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Leading the list is City Colleges of Chicago-Harry S Truman College, our #1 most age-diverse college in Illinois. The school's age diversity score is 93.1 out of 100. On racial-ethnic diversity it scores 64.2, and gender diversity 99.0.
by our College Data Analytics TeamIf you’re seeking a diverse and multi-faceted college experience, you’ve come to the right place. This list highlights 98 schools by age diversity in Illinois, using our 2026 methodology.
We measure this ranking on the range of student ages (the mix of traditional and non-traditional-age students). To arm you with the information you need, College Factual analyzed 98 colleges, drawing primarily on U.S. Department of Education data (IPEDS and College Scorecard). Learn more about our ranking methodology.
Diversity means different things to different students. Narrow your list by location, or explore the overall, racial-ethnic, gender, economic, and age diversity rankings, or other rankings below.
Want to compare schools head to head? We built a tool called College Combat to build custom comparisons using the factors most important to you.
Here are the top-ranked colleges:
Leading the list is City Colleges of Chicago-Harry S Truman College, our #1 most age-diverse college in Illinois. The school's age diversity score is 93.1 out of 100. On racial-ethnic diversity it scores 64.2, and gender diversity 99.0.
City Colleges of Chicago-Olive-Harvey College earned the #2 place in Illinois. The school's age diversity score is 90.5 out of 100. On racial-ethnic diversity it scores 41.4, with a gender-diversity score of 99.1.
Out of the 98 colleges in Illinois in this year's ranking, Oakton College landed the #3 spot. Oakton College scores 90.2 out of 100 for age diversity. Its racial-ethnic diversity score is 72.8, and gender diversity 100.0.
A rank of #4 makes City Colleges of Chicago-Richard J Daley College one of the most age-diverse colleges in Illinois. City Colleges of Chicago-Richard J Daley College scores 89.9 out of 100 for age diversity. On racial-ethnic diversity it scores 35.6, and gender diversity 99.9.
You'll find a welcoming community at City Colleges of Chicago-Kennedy-King College, which ranked #5 this year. On age diversity, it scores 88.6 out of 100. Its racial-ethnic diversity score is 41.9, with a gender-diversity score of 99.2.
City Colleges of Chicago-Wilbur Wright College landed the #6 spot in Illinois this year. On age diversity, it scores 88.2 out of 100. On racial-ethnic diversity it scores 50.9, with a gender-diversity score of 99.4.
Triton College came in at #7 in this year's ranking. The school's age diversity score is 88.2 out of 100. Its racial-ethnic diversity score is 62.7, and gender diversity 100.0.
City Colleges of Chicago-Malcolm X College landed the #8 spot in Illinois this year. The school's age diversity score is 88.1 out of 100. Racial-ethnic diversity scores 53.2, and gender diversity 84.6.
Concordia University-Chicago earned the #9 position in Illinois. On age diversity, it scores 87.9 out of 100. Racial-ethnic diversity scores 64.6, and gender diversity 94.6.
Northeastern Illinois University came in at #10 in this year's ranking. The school's age diversity score is 87.4 out of 100. On racial-ethnic diversity it scores 68.1, alongside a 97.6 gender-diversity score.
Prairie State College earned the #11 position in Illinois. It scores 87.0 out of 100 for age diversity. On racial-ethnic diversity it scores 63.9, alongside a 98.5 gender-diversity score.
Elgin Community College landed the #12 spot in Illinois this year. The school's age diversity score is 86.0 out of 100. Its racial-ethnic diversity score is 59.4, alongside a 99.3 gender-diversity score.
College of DuPage came in at #13 in this year's ranking. It scores 85.5 out of 100 for age diversity. Its racial-ethnic diversity score is 68.4, with a gender-diversity score of 99.5.
William Rainey Harper College landed the #14 spot in Illinois this year. It scores 84.5 out of 100 for age diversity. Its racial-ethnic diversity score is 65.2, alongside a 99.0 gender-diversity score.
Southwestern Illinois College came in at #15 in this year's ranking. The school's age diversity score is 84.3 out of 100. On racial-ethnic diversity it scores 56.6, with a gender-diversity score of 99.6.
College of Lake County placed #16 among the most age-diverse colleges in Illinois. The school's age diversity score is 84.1 out of 100. Its racial-ethnic diversity score is 64.2, with a gender-diversity score of 99.3.
Kankakee Community College placed #17 among the most age-diverse colleges in Illinois. Kankakee Community College scores 83.8 out of 100 for age diversity. Racial-ethnic diversity scores 56.2, and gender diversity 97.6.
St. John's College-Department of Nursing ranked #18 on our 2026 list of the most age-diverse colleges. On age diversity, it scores 83.2 out of 100.
University of Illinois Springfield landed the #19 spot in Illinois this year. University of Illinois Springfield scores 83.0 out of 100 for age diversity. On racial-ethnic diversity it scores 67.1, with a gender-diversity score of 99.9.
Illinois Eastern Community Colleges earned the #20 position in Illinois. The school's age diversity score is 82.8 out of 100. On racial-ethnic diversity it scores 30.3, with a gender-diversity score of 89.2.
First Institute of Travel, Inc ranked #21 on our 2026 list of the most age-diverse colleges. The school's age diversity score is 82.8 out of 100. Racial-ethnic diversity scores 51.2, and gender diversity 41.5.
Rock Valley College earned the #22 position in Illinois. Rock Valley College scores 82.7 out of 100 for age diversity. Its racial-ethnic diversity score is 60.8, with a gender-diversity score of 99.2.
Waubonsee Community College earned the #23 position in Illinois. It scores 82.7 out of 100 for age diversity. Racial-ethnic diversity scores 56.9, with a gender-diversity score of 99.2.
City Colleges of Chicago-Harold Washington College placed #24 among the most age-diverse colleges in Illinois. The school's age diversity score is 82.4 out of 100. On racial-ethnic diversity it scores 65.1, and gender diversity 97.8.
Western Illinois University earned the #25 position in Illinois. Western Illinois University scores 82.3 out of 100 for age diversity. Its racial-ethnic diversity score is 62.5, with a gender-diversity score of 98.2.
These colleges rounded out the top of the list:
*These averages are for the top 25 ranked colleges only.
We measure this ranking on the range of student ages (the mix of traditional and non-traditional-age students). The racial-ethnic minorities percentage is calculated by taking the total number of students, subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity is unknown, and dividing by total enrollment.
This list is compiled by College Factual, 2026 edition.
References
Read more about our data sources and methodologies.