Best PlacesArlington, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Arlington, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Arlington ranks 29,914th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on what local pay buys by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Arlington
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's strengths and weaknesses
Where Arlington ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 91% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 85% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 85% of towns
- Household income$96,244 median, better than 82% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 81% of towns
Where Arlington ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- School gradeD, better than only 4% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 5% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 7% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Arlington
A household needs to earn about $46,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Arlington home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $96,244, 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's effective rate of 1.79%, 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 8 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
Arlington runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Arlington.
Who works in Arlington, and how
Work in Arlington centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Arlington
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Arlington.
What the weather is like in Arlington, month by month
Arlington sees roughly 79 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 33, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 33° | 26° | 19° |
| April | 63° | 51° | 41° |
| July | 84° | 75° | 66° |
| October | 66° | 55° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Arlington
The nearest airport, Chicago/Rockford International, is about 52 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago O'Hare International, about 78 miles away.
The best schools in and around Arlington
Schools across Arlington average a D, better than 4% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Dimmick Comm Cons Sd 175C · 33% proficient
- Malden Grade SchoolD · 21% proficient
- Ladd Comm Cons SchD− · 13% proficient
Top middle schools
- Northbrook SchoolD− · 17% proficient
Top high schools
- Princeton High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Mendota Twp High SchoolD− · 18% proficient
- La Moille Jr/sr High SchoolD− · 16% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Arlington school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Arlington 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 against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Arlington
Is Arlington a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Arlington ranks 29,914th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on what local pay buys, big-city access, and a stable housing market, 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 expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $155,112. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $96,244 median income, cost of living beats 91% of towns.
Is Arlington safe?
Arlington is safer than 28% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $309 per resident a year.
Compare Arlington with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Arlington. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Arlington 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 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Arlington: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Arlington: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Arlington: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Arlington: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Arlington 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.