Illinois will always be as lucky and wealthy as a lottery winner because they house the Chicago Bears. However, there is more to Illinois than just their great sports teams: there are super wealthy cities in the Land of Lincoln that placate to the rich and famous.
If you’re looking for safe cities and neighborhoods, amazing schools, and high-end shopping, with a bank account to match, you can stop your search. There are cities in on our top ten Richest Cities in Illinois that have these 5-star amenities, and then some. And, yes, they are mainly centralized around Chi-town. To create this list, we asked ourselves, what is important to rich people? Besides the obvious: high paying jobs, affluent neighborhoods, gigantic homes, and Michelin rated restaurants, we know that the cities on our list cater to the ‘one percent’ on a different level.
Cities on our list like Glencoe offer beachfront access to Lake Michigan and cities like Deerfield provide upscale golf courses enough to play a different course every day of the week. Now, it’s not lost on us that there are multiple cities on our ten best cities to live in Illinois for 2023 that are also on our richest list. Wealthy cities tend to have it all. To see which cities come out as the wealthiest in Illinois for 2023, grab a slice of deep dish pizza, a nice quiet spot on Lake Michigan, and take a look at the list below.
Here are the 10 richest places in Illinois for 2023:
How does one get their hand on one of these Illinois gems? Well, a couple of things have to fall into place for you.
First off, you need to find a job that pays on average $150,000/year. Might we suggest a job in real estate in our number one richest city? The median home price in this city is $700,000. Secondly, you have to be a hard worker. Unemployment rates and poverty rates in these ‘Richie Rich’ Illinois cities, come in just below 3%.
So what city in Illinois crushed all categories, that would be Hinsdale — the wealthiest city in Illinois.
So, if you care about living where there are great jobs and wealthy people, take a look the list below. The ‘Prairie State’ wants you to call it home.
Rich people not your cup of tea? Feel free to check out some more reading about Illinois:
The 10 Richest Cities In Illinois For 2023
1. Hinsdale
/10
Population: 17,148
Rank Last Year: 3 (Up 2)
Median Income: $224,185
Unemployment Rate: 2.2%
Poverty Rate: 1.6%
More on Hinsdale: Real Estate | Photos
2. Inverness
/10
Population: 7,684
Rank Last Year: 1 (Down 1)
Median Income: $190,458
Unemployment Rate: 2.3%
Poverty Rate: 2.4%
More on Inverness: Real Estate | Photos
3. Mahomet
/10
Population: 9,297
Rank Last Year: 10 (Up 7)
Median Income: $122,386
Unemployment Rate: 1.4%
Poverty Rate: 2.1%
More on Mahomet: Real Estate | Photos
4. South Barrington
/10
Population: 5,012
Rank Last Year: –
Median Income: $198,388
Unemployment Rate: 3.0%
Poverty Rate: 2.0%
More on South Barrington: Real Estate
5. Western Springs
/10
Population: 13,550
Rank Last Year: 5 (No Change)
Median Income: $196,638
Unemployment Rate: 2.8%
Poverty Rate: 2.3%
More on Western Springs: Real Estate | Photos
6. Lake Bluff
/10
Population: 5,878
Rank Last Year: 6 (No Change)
Median Income: $173,667
Unemployment Rate: 2.8%
Poverty Rate: 2.8%
More on Lake Bluff: Real Estate | Photos
7. Geneva
/10
Population: 21,472
Rank Last Year: 21 (Up 14)
Median Income: $126,759
Unemployment Rate: 2.7%
Poverty Rate: 2.4%
More on Geneva: Real Estate | Photos
8. Libertyville
/10
Population: 20,616
Rank Last Year: 12 (Up 4)
Median Income: $153,674
Unemployment Rate: 2.9%
Poverty Rate: 2.8%
More on Libertyville: Real Estate | Photos
9. Long Grove
/10
Population: 8,258
Rank Last Year: 7 (Down 2)
Median Income: $207,275
Unemployment Rate: 3.6%
Poverty Rate: 1.6%
More on Long Grove: Real Estate | Photos
10. Northbrook
/10
Population: 35,108
Rank Last Year: 8 (Down 2)
Median Income: $143,506
Unemployment Rate: 2.7%
Poverty Rate: 3.5%
More on Northbrook: Real Estate | Photos
Methodology: How We Determined The Richest Places In Illinois For 2023
The first thing that comes to most people’s minds when they think about determining the richest places is to simply identify personal incomes. After all, rich people have really high salaries.
However, we don’t believe that one statistic wholly encompasses what it means to be one of the “richest places”. So we looked at this set of criteria from the newly released 2017-2021 American Community Survey:
- Poverty Level
- Median Household Income
- Unemployment Rate
Median household income is the most digestible way to understand how rich a place really is. The unemployment rate tries to capture the prospects for more people to become rich. If more people are employed, the richer the future looks.
After we collected the data for all 332 places with more than 5,000 people in Illinois, we ranked each place from 1 to 332 for each of the criteria, with 1 being the richest.
We then averaged all the rankings for a place into a “Rich Score” with the place having the lowest overall Rich Score, Hinsdale, crowned the “Richest City In Illinois For 2023”. You can download the data here.
You can learn more about the top ten below or skip to the end to see the rankings for all 332 places.
Summary: The Wealthiest Places In Illinois For 2023
Like we said earlier, when we set out to identify the richest places in Illinois, we weren’t sure what we’d encounter, but it ended up being some of the best places to live in Illinois.
When you look at the data, the cities and places mentioned above meet the criteria for being at the very top of the income ladder for everyone that lives there.
If you’re curious enough, here are the poorest cities in Illinois, according to data:
Poorest: Riverdale
2nd Poorest: East St. Louis
3rd Poorest: Harvey
For more Illinois reading, check out:
Detailed List Of The Richest Cities In Illinois
| Rank | City | RichScore |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hinsdale | 8.33 |
| 2 | Inverness | 15.33 |
| 3 | Mahomet | 16.67 |
| 4 | South Barrington | 18.67 |
| 5 | Western Springs | 19.33 |
| 6 | Lake Bluff | 23.33 |
| 7 | Geneva | 25.67 |
| 8 | Libertyville | 27.0 |
| 9 | Long Grove | 29.0 |
| 10 | Northbrook | 29.0 |
| 11 | Lincolnshire | 29.67 |
| 12 | Deerfield | 32.0 |
| 13 | Winnetka | 32.0 |
| 14 | Hawthorn Woods | 32.33 |
| 15 | Oswego | 33.0 |
| 16 | Lake Forest | 33.33 |
| 17 | Volo | 35.0 |
| 18 | Gilberts | 40.0 |
| 19 | Bartlett | 43.0 |
| 20 | Itasca | 43.5 |
| 21 | La Grange | 44.67 |
| 22 | Highland Park | 45.33 |
| 23 | Glencoe | 46.33 |
| 24 | New Lenox | 47.0 |
| 25 | Barrington | 48.0 |
| 26 | Columbia | 49.0 |
| 27 | Lake Zurich | 49.67 |
| 28 | Park Ridge | 50.33 |
| 29 | Winfield | 54.0 |
| 30 | Sugar Grove | 54.33 |
| 31 | Wauconda | 55.0 |
| 32 | Northfield | 55.0 |
| 33 | Frankfort | 55.67 |
| 34 | Wilmette | 56.67 |
| 35 | Buffalo Grove | 57.0 |
| 36 | Roscoe | 59.67 |
| 37 | Glenview | 60.33 |
| 38 | Manhattan | 60.67 |
| 39 | Burr Ridge | 62.0 |
| 40 | Mokena | 62.67 |
| 41 | Campton Hills | 63.0 |
| 42 | Plainfield | 64.33 |
| 43 | Riverside | 64.33 |
| 44 | Arlington Heights | 64.67 |
| 45 | Hampshire | 66.33 |
| 46 | Batavia | 66.83 |
| 47 | Pingree Grove | 67.33 |
| 48 | Chatham | 68.33 |
| 49 | Willowbrook | 69.0 |
| 50 | St. Charles | 69.33 |
| 51 | Naperville | 70.0 |
| 52 | Yorkville | 70.67 |
| 53 | Lemont | 71.33 |
| 54 | Elburn | 74.33 |
| 55 | Vernon Hills | 75.33 |
| 56 | O’fallon | 75.67 |
| 57 | Shorewood | 76.0 |
| 58 | Clarendon Hills | 77.0 |
| 59 | South Elgin | 78.33 |
| 60 | Washington | 80.33 |
| 61 | Lakemoor | 80.67 |
| 62 | Rockton | 81.33 |
| 63 | Mundelein | 81.67 |
| 64 | Brookfield | 82.67 |
| 65 | Manteno | 83.67 |
| 66 | Morton | 84.0 |
| 67 | Glen Ellyn | 84.33 |
| 68 | West Dundee | 84.33 |
| 69 | Wheaton | 85.67 |
| 70 | River Forest | 86.0 |
| 71 | Homer Glen | 86.67 |
| 72 | La Grange Park | 87.0 |
| 73 | Monticello | 87.33 |
| 74 | Minooka | 88.67 |
| 75 | Lake In The Hills | 89.67 |
| 76 | Waterloo | 89.67 |
| 77 | Hoffman Estates | 89.83 |
| 78 | Elmhurst | 90.0 |
| 79 | Darien | 91.33 |
| 80 | Evergreen Park | 92.67 |
| 81 | Mount Prospect | 93.0 |
| 82 | Downers Grove | 95.0 |
| 83 | Westchester | 95.17 |
| 84 | Woodridge | 95.33 |
| 85 | Lake Villa | 99.33 |
| 86 | Palos Heights | 100.0 |
| 87 | Mount Zion | 100.67 |
| 88 | Elk Grove Village | 101.33 |
| 89 | Monee | 101.33 |
| 90 | Villa Park | 102.0 |
| 91 | Willow Springs | 102.33 |
| 92 | Huntley | 102.67 |
| 93 | Shiloh | 103.0 |
| 94 | Algonquin | 104.33 |
| 95 | Godfrey | 104.67 |
| 96 | Morton Grove | 105.33 |
| 97 | Oak Forest | 105.33 |
| 98 | Coal City | 106.0 |
| 99 | Spring Grove | 106.0 |
| 100 | Cary | 106.33 |
