Best PlacesBerwyn, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Berwyn, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Berwyn ranks 1,453rd of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and the schools rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Berwyn
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.
Berwyn's strengths and weaknesses
Where Berwyn ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than 98% of cities
- TransitBetter than 98% of cities
- BikingBetter than 94% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than 94% of cities
Where Berwyn ranks low
- School gradeD−, better than only 2% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 4% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 5% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 6% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than only 9% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Berwyn
A household needs to earn about $96,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Berwyn home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $85,357, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Berwyn's effective rate of 2.24%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Berwyn
Berwyn's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Berwyn.
Who works in Berwyn, and how
Work in Berwyn centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 11%
Life in Berwyn
Berwyn has more restaurants and bars per resident than 75% of cities and more parkland per resident than 76% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Berwyn and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Berwyn, month by month
Berwyn sees roughly 76 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 28° | 22° |
| April | 61° | 50° | 43° |
| July | 86° | 77° | 70° |
| October | 66° | 57° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Berwyn
Chicago Midway International sits about 4 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 9.4 million passengers in 2025, with 113 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Berwyn
Schools across Berwyn average a D−, better than 2% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Irving Elem SchoolD− · 15% proficient
- Piper SchoolD− · 15% proficient
- Prairie Oak SchoolD− · 15% proficient
Top middle schools
- Heritage Middle SchoolD · 22% proficient
- Lincoln Middle SchoolD · 20% proficient
- Freedom Middle SchoolD · 19% proficient
Top high schools
- Reavis High SchoolD · 20% proficient
- J Sterling Morton West High SchD− · 14% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Berwyn school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Berwyn 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 Berwyn against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Berwyn suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 13% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Berwyn
Is Berwyn a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Berwyn ranks 1,453rd of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on walkability, cell coverage, and transit, and lowest on the schools and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Berwyn expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $306,870. The overall cost of living runs about 3% below the national average. Set against a $85,357 median income, cost of living beats 38% of cities.
Is Berwyn safe?
Berwyn is safer than 9% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $386 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Berwyn?
July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 34 with lows near 22. That works out to about 76 pleasant days a year, more than 38% of cities.
Is Berwyn good for families?
Schools beat 2% of cities, crime safety beats 9%, and childcare runs $1,105 a month.
Compare Berwyn with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Berwyn. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Berwyn 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.
Berwyn detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Berwyn: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Berwyn: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Berwyn: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Berwyn: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Berwyn 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.