Skokie, Illinois

Area Profile

66,219 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Skokie, in Cook County.

Area Score unavailable

Missing required signal: growth. AreaProfile withholds a score rather than inferring the missing dimensions.

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity3131st of 3,904 published cities42
SchoolsTop 28% of 2,668 published cities69
Housing affordabilityTop 43% of 4,223 published cities85
Climate3314th of 4,223 published cities62
Physical resilienceTop 38% of 4,182 published cities69
AccessTop 29% of 4,226 published cities97
Economic stabilityTop 43% of 4,226 published cities63
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published city profiles: unemployment is 5.2% and the Opportunity signal places Skokie in the bottom 20%.

In the public schools here, 29% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 11.8 students for every teacher.

A major airport is 10 miles away, giving the area unusually direct access to the national air network.

At a glance

Population
66,219
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$95,337
Top 21% nationally
Density
6,580/sq mi
10.1 sq mi of land
Median age
43.2
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Cook County
Illinois
Metro area
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN
Nearest major airport
ORD
10 mi · Chicago O'Hare Intl
Median home value
$387,200
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 5.2% is lower than 19% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment fell 3.1% over the past year, to 31,177 employed residents.

54% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 91% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$5,362$95,337Top 21%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,972$46,534Top 21%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate9.7%Bottom 45%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute30.7 minTop 31%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher53.8%Top 9%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment31,177Bottom 39%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-0.8%Bottom 36%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-3.1%Bottom 5%June 2026
Labor force32,895Bottom 39%June 2026
Labor force participation63.6%Top 39%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$73,380Top 36%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$54,720Top 39%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)0.6%Top 21%June 2026
Unemployment rate5.2%Top 19%June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/067.83.1
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 5.2% 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
202120222023202495k81k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $95,337 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.

29% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 34% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 11.8 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
16
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
11.8
across all schools here
Math proficiency
29.5%
Top 38% in Illinois
Reading proficiency
34.2%
Top 35% in Illinois
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Niles West High SchoolNiles Twp HSD 2192,64613.4
Niles North High SchoolNiles Twp HSD 2191,99911.6
Fairview South Elementary SchoolFairview SD 7271810.037%57%
Old Orchard Jr High SchoolSkokie SD 6871112.937%37%
Lincoln Jr High SchoolSkokie SD 6962811.832%27%
Madison Elem SchoolSkokie SD 6960911.7
John Middleton Elem SchoolSkokie SD 73-552111.126%35%
East Prairie Elem SchoolEast Prairie SD 7351310.339%44%
Devonshire Elem SchoolSkokie SD 6841713.010%17%
Jane Stenson SchoolSkokie SD 6836512.615%22%
Walker Elem SchoolEvanston CCSD 6536411.746%42%
Oliver McCracken Middle SchoolSkokie SD 73-53409.430%35%

49.0% 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 $1,552 takes 20% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 4.1 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
19.5%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
4.1×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,552
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$387,200
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income4.06Top 26%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate74.7%Bottom 47%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±66025,159Top 2%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$81$1,552Top 19%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$10,856$387,200Top 19%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income19.5%Top 44%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate3.1%Bottom 20%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 →

Population has fallen 3% since 2020, reaching 65,850 in 2024.

Permitting has turned downward after moving the other way the year before.

Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202468k65k
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
2020202120222023202420252993.0
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2020 (−94%).

No building-permit activity is published for this location by the Census Building Permits Survey.

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 84°F and January a low of 18°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 32.3 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 54, in the Moderate band, and about 11 days a year pass 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station CHICAGO PALWAUKEE AP, 10.3 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.0"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index84.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation32.3"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low18°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high84°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 100112024 calendar year
Median air quality index54.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing50°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
54
Moderate on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
84
90th percentile index
Days above 100
11
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

69 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding and earthquake.

Inland floodingElevated
EarthquakeModerate

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

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. 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.

Cook County records 10.6 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, higher than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 12.4 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 17.4 per 100,000 residents in Cook County.

Homicide
10.6
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
12.4
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
17.4
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
9.3
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

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 Cook 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 Skokie rather than Skokie 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

3 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 10 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Chicago O'Hare IntlORD10 mi11,245 ft
Gary/Chicago IntlGYY33 mi8,859 ft
South Bend IntlSBN77 mi8,412 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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Other cities in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
ChicagoCook County2,711,22654vs Skokie
AuroraKane County179,89864vs Skokie
NapervilleDuPage County150,69271vs Skokie
JolietWill County150,44559vs Skokie
ElginKane County114,93457vs Skokie
WaukeganLake County89,07658vs Skokie
CiceroCook County82,79748vs Skokie
SchaumburgCook County76,86861vs Skokie
HammondLake County76,76858vs Skokie
EvanstonCook County76,34063vs Skokie
Arlington HeightsCook County76,00566vs Skokie
BolingbrookWill County74,09664vs Skokie

Every city here is measured on the same scale from the same source releases, so the comparison is like for like. A higher Area Score reflects AreaProfile’s standardized weighting rather than a judgment about which is the better place to live.

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
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
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.

ZIP codes in Skokie

3 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
6007632,953$113,818
6007728,501$78,523
602034,680$170,224