Best PlacesArlington Heights, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Arlington Heights, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Arlington Heights ranks 646th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Arlington Heights
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Arlington Heights' strengths and weaknesses
Where Arlington Heights ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 93% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 91% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than 87% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than 87% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 84% of cities
Where Arlington Heights ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 5% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 6% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 8% of cities
- School gradeC, better than only 21% of cities
- QuietBetter than only 28% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Arlington Heights
A household needs to earn about $121,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Arlington Heights home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $128,361, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Arlington Heights' effective rate of 1.98%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Arlington Heights
Arlington Heights runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Arlington Heights.
Who works in Arlington Heights, and how
Work in Arlington Heights centers on professional & technical and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 67%
- Work from home 25%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Arlington Heights
Arlington Heights has more restaurants and bars per resident than 70% of cities and more parkland per resident than 90% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Arlington Heights and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Arlington Heights, month by month
Arlington Heights sees roughly 85 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 27° | 21° |
| April | 60° | 49° | 40° |
| July | 85° | 75° | 67° |
| October | 65° | 55° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Arlington Heights
Chicago O'Hare International sits about 9 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 40.8 million passengers in 2025, with 305 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Arlington Heights
Schools across Arlington Heights average a C, better than 21% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Greenbrier Elem SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Westgate Elem SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
- Olive-mary Stitt SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
Top middle schools
- Woodlawn Middle SchoolA · 59% proficient
- South Middle SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Thomas Middle SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Top high schools
- Adlai E Stevenson High SchoolA · 73% proficient
- John Hersey High SchoolA− · 60% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Arlington Heights school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Arlington Heights measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Arlington Heights against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Arlington Heights suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 83% of cities and 25% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Arlington Heights
Is Arlington Heights a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Arlington Heights ranks 646th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on low disaster risk, a stable housing market, and an educated workforce, and lowest on taxes and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Arlington Heights expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $399,197. The overall cost of living runs about 3% above the national average. Set against a $128,361 median income, cost of living beats 83% of cities.
Is Arlington Heights safe?
Arlington Heights is safer than 40% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $262 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Arlington Heights?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 34 with lows near 21. That works out to about 85 pleasant days a year, more than 50% of cities.
Is Arlington Heights good for families?
Schools beat 21% of cities, crime safety beats 40%, and childcare runs $1,105 a month.
Compare Arlington Heights with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Arlington Heights. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Arlington Heights represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Arlington Heights detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Arlington Heights: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Arlington Heights: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Arlington Heights: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Arlington Heights: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Arlington Heights detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.