Lakewood, IL

The affordability dashboard for Lakewood, IL aggregates Census ACS 5-Year Estimates across 1 ZIP code covering 433 residents, then layers in county-level federal data to produce an overall grade of B (70/100). The headline inputs are median household income of $71,786, median home value of $218,400, median rent of — per month, and 39.7% of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher. These four metrics alone explain most of the variance between city dashboards.

Cross-agency feeds widen the picture beyond Census demographics. HUD publishes a Fair Market Rent for a 2-bedroom in this county at $951 per month (studio $656, 1BR $789, 3BR $1,140, 4BR $1,435).

Reading the overall grade requires reading all seven dimensions together. The score weights Income 20%, Safety 20%, Housing 15%, Rent 15%, Education 10%, Commute 10%, and Childcare 10%, with each sub-score benchmarked against national percentiles rather than state averages — so the grade is genuinely comparable across any city in the country. Strengths visible in the raw data for Lakewood, IL include rent. Unemployment currently reads 0.0% and poverty 0.0% — numbers worth keeping alongside the headline grade.