Retiring to Palos Park, Illinois: the town in Census figures
For Americans thinking of retiring to Palos Park, Illinois, from another state or instead of a move abroad.
Not a US citizen or resident? The US has no retirement visa, and Medicare and these tax figures assume US residency. What applies to you →
Pros and cons of retiring in Palos Park, Illinois
Each figure against its state's published tax rules: a pro is better than most, a con worse than most, and a figure within 5% of the middle gets no verdict. Every figure is sourced and dated.
Pros
- Pension income partly or fully exempt: Illinois lets retirees exclude all of pension or retirement income from its income tax (2025 rules), one of 21 states with such an exclusion. Illinois Department of Revenue, 2025 Form IL-1040 Instructions, Line 5 · 2026-10-26
Cons
No figure for Palos Park, Illinois is worse than most US states by our rule.
Palos Park has 4,816 residents, 1,775 of them aged 65 or older (36.9 %, ± 5.9 points), higher than the US share of 17.2 %, by the Census Bureau's American Community Survey, 2020–2024. US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-year estimates, tables B01001 and B09020, place
Last updated
Palos Park in Census figures
Every figure below is Palos Park's own — residents inside the Census Bureau's 2024 boundary of Palos Park. Each comes from the American Community Survey, a sample, so each carries its 90 % margin of error.
| Figure | Palos Park |
|---|---|
| Residents | 4,816 (± 168) US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-year estimates, table B01001, place · figure for 2020–2024 |
| Residents aged 65 or older | 1,775 (± 291) US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-year estimates, table B09020, place · figure for 2020–2024 |
| Share of residents aged 65 or older | 36.9 % (± 5.9 points) US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-year estimates, table B09020, place · figure for 2020–2024 |
| Residents aged 65 or older who live alone | 564 (± 210), 31.8 % of residents aged 65 or older (± 10.6 points) US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-year estimates, table B09020, place · figure for 2020–2024 |
| Median age of residents | 59.7 years (± 2.8) US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-year estimates, table B01002, place · figure for 2020–2024 |
| Residents aged 65 or older living in group quarters (nursing homes and similar) | 31 (± 30) US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-year estimates, table B09020, place · figure for 2020–2024 |
| Median yearly income of households headed by someone aged 65 or older | USD $70,789 ($36,700–$104,878), a year US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-year estimates, table B19049, place · figure for 2020–2024 |
| Median monthly rent, utilities included | No figure: the Census publishes none for Palos Park — too few sample cases US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-year estimates, table B25064, place · figure for 2020–2024 |
| Median value of an owner-occupied home, as its owner estimates it | USD $464,700 ($403,566–$525,834) US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-year estimates, table B25077, place · figure for 2020–2024 |
| Median yearly property tax paid by home-owners | USD $9,152 ($7,920–$10,384), a year US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-year estimates, table B25103, place · figure for 2020–2024 |
Where Palos Park sits
Palos Park lies in Cook County, Illinois.
Cook County figures — these describe the whole county, not Palos Park alone
The Census publishes no safety, healthcare-access, climate or hazard figure for a single town, so these are Cook County's, each against every US county holding the same figure.
| Criterion | Cook County |
|---|---|
| Cost of living BEA price level, all items (US = 100); lower is better |
103.6
Cheaper than 5% of the other 3,142 US counties BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, all items, Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN metropolitan area · figure for 2024
|
| Taxes on a retired couple state and local tax on the example retired couple, USD a year; lower is better |
USD $6,678
Lower than 5% of the other 3,110 US counties The state's published 2025 income-tax rules, the county's own local income tax where one is levied, and the county's Census ACS property-tax ratio, applied to the example household · figure for 2025
|
| Healthcare access share of residents 65+ living in a county with a 4- or 5-star CMS hospital; higher is better |
13 hospitals in the county rated 4 or 5 stars by CMS CMS, Hospital General Information (Care Compare), hospital overall star rating, release of 13 Aug 2026 · figure for 2026 |
| Safety homicides per 100,000 a year, 2020–2024, by state of residence; lower is better |
17.4 per 100,000 a year
Lower than 16% of the other 767 US counties CDC WONDER, Underlying Cause of Death 2018-2024 (Single Race, final), by county of residence · figure for 2024
|
| Climate months a year whose mean daily high is 18–29 °C (64–84 °F), 1981–2010; more is better |
5.0 months a year
More than 39% of the other 3,143 US counties CHELSA V2.1 monthly maximum temperature, 1981-2010 (~1 km), averaged over the county, Karger et al. · figure for 2010
|
| Natural-hazard risk expected yearly loss to buildings from natural hazards, per USD $1,000 of buildings; lower is better |
USD $1.26 per USD $1,000 of buildings
Lower than 55% of the other 3,143 US counties FEMA, National Risk Index v1.20 (December 2025), county expected annual loss to buildings (EAL_VALB) · figure for 2025
|
What Medicare costs in Cook County, Illinois
For the published example couple, both 67 and married: what Medicare premiums cost a year for two in Cook County, Illinois, and the most a bad year can cost. What care itself costs depends on a person's health, so it is not estimated here.
Medicare Advantage, with drug coverage
USD $4,870 a year for two in premiums (from USD $4,870)
At most USD $14,820 in a bad year (from USD $9,170), with each person's in-network out-of-pocket maximum
The middle of the 42 plans offered here; "from" is the lowest premium among them.
Original Medicare, with a drug plan
USD $6,900 a year for two in premiums (from USD $4,997)
Medigap: no federal price list — not in this total.
No yearly maximum on Original Medicare alone.
Part B for two, plus the middle of the 10 standalone drug plans offered in the state.
The 2027 Part B premium is not yet published (CMS usually publishes it in November); 2026's is used.
Source: CMS, Medicare Advantage and Part D Landscape, plan year 2027; CMS, 2026 Medicare Parts A & B Premiums and Deductibles (fact sheet, 14 Nov 2025).
Other places in Cook County
Why Palos Park has a page
Palos Park is on ExpatAlmanac because the Census Bureau's 2020–2024 American Community Survey puts at least 20 % of its residents at 65 or older, even at the low end of the survey's 90 % margin, with at least 500 residents aged 65 or older. That share is shown as a Census figure; it ranks nothing and says nothing about why anyone lives there.
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