Village · Grundy County, Illinois

Gardner, Illinois

Gardner is a village in Grundy County, Illinois, part of the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN metro area. It has 1,410 residents. Gardner, Illinois has a quality-of-life score of 40 out of 100 (low), ranking #9,451 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Illinois it ranks #441 of 697 cities and towns. It ranks best on job growth (high), primary care shortage (low) and violent crime rate (low). It ranks worst on unemployment rate (high), suicide rate (high) and effective property tax rate (high).

40Low

Quality-of-life score: #9,451 of 15,651 cities and towns
Illinois: #441 of 697 in IL
Population: 1,410 (2020-2024)
Land area: 3 mi²
Density: 484.2 /mi²
FIPS code: 1728638

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 74 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.

Safety71#4,487/15,637
Economy49#7,987/15,631
Housing56#6,557/14,977
Health49#7,938/15,609
Healthcare53#7,291/15,650
Environment15#13,204/15,453
Education22#12,187/15,649
Infrastructure17#12,971/15,650
Community55#7,023/15,651
Leisure & amenities59#6,432/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Gardner, Illinois ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Grundy 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

Job growth · high6.4%
99/100Illinois 0.0%United States 0.1%2026 Q1U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsProvisional dataGrundy County value
Primary care shortage · low0.0
90/100Illinois 6.6United States 6.2Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationGrundy County value
Violent crime rate · low86 /100k
90/100Illinois 251 /100kUnited States 328 /100k2025Federal Bureau of InvestigationGrundy County value
Property crime rate · low520 /100k
88/100Illinois 1,508 /100kUnited States 1,535 /100k2025Federal Bureau of InvestigationGrundy County value
Home price to income ratio · low2.3×
86/100Illinois 3.2×United States 4.1×2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25077
Drug overdose deaths · low8.6 /100k
86/100Illinois 14.2 /100kUnited States 18.4 /100kMar 2025–Feb 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimateProvisional dataGrundy County value

Weaknesses

Unemployment rate · high13.5%
4/100Illinois 4.6%United States 4.3%2020-2024U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Census table B23025
Suicide rate · high24.3 /100k
10/100Illinois 11.7 /100kUnited States 14.1 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataGrundy County value
Effective property tax rate · high1.88%
10/100Illinois 1.88%United States 0.94%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25090
New homes permitted · low0.0 /1k
13/100Illinois 1.5 /1kUnited States 4.2 /1kSep 2025–Aug 2026U.S. Census BureauProvisional data
Primary care physicians · low36 /100k
17/100Illinois 82 /100kUnited States 76 /100k2022University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteGrundy County value
Average commute time · high30.1 min
17/100Illinois 27.8 minUnited States 26.4 min2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B08013

Trends

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

PopulationRising
1,334 (2015-2019) → 1,410 (2020-2024)
+5.7%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Child poverty rateWorsening
10.0% (2015-2019) → 26.7% (2020-2024)
+17 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Rent-burdened householdsImproving
52.0% (2015-2019) → 41.7% (2020-2024)
−10 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Poverty rateWorsening
7.4% (2015-2019) → 16.1% (2020-2024)
+8.7 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 12.3% → 12.1%
Rent as share of incomeImproving
30.7% (2015-2019) → 24.4% (2020-2024)
−6.3 pts5 yearsCensus table B25071US 29.8% → 30.6%
Median household incomeImproving
$68,333 (2015-2019) → $88,092 (2020-2024)
+29%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604

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, Gardner, Illinois improved on 2 of 12 measures with a comparison and declined on 1. 9 moved within the margin of error and 0 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.

Improved2

Property tax−0.8 points2.67% → 1.88%
Household income+29%$68,333 → $88,092

Declined1

Poverty+8.7 points7.4% → 16.1%

All 12 measures

Change of every measure of Gardner, Illinois between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	30.4 min2015-2019	30.1 min2020-2024	−0.4 min	Within the margin of error	52%
Bachelor's degree or higher	12.0%2015-2019	17.4%2020-2024	+5.4 points	Within the margin of error	71%
Broadband subscriptions	82.6%2015-2019	88.1%2020-2024	+5.5 points	Within the margin of error	35%
Effective property tax rate	2.67%2015-2019	1.88%2020-2024	−0.8 points	Improved	98%
High school diploma or higher	92.1%2015-2019	92.6%2020-2024	+0.5 points	Within the margin of error	39%
Home price to income ratio	2.0×2015-2019	2.3×2020-2024	+0.2×	Within the margin of error	65%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4002015-2019	0.3982020-2024	−0.002	Within the margin of error	53%
Median household income	$68,3332015-2019	$88,0922020-2024	+29%	Improved	53%
Poverty rate	7.4%2015-2019	16.1%2020-2024	+8.7 points	Declined	5%
Public transit commuters	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	60%
Rent-burdened households	52.0%2015-2019	41.7%2020-2024	−10 points	Within the margin of error	83%
Unemployment rate	15.3%2015-2019	13.5%2020-2024	−1.7 points	Within the margin of error	79%

“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 Gardner, Illinois five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Gardner, 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, Gardner, Illinois itself moved +3.2 points in standing on average over the same 9 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

1,410 residents (±224)

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

513 households (±65)

Gardner, Illinois
Illinois share

Under $25k14%†73
$25k–50k12%†64
$50k–75k

Homes

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

Owners and renters

513 households (±65)

Gardner, Illinois
Illinois share

Own75%385
Rent25%†128

No change since 2015–2019 is larger than the margin of error.

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

Getting to work

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

How people get to work

711 workers (±162)

Gardner, Illinois
Illinois share

Drive alone94%671
Carpool2.5%†18
Public transit0.0%0

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 Grundy County, the county holding most of Gardner's residents.

Grundy County has 1,202 employer establishments, 224 for every 10,000 residents (0.90× the US rate of 248; 0.88× Illinois's), with 17,169 paid employees at an average annual pay of $60,715. The Census Bureau also counts 3,548 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 1,202; 3,548 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 224; US 248 · Illinois 255
Paid employees: 17,169
Average annual pay: $60,715; US $68,342

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

Ambulatory health care services	123	23	1.10×About typical	920	$72,980	127
Restaurants and other eating places	102	19	1.04×About typical	1,713	$18,563	14
Specialty trade contractors	96	17.9	1.16×About typical	821	$83,281	235
Truck transportation	52	9.7	1.92×More than typical	297	$90,088	141
Limited-service restaurants	50	9.3	1.16×About typical	969	$17,976	9
Offices of physicians	50	9.3	1.44×More than typical	413	$100,656	19
Full-service restaurants	43	8	1.05×About typical	620	$18,866	4
Offices of other health practitioners	43	8	1.32×More than typical	186	$44,624	72
Automotive repair and maintenance	40	7.5	1.48×More than typical	198	$45,096	55
Building equipment contractors	34	6.3	1.06×About typical	561	$85,193	32
Construction of buildings	33	6.2	0.82×About typical	121	$77,207	72
Gasoline stations	32	6	1.84×More than typical	502	$33,078	—

Rank places for an industry Open Grundy County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 53,550 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 $0 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Gardner, Illinois: $0 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $0
Per resident: $0; US $1,994
Sole-source: —; US 30%
Single offer: —; 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

Top recipients

Spending by fiscal year

2.3KFY2017
1.5KFY2018
3.6KFY2019
2.3KFY2020
-1KFY2021

What was bought

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 Gardner, Illinois, so they do not add up across cities.

Gardner, Illinois's figures are part of those of Grundy County, IL ($582.5K in FY2026), never added to them: 0.0% of that total.

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

See federal money in Grundy 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.

Gardner, Illinois is represented in the 119th Congress by these members.

House

Darin LaHoodR-IL-16 · 100% of residentsWith party 98%Missed 5.6%

Senate

Explore Congress The 2026 races

County

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

Grundy County77100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN66

Other cities and towns in Grundy 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/1728638

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends