In 2006, Orland Park was awarded the title of "45th Best Place to Live In America" by Money magazine. Facilities include hiking and biking trails, wildlife refuges, greenbelts, a Sportsplex and an aquatic center, Lake Sedgewick, an ice arena, golf courses, playing fields and parks, and more. There are more than 70 malls, plazas and shopping centers, with additional shopping under construction, and more than 200 food-serving establishments.

There is a variety of housing, including single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and apartments.

Situated 25 miles (40 km) southwest of Chicago, Orland Park provides access to several interstate highways, with the I-80 east-west coast connector as its southern border. Metra’s commuter rail system links residents to Chicago’s Loop, and thereby to O’Hare and Midway airports.

Education

Orland Park is served by four grammar school districts, Orland School District #135, Community Consolidated School District #146, Palos School District #118 and Kirby School District #140. A majority of Orland Park is within Orland School District #135.

St. Michael School is located within Orland Park. A number of other parochial schools in the region provide bus service for Orland Park students.

Orland Park is located within Consolidated High School District #230 and high school students attend Orland Park’s Carl Sandburg High School, with a small portion of the village attending A.A. Stagg High School in nearby Palos Hills. Sandburg’s ACT composite score for 2007/08 was 22.7 with SAT scores averaging 635, 644 and 630 for Critical Reading, Math and Writing, respectively.

Along with being within driving distance to the many colleges and universities in the Chicago area, a number of higher education facilities are located within the village. St. Xavier University, a longtime Chicago institution, operates a satellite campus in Orland Park as does the ITT Technical Institute. Robert Morris University, has both an Orland Park campus as well as a second facility in the village, the college’s culinary arts school. A community college education is offered at Moraine Valley Community College, in nearby Palos Hills.

Sixty percent of Orland Park households have someone with at least a Bachelor’s Degree with a significant number of residents having completed post graduate work.

Commercial Center

Orland Park is located in southwest Cook County in Orland Township at 41°36′42″N 87°51′15″W / 41.611582°N 87.854302°W / 41.611582; -87.854302Coordinates: 41°36′42″N 87°51′15″W / 41.611582°N 87.854302°W / 41.611582; -87.854302.^[2]

According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 19.4 square miles (50.3 km˛), of which, 19.1 square miles (49.6 km˛) of it is land and 0.3 square miles (0.8 km˛) of it (1.49%) is water.

The main bodies of water in Orland are three lakes: Lake Sedgewick, McGinnis Slough (also referred to as 'Orland Lake' in maps) and Tampier Lake.

Bordering communities of Orland Park include the newly formed Homer Glen to the west (in Will County), Orland Hills and Mokena (also in Will County) to the south, Tinley Park to the southeast, Oak Forest to the east, and Palos Park and Palos Heights to the north.

Orland Park is located 25 miles (40 km) southwest of downtown Chicago. With a growing population of 60,000, Orland Park is one of the premier suburbs of Chicago, being the unchallenged commercial center of the Chicago Southland with more than ten million square feet of commercial space. The effective trade area is over 850,000 people and stretches all the way to the Indiana border.

Businesses and jobs in the finance, retail, services and healthcare fields continue to grow in Orland Park. A recent study found that more than one million people a year come to Orland Park for health care services. Orland Park’s retail/commercial sectors remain strong, even in the current economic climate. The community’s culinary offerings are extensive as national chains are continually drawn to Orland Park, reporting outstanding sales numbers for these locations.

Orland Park continues to plan for its future, with development of a new downtown district, the Main Street Triangle (www.mainstreettriangle.com), as well as, the I-80 Business District. The village offers various incentives to both existing and new businesses, to encourage business development and job diversification.

Orland Park is served by three commuter train stations, being part of Metra’s Southwest Line to downtown Chicago. Weekend service was recently added, providing three trains each way on Saturdays.

Air travel is easily accessible at Chicago’s Midway Airport, approximately a half hour away or Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, just under an hour away. Privately owned aircraft use the Frankfort Airport, just south of the village. Pace Bus Service operates a number of routes in Orland Park.

Orland Park’s geographic location is excellent, being situated in the center of a multi-modal transportation network that is the envy of many communities.

Major highway transportation corridors are listed below:

I-80 – southern Border of Orland Park US45/LaGrange Road - Major north/south thoroughfare I-55 – 10 minutes north of Orland Park I-57 – 10 minutes east of Orland Park I-43/Harlem Avenue – eastern Border of Orland Park I-355 – 10 minutes west of Orland Park

The village maintained an Aa2 bond rating from Moody’s and an AA+ rating from Standard and Poor’s. These are among the best bond ratings in the Chicago suburbs.

Demographics

As of the 2000 census^[3], there were 51,077 people, 18,675 households, and 14,361 families residing in the village. The population density was 2,668.4 people per square mile (1,030.4/km˛). There were 19,045 housing units at an average density of 995.0/sq mi (384.2/km˛). The racial makeup of the village was 93.53% White, 0.73% African American, 0.07% Native American, 3.47% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 1.04% from other races, and 1.13% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.67% of the population.

The top five ancentries reported in Orland Park as of the 2000 census were Irish (26.5%), German (19.5%), Polish (18.5%), Italian (14.8%) and English (5.1%).^[4]

There were 18,675 households out of which 32.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them; 66.3% were married couples living together, 7.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 23.1% were non-families. 20.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.71 and the average family size was 3.16.

In the village the population was spread out with 24.4% under the age of 18, 7.1% from 18 to 24, 24.8% from 25 to 44, 27.3% from 45 to 64, and 16.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41 years. For every 100 females there were 91.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.7 males.

The median income for a household in the village was $67,574, and the median income for a family was $77,507 (these figures had risen to $76,760 and $95,405 respectively as of a 2007 estimate^[5]). Males had a median income of $57,275 versus $34,763 for females. The per capita income for the village was $30,467. Median value of owner-occupied housing units stands at $208,300 as compared to $130,800 nationally. About 2.1% of families and 3.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.9% of those under age 18 and 3.0% of those age 65 or over. Since 2000, the average household income in the Orland Park area has risen substantially to an estimated $90,917 in 2006.

Government

Orland Park is divided between three congressional districts. Most of the city's area, and about half its population, is in Illinois' 13th congressional district; the 1st district includes the area between 135th and 163rd Streets approximately bounded on the west by 94th Avenue, and the small portion in Will County is in the 11th district.

Transportation

Orland Park has three stops on Metra's SouthWest Service, which provides weekday and weekend rail service between Manhattan, Illinois and Chicago, Illinois (at Union Station): 143rd Street, 153rd Street, and 179th Street.

Media

Orland Park's local newspaper is the Orland Park Prairie.

Notable residents or natives

• Rich Bradford, University of New Mexico Nose Tackle and Outland Trophy Finalist
• John Cangelosi, baseball player for the Florida Marlins
• Brad Fiorenza, appeared on MTV's The Real World: San Diego
• Buddy Guy, Famous Blues singer and guitarist
• Justin Hartley, actor, "Smallville"
• Brian McBride, professional soccer player for the Chicago Fire S.C.
• Tim McCarthy, police chief and former Secret Service agent, took a bullet for Ronald Reagan during the Reagan Assassination Attempt on March 30, 1981
• Hemant Mehta, notable atheist who "sold his soul" on eBay and has now written the book I Sold My Soul on eBay: Viewing Faith through an Atheist's Eyes
• Bill Rancic, winner of The Apprentice season 1
• Jeff Roehl, attended Carl Sandburg High School, played in the NFL for the New York Giants among other teams
• Robin Tunney, appeared in Empire Records, Vertical Limit, Prison Break
• Pat Fitzgerald, Head Football Coach for Northwestern University
• Dan Hampton, Former Chicago Bears football player