City · Kane County, Illinois

Aurora, Illinois

Aurora is a city in Kane County, Illinois, part of the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN metro area. It has 179,898 residents. Aurora, Illinois has a quality-of-life score of 58 out of 100 (moderate), ranking #6,615 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Illinois it ranks #258 of 697 cities and towns. It ranks best on injury deaths (low), depression (low) and drug overdose deaths (low). It ranks worst on effective property tax rate (high), high school diploma or higher (low) and reading scores (low).

58Moderate

Quality-of-life score: #6,615 of 15,651 cities and towns
Illinois: #258 of 697 in IL
Population: 179,898 (2020-2024)
Land area: 45 mi²
Density: 3,976.0 /mi²
FIPS code: 1703012

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 76 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety86#2,109/15,637
Economy51#7,684/15,631
Housing73#4,038/14,977
Health82#2,844/15,609
Healthcare57#6,681/15,650
Environment18#12,697/15,453
Education24#11,880/15,649
Infrastructure58#6,558/15,650
Community54#7,126/15,651
Leisure & amenities38#9,746/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Aurora, Illinois ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Kane County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Injury deaths · low54 /100k
93/100Illinois 80 /100kUnited States 87 /100k2019-2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteKane County value
Depression · low17.8%
91/100Illinois 20.3%United States 20.7%2023Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimate
Drug overdose deaths · low7.6 /100k
91/100Illinois 14.2 /100kUnited States 18.4 /100kMar 2025–Feb 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataKane County value
Public transit commuters · high2.6%
86/100Illinois 5.8%United States 3.2%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B08301
Premature death · low5,864 /100k
85/100Illinois 7,613 /100kUnited States 8,123 /100k2021-2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteKane County value
Distance to an emergency room · low3.6 mi
85/100Illinois 4.0 miUnited States 5.5 miJul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesKane County value

Weaknesses

Effective property tax rate · high2.25%
4/100Illinois 1.88%United States 0.94%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25090
High school diploma or higher · low83.1%
8/100Illinois 90.5%United States 89.6%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B15003
Reading scores · low2.72
11/100Illinois 2.97United States 3.052019University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteKane County value
Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) · high9.0 µg/m³
13/100Illinois 8.8 µg/m³United States 8.0 µg/m³2022Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyKane County value
Days with unhealthy air · high2.5%
16/100Illinois 4.2%2025U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyKane County value
Job growth · low-1.5%
19/100Illinois 0.0%United States 0.1%2026 Q1U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsProvisional dataKane County value

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

PopulationFalling
199,927 (2015-2019) → 179,898 (2020-2024)
−10%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
New homes permittedImproving
0.4 /1k (2021) → 5.4 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
+1,285%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Bachelor's degree or higherImproving
31.2% (2015-2019) → 38.5% (2020-2024)
+7.3 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 32.1% → 35.7%
Median household incomeImproving
$71,749 (2015-2019) → $93,633 (2020-2024)
+31%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
87.2% (2015-2019) → 92.8% (2020-2024)
+5.7 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
High school diploma or higherImproving
78.2% (2015-2019) → 83.1% (2020-2024)
+5 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 88.0% → 89.6%

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, Aurora, Illinois improved on 8 of 15 measures with a comparison and declined on 2. 4 moved within the margin of error and 1 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved8

High school++5 points78.2% → 83.1%
Bachelor's++7.3 points31.2% → 38.5%
Commute−2.0 min29.2 min → 27.2 min
Inequality−0.0190.436 → 0.417
Child poverty−3.7 points16.5% → 12.8%

Declined2

Transit use−2 points4.5% → 2.6%
Price / income+0.4×2.6× → 2.9×

All 15 measures

Change of every measure of Aurora, Illinois between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	29.2 min2015-2019	27.2 min2020-2024	−2.0 min	Improved	70%
Bachelor's degree or higher	31.2%2015-2019	38.5%2020-2024	+7.3 points	Improved	81%
Broadband subscriptions	87.2%2015-2019	92.8%2020-2024	+5.7 points	Improved	36%
Child poverty rate	16.5%2015-2019	12.8%2020-2024	−3.7 points	Improved	64%
Effective property tax rate	2.64%2015-2019	2.25%2020-2024	−0.4 points	Little change	84%
High school diploma or higher	78.2%2015-2019	83.1%2020-2024	+5 points	Improved	81%
Home price to income ratio	2.6×2015-2019	2.9×2020-2024	+0.4×	Declined	57%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4362015-2019	0.4172020-2024	−0.019	Improved	67%
Median household income	$71,7492015-2019	$93,6332020-2024	+31%	Improved	56%
Poverty rate	11.4%2015-2019	9.5%2020-2024	−1.9 points	Improved	61%
Public transit commuters	4.5%2015-2019	2.6%2020-2024	−2 points	Declined	13%
Rent as share of income	29.4%2015-2019	28.2%2020-2024	−1.2 points	Within the margin of error	64%
Rent-burdened households	48.3%2015-2019	45.7%2020-2024	−2.6 points	Within the margin of error	65%
Unemployment rate	5.2%2015-2019	5.8%2020-2024	+0.6 points	Within the margin of error	36%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	11.9%2015-2019	10.8%2020-2024	−1.1 points	Within the margin of error	60%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like Aurora, Illinois five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Aurora, Illinois in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, Aurora, Illinois itself moved +5.2 points in standing on average over the same 10 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

179,898 residents (±487)

Men
Women

80 and over
70–79
60–69

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

61,317 households (±1,117)

Aurora, Illinois
Illinois share

Under $25k10%6,426
$25k–50k13%7,754
$50k–75k16%9,594

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

61,317 households (±1,117)

Aurora, Illinois
Illinois share

Own66%40,713
Rent34%20,604

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Rent (−1.9 points).

Table view

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

93,709 workers (±1,642)

Aurora, Illinois
Illinois share

Drive alone67%62,814
Carpool11%10,505
Public transit2.6%2,421

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Kane County, the county holding most of Aurora's residents.

Kane County has 13,537 employer establishments, 261 for every 10,000 residents (1.05× the US rate of 248; 1.02× Illinois's), with 194,921 paid employees at an average annual pay of $58,541. The Census Bureau also counts 44,748 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 13,537; 44,748 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 261; US 248 · Illinois 255
Paid employees: 194,921
Average annual pay: $58,541; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Kane County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Specialty trade contractors	1,129	21.8	1.41×More than typical	9,766	$88,745	2,909
Ambulatory health care services	1,000	19.3	0.93×About typical	11,072	$64,697	1,524
Restaurants and other eating places	886	17.1	0.93×About typical	16,361	$22,415	220
Services to buildings and dwellings	646	12.5	1.85×More than typical	3,178	$55,751	2,358
Truck transportation	643	12.4	2.45×More than typical	2,127	$65,347	2,147
Construction of buildings	458	8.8	1.17×About typical	1,784	$80,946	1,306
Lessors of real estate	451	8.7	0.71×Fewer than typical	2,082	$57,479	3,927
Landscaping services	442	8.5	2.43×More than typical	1,551	$70,230	794
Full-service restaurants	402	7.8	1.01×About typical	7,772	$25,466	96
Building equipment contractors	394	7.6	1.26×More than typical	4,423	$89,377	495
Limited-service restaurants	363	7	0.87×About typical	6,948	$19,615	85
Offices of other health practitioners	348	6.7	1.11×About typical	1,646	$44,254	807

Rank places for an industry Open Kane County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 518,295 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $91M of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Aurora, Illinois: $506 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $91M; −33% vs FY2025
Per resident: $506; US $1,994
Sole-source: 95%; US 30%
Single offer: 0.8%; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Department of Veterans Affairs$83.9M92%
Defense Logistics Agency$2.2M2.5%
Federal Aviation Administration$1.5M1.6%
Offices, Boards and Divisions$1.4M1.5%
Department of the Navy$1.1M1.2%
Indian Health Service$692.6K0.8%
Department of the Air Force$268.2K0.3%
National Gallery of Art$27.9K0.0%

Top recipients

SONOVA USA INC$84.5M93%
BALLCO MANUFACTURING COMPANY, INC.$1.5M1.6%
ENGINEERING SYSTEMS INC$1.2M1.4%
ELC INDUSTRIES CORP.$1.2M1.3%
CONSTRUCTION SOLUTIONS GROUP, LLC$855.6K0.9%

Spending by fiscal year

17.3MFY2017
13.5MFY2018
10.6MFY2019
14.8MFY2020
14.3MFY2021
11.8MFY2022
224.3MFY2023
67M

Top industries (NAICS)

Navigational, measuring, electromedical, and control instruments manufacturing · 3345$79.8M88%
Electronic and precision equipment repair and maintenance · 8112$5.1M5.6%
Other fabricated metal product manufacturing · 3329$1.3M1.4%
Legal services · 5411$1.2M1.3%
Utility system construction · 2371$855.6K0.9%
Motor vehicle parts manufacturing · 3363

Largest awards whose ZIP code lies mostly in Aurora, Illinois

EXPRESS REPORT: OCTOBER 2025 DATA - PURCHASE ORDER DATA FOR VA NATIONAL HEARING AID CONTRACT.$27.2M
SONOVA USA INC· DuPage County, IL· Health & medical· Nov 10, 2025 – Nov 10, 2025· 36C79126K0027
EXPRESS REPORT: NOVEMBER 2025 DATA - PURCHASE ORDER DATA FOR VA NATIONAL HEARING AID CONTRACT.$26.9M
SONOVA USA INC· DuPage County, IL· Health & medical· Dec 29, 2025 – Dec 29, 2025· 36C79126K0042
EXPRESS REPORT- SEPTEMBER 2025 DATA - PURCHASE ORDER DATA FOR VA NATIONAL HEARING AID CONTRACT.$26.8M
SONOVA USA INC· DuPage County, IL· Health & medical· Nov 5, 2025 – Nov 5, 2025· 36C79126K0016
EXPRESS REPORT: JANUARY 2026 DATA - PURCHASE ORDER DATA FOR VA NATIONAL HEARING AID CONTRACT

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 3, 2026, loaded Oct 3, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Aurora, Illinois, so they do not add up across cities.

Aurora, Illinois's figures are part of those of Kane County, IL, DuPage County, IL, Will County, IL and Kendall County, IL ($4B in FY2026), never added to them: 2.3% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Aurora is mostly in Kane County.

See federal money in Kane County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Aurora, Illinois is split between congressional districts: each representative is shown with the share of its residents in their district (current boundaries).

House

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN66

Other cities and towns in Kane County

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Building Permits SurveyU.S. Census Bureau · release 2026-08
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/1703012

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends