462 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Will County, IL.

Several figures AreaProfile publishes are measured by county and nowhere finer — death rates by intent among them. On this page those describe the geography they are printed on, which is not true of the city and ZIP pages that inherit them.

69out of 100
Area Score
Top 24% of 1,225 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity903rd of 1,255 counties44
SchoolsTop 10% of 973 counties83
Growth765th of 1,226 counties43
Housing affordabilityTop 22% of 1,255 counties100
Climate829th of 1,254 counties63
Physical resilienceTop 16% of 1,255 counties84
AccessTop 43% of 1,255 counties85
Economic stabilityTop 5% of 1,255 counties94
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published profiles: unemployment is 5.4% and the Opportunity signal places Will County in the bottom 28%.

Residential permitting has slowed: 1,766 units authorized over the past twelve months, 18% below the prior year.

Natural-hazard exposure is lower than in most comparable published profiles, placing Will County in the top 16% for physical resilience.

At a glance

Population
701,462
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$109,984
Top 3% nationally
Density
839/sq mi
835.9 sq mi of land
Median age
39.1
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Will County
Illinois
Metro area
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN
Nearest major airport
GYY
31 mi · Gary/Chicago Intl
Median home value
$319,600
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 5.4% is lower than 13% of the 1,255 measured US locations.

Employment fell 3.0% over the past year, to 365,393 employed residents.

37% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 89% of measured US locations.

Household income is higher than at least 97% of measured US locations.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$1,819$109,984Top 3%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$664$47,516Top 9%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate7.3%Bottom 8%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute33.6 minTop 10%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher37.5%Top 11%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment365,393Top 7%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-0.6%Bottom 38%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-3.0%Bottom 7%June 2026
Labor force386,203Top 7%June 2026
Labor force participation68.3%Top 7%2024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)0.7%Top 18%June 2026
Unemployment rate5.4%Top 13%June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/067.13.7
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 5.4% in June 2026. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.
Median household income, successive ACS releases
2021202220232024110k96k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $109,984 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.
Largest occupations — Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand157,920$40,550
General and Operations Managers122,930$109,390
Home Health and Personal Care Aides108,520$38,180
Registered Nurses100,240$100,490
Cashiers99,240$35,010
Fast Food and Counter Workers97,280$34,630

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

31% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 34% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 14.3 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
203
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
14.3
across all schools here
Math proficiency
30.6%
Top 12% in Illinois
Reading proficiency
34.1%
Top 12% in Illinois
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Lockport Township High Sch EastLockport Twp HSD 2053,67816.4
Joliet West High SchoolJoliet Twp HSD 2043,45120.7
Bolingbrook High SchoolValley View CUSD 365U3,29813.4
Joliet Central High SchoolJoliet Twp HSD 2043,29518.3
Neuqua Valley High SchoolIndian Prairie CUSD 2043,01814.7
Lincoln-Way East High SchoolLincoln Way CHSD 2102,69618.2
Plainfield North High SchoolPlainfield SD 2022,39917.6
Lincoln Way WestLincoln Way CHSD 2102,04718.1
Lincoln-Way Central High SchoolLincoln Way CHSD 2101,99115.2
Romeoville High SchoolValley View CUSD 365U1,84813.6
Plainfield East High SchoolPlainfield SD 2021,82516.2
Plainfield High SchoolPlainfield SD 2021,80015.8

44.7% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Illinois’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $1,462 takes 16% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 2.9 times median household income here, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Rent as a share of income
16.0%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.9×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,462
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$319,600
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income2.91Bottom 47%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate82.8%Top 8%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±158254,278Top 4%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$33$1,462Top 8%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$3,152$319,600Top 17%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income16.0%Bottom 37%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate3.9%Bottom 2%2024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
43/ 100
Ranks 765 of 1,226 published city profiles
Permitting is broadly steady, measured from 2020 to 2025.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has grown 2% since 2020, reaching 708,583 in 2024.

New construction is predominantly single-family: only 1% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.

At 2.5 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US locations.

Units permitted
1,766
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
2.5
Bottom 44% nationally
Year over year
−18%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.9%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
20202021202220232024709k697k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.
Housing units permitted per year
2020202120222023202420252k1k
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2020 (+12%).

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 85°F and January a low of 19°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 34.4 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 44, in the Good band, and no day in the year passed 100.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station CHICAGO MIDWAY AP, 26.1 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.1"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index60.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation34.4"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low19°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high85°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10002024 calendar year
Median air quality index44.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing50°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
44
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
60
90th percentile index
Days above 100
0
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today. Air quality is measured rather than modelled, by EPA monitors, and published by county only where a monitor sits — roughly half the counties AreaProfile publishes have one, and the rest show nothing rather than an estimate. Air masses are regional, so a county reading describes the air over a place reasonably well, but it is still the county reading.

Physical risk

84 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, tornado and heat wave.

TornadoModerate
Inland floodingModerate
Heat waveModerate
EarthquakeModerate

Low or minimal exposure: cold wave, winter weather, lightning, ice storm, hail, landslide, wildfire, strong wind, drought, hurricane.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA National Risk Index county record. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Will County records 2.1 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, lower than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 6.7 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 7.6 per 100,000 residents in Will County.

Homicide
2.1
per 100,000 residents
Firearm deaths, all intents
6.7
per 100,000 residents
Drug overdose
7.6
per 100,000 residents
Suicide
10.6
per 100,000 residents

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Will County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Will County rather than Will County itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source for reported offences with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. What is published above under Safety is a different measurement — deaths rather than offences, from death certificates rather than police returns — and it covers no property crime at all.
Taxes
No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Full cost of living
No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings.

Access

4 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 31 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Gary/Chicago IntlGYY31 mi8,859 ft
Chicago O'Hare IntlORD37 mi11,245 ft
Central Il Rgnl/Bloomington-NormalBMI83 mi8,000 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Area Score
69
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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar yearAnnually, once a calendar year is complete

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.