Preston Heights, IL

Preston Heights is a Will County CDP tucked into Joliet Township just southeast of Joliet's developed edge. The 2020 Census counted 2,898 people in 1.5 square miles, so this is a compact unincorporated neighborhood, not a freestanding town. Its practical geography is easy to miss: streets and subdivisions sit in the space between Joliet's urban edge, Laraway Road, and the larger road network.

Education gives the place an institutional map. Most of Preston Heights is in Laraway Community Consolidated School District 70C, portions reach Joliet District 86, and all of the CDP lies in Joliet Township High School District 204. Will County's rural historic survey notes that the Laraway district was established in 1953 and that Oak Valley School was built in the Preston Heights subdivision in the early 1960s. Pace routes 504, 511, and 512 connect the neighborhood to downtown Joliet and nearby destinations. Preston Heights does not have a separate downtown to point to; its story is a subdivision pattern, school district lines, and a close relationship with Joliet.