Updated August 2026

Best beaches in Illinois by water quality

Illinois has 63 public beaches in the EPA monitoring dataset, 39 of them with enough bacteria samples to grade. 1 earn an A for consistently clean water, while 23 grade an F for frequently exceeding the safe-swimming limit. Full ranking below.

A 1

B 8

C 4

D 3

F 23

Grade	Beach	County	% over limit	Samples	Advisory
A	Illinois Beach State Park North Beach	Lake	1.9%	267	Excellent
B	Lake Forest Forest Park Beach	Lake	3.8%	234	Good
B	Illinois Beach State Park South Beach	Lake	4.8%	568	Good
B	Lake Bluff Sunrise Beach	Lake	5.7%	140	Good
B	Glencoe Park Beach	Cook	5.9%	253	Good
B	Highland Park Avenue Boating Beach	Lake	6.2%	146	Good
B	Kenilworth Beach	Cook	6.4%	218	Good
B	Lake Bluff Dog Beach	Lake	6.8%	44	Good
B	Highland Park Rosewood Beach	Lake	7%	229	Good
C	Winnetka Tower Beach	Cook	7.7%	235	Fair
C	Winnetka Maple Park Beach	Cook	7.7%	207	Fair
C	Evanston Lighthouse Beach	Cook	8.4%	95	Fair
C	Winnetka Lloyd Park Beach	Cook	8.5%	177	Fair
D	Waukegan South Beach	Lake	14.3%	161	Poor
D	North Point Marina Beach	Lake	15.5%	309	Poor
D	Waukegan North Beach	Lake	18.6%	156	Poor
F	Evanston Greenwood Beach	Cook	28.3%	92	Failing
F	Winnetka Centennial Dog Beach	Cook	28.4%	236	Failing
F	Evanston Lee Beach	Cook	29.3%	92	Failing
F	Lincoln Street Beach	Cook	29.7%	91	Failing
F	Oakwood Beach	Cook	31%	216	Failing
F	Evanston South Beach	Cook	31.5%	92	Failing
F	Foster Avenue Beach	Cook	40%	215	Failing
F	Evanston Clark Beach	Cook	40.7%	91	Failing
F	12th Street	Cook	41%	217	Failing
F	North Avenue Beach	Cook	41.4%	215	Failing
F	57th Street Beach	Cook	41.7%	216	Failing
F	Oak Street Beach	Cook	46.7%	214	Failing
F	Kathy Osterman Beach	Cook	48.6%	218	Failing
F	Loyola Ave. Beach	Cook	50.2%	217	Failing
F	Hartigan Beach	Cook	53.4%	219	Failing
F	Rainbow Beach	Cook	53.9%	219	Failing
F	Margaret T Burroughs (31st St. Beach)	Cook	54.2%	212	Failing
F	South Shore Beach	Cook	58.9%	219	Failing
F	Marion Mahoney Griffin Beach	Cook	60%	215	Failing
F	Ohio Street Beach	Cook	60.6%	216	Failing
F	Montrose Beach	Cook	63.1%	214	Failing
F	63rd Street Beach	Cook	63.9%	216	Failing
F	Calumet South Beach	Cook	66.4%	217	Failing

CSV

Download the full Illinois beach safety ranking

All 39 graded Illinois beaches with their Beach Safety Grade, exceedance rate, sample counts, and program status — from EPA monitoring data. Enter your email to download; you'll also get swim-advisory alerts. A grade is a multi-year classification, not a same-day safety clearance.

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