The 10 Gayest Places In Illinois For 2024


The gayest cities in Illinois are Coal Valley and Monticello for 2024 based on Saturday Night Science.

Gayest places in Illinois research summary. We used Saturday Night Science to research the cities in Illinois with the highest percent of same-sex households for 2024. The data comes from the American Community Survey 2013-2018 vintage, which breaks down sex by household status. Unfortunately, the Census has stopped reporting at the city level, so this report reflects the most recent data.

  • The city with the highest rate of same-sex houesholds in Illinois is Coal Valley. 3.72% of households in Coal Valley are gay.

  • The city in Illinois with the most same-sex houesholds is Chicago with 6,583 gay households.

  • Illinois is the 28th most gay in the United States.

Gayest Cities In Illinois Map


Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table


An estimated 0.86% of Illinois residents are gay.

That means there are a total of 43,318 gay households in The Prairie State.

Our goal with this post is to use Saturday Night Science and data to determine the gayest cities in Illinois.

After analyzing 438 cities with over 1,000 households, we’ve determined these are The Gayest Cities in Illinois for 2024.

The 10 Gayest Places In Illinois For 2024

  1. Coal Valley
  2. Monticello
  3. West Dundee
  4. Cahokia
  5. Lebanon
  6. Dupo
  7. Creve Coeur
  8. Worth
  9. Cortland
  10. Benton

What’s the gayest place in Illinois? According to the facts, Coal Valley is the gayest place in Illinois for 2024.

For more on how we calculated the top ten, and for more information about these places, read on.

For more Illinois reading, check out:

The 10 Gayest Cities In Illinois For 2024

1. Coal Valley

Overall SnackAbility

9
/10

Households: 1,560
Gay Households: 29 (74th highest)
% Gay Households: 3.72% (1st highest)
More on Coal Valley: Crime

Monticello, IL

Source: Wikipedia User Dual Freq | GFDL
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Households: 2,425
Gay Households: 52 (40th highest)
% Gay Households: 2.97% (2nd highest)
More on Monticello: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living

West Dundee, IL

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

10
/10

Households: 3,156
Gay Households: 60 (30th highest)
% Gay Households: 2.41% (3rd highest)
More on West Dundee: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living

Cahokia, IL

Source: Wikipedia User Rklawton | CC BY-SA 3.0
Overall SnackAbility

3
/10

Households: 4,910
Gay Households: 54 (36th highest)
% Gay Households: 2.2% (4th highest)
More on Cahokia: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living

5. Lebanon

Lebanon, IL

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

7
/10

Households: 1,656
Gay Households: 18 (108th highest)
% Gay Households: 2.17% (5th highest)
More on Lebanon: Crime

6. Dupo

Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Households: 1,621
Gay Households: 17 (116th highest)
% Gay Households: 2.1% (6th highest)
More on Dupo: Crime

7. Creve Coeur

Creve Coeur Location In Illinois

Creve Coeur, IL

Source: Wikipedia User Lpangelrob | CC BY-SA 2.5
Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Households: 2,146
Gay Households: 22 (90th highest)
% Gay Households: 2.05% (7th highest)
More on Creve Coeur: Cost Of Living

Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Households: 3,999
Gay Households: 41 (55th highest)
% Gay Households: 1.75% (8th highest)
More on Worth: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living

9. Cortland

Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Households: 1,342
Gay Households: 11 (155th highest)
% Gay Households: 1.64% (9th highest)
More on Cortland: Crime

Benton, IL

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Households: 2,873
Gay Households: 29 (74th highest)
% Gay Households: 1.6% (10th highest)
More on Benton: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living

How do you determine the best cities for same-sex households in Illinois for 2024

In order to rank the gayest cities in Illinois, we used Saturday Night Science and the 2013-2018 American Community Survey from the U.S. Census. We looked at:

  • Percentage of all households that are unmarried, same sex partners

We limited the analysis to non-CDPs that have over 1,000 households.

We ranked each place from 1 to 438 with the city containing the highest percentage of unmarried, same sex partners households being the most gay.

In the end, ended up being the the most gay place with 3.72% gay households.

Skip to the end to see the list of all the places in the state from gayest to straighest.

We updated this report for 2024. This report is our tenth time ranking the gayest places in Illinois.

There You Have It – The Most LGBT Friendly Cities In Illinois For 2024

If you’re looking at the number of gay households in Illinois, this is an accurate list.

The gayest cities in Illinois are .

If you’re curious enough, here are the least gay places in Illinois:

  • Zion
  • La Grange Park
  • Harwood Heights

For more Illinois reading, check out:

Table: Gayest Places To Live In Illinois

Rank City Households % Gay Households
1 Coal Valley 1,560 3.72%
2 Monticello 2,425 2.97%
3 West Dundee 3,156 2.41%
4 Cahokia 4,910 2.2%
5 Lebanon 1,656 2.17%
6 Dupo 1,621 2.1%
7 Creve Coeur 2,146 2.05%
8 Worth 3,999 1.75%
9 Cortland 1,342 1.64%
10 Benton 2,873 1.6%
11 Shiloh 5,149 1.59%
12 Yorkville 6,175 1.39%
13 Westchester 6,557 1.19%
14 Casey 1,189 1.18%
15 Swansea 5,579 1.04%
16 Crystal Lake 14,701 1.02%
17 Round Lake 5,747 1.01%
18 Troy 3,874 0.98%
19 Palos Heights 4,710 0.98%
20 Calumet City 13,769 0.97%
21 Carpentersville 10,824 0.96%
22 Oswego 11,114 0.95%
23 Godfrey 7,362 0.92%
24 Crestwood 4,988 0.92%
25 Sparta 1,978 0.91%
26 Eldorado 1,812 0.88%
27 Maryville 3,455 0.87%
28 Chicago 1,056,118 0.87%
29 Oak Park 21,684 0.85%
30 Sleepy Hollow 1,218 0.82%
31 Riverside 3,190 0.82%
32 Alton 11,492 0.8%
33 Savoy 3,523 0.79%
34 Park City 2,274 0.79%
35 University Park 2,584 0.77%
36 Evanston 28,524 0.76%
37 Belvidere 8,992 0.76%
38 Berwyn 18,225 0.75%
39 West Frankfort 3,391 0.71%
40 Heyworth 1,153 0.69%
41 Quincy 17,308 0.69%
42 Carol Stream 14,119 0.67%
43 Midlothian 5,385 0.63%
44 Dolton 7,690 0.62%
45 Lindenhurst 5,145 0.62%
46 Winthrop Harbor 2,610 0.61%
47 Melrose Park 7,678 0.6%
48 Washington 6,530 0.58%
49 Peoria 46,280 0.58%
50 Henry 1,040 0.58%
51 Bloomingdale 8,581 0.56%
52 Moline 18,254 0.55%
53 St. Charles 12,708 0.54%
54 Forest Park 7,115 0.53%
55 Vernon Hills 9,752 0.53%
56 Niles 10,966 0.53%
57 Alsip 7,213 0.53%
58 Macomb 6,128 0.52%
59 Lincolnwood 4,260 0.52%
60 Grayslake 7,940 0.5%
61 North Chicago 7,219 0.5%
62 Cicero 22,226 0.49%
63 Antioch 5,035 0.48%
64 Champaign 34,463 0.48%
65 Streamwood 13,193 0.47%
66 Crete 3,063 0.46%
67 Bolingbrook 22,483 0.45%
68 Lincolnshire 3,097 0.45%
69 Kewanee 5,006 0.44%
70 Markham 4,174 0.43%
71 Edwardsville 8,554 0.42%
72 Rantoul 5,088 0.39%
73 Rock Island 15,412 0.39%
74 Mundelein 10,842 0.39%
75 Skokie 22,446 0.38%
76 Herrin 5,241 0.38%
77 Island Lake 3,149 0.38%
78 Springfield 50,890 0.38%
79 Orland Park 22,307 0.38%
80 Paris 3,722 0.38%
81 Oak Lawn 21,415 0.37%
82 Dekalb 15,015 0.37%
83 Rockford 59,403 0.37%
84 Lisle 9,857 0.37%
85 Hickory Hills 4,957 0.36%
86 Pekin 13,892 0.36%
87 Wheeling 14,019 0.36%
88 Fairview Heights 6,957 0.34%
89 Glenview 17,482 0.34%
90 Homewood 7,604 0.34%
91 La Grange 5,306 0.34%
92 Downers Grove 20,268 0.32%
93 Shorewood 5,816 0.31%
94 South Holland 7,219 0.3%
95 Villa Park 8,101 0.3%
96 Des Plaines 22,036 0.28%
97 Elgin 36,682 0.28%
98 Maywood 7,690 0.26%
99 Decatur 31,062 0.26%
100 Bloomington 31,952 0.26%
About Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar has been in the real estate business for almost ten years now. He originally worked for Movoto Real Estate as the director of marketing before founding HomeSnacks.

He believes the key to finding the right place to live comes down to looking at the data, reading about things to do, and, most importantly, checking it out yourself before you move.

If you've been looking for a place to live in the past several years, you've probably stumbled upon his writing already.

You can find out more about him on LinkedIn or his website.