Best PlacesBuffalo Grove, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Buffalo Grove, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages hide a wide spread here, so the area matters as much as the address. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Buffalo Grove ranks 262nd of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Buffalo Grove
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.
The best areas in Buffalo Grove
The parts of Buffalo Grove, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first.
Woodlands at Fiore & Churchill Lane
Strathmore Grove
Old Farm Village & Waterbury Place
Strathmore
The Highlands, Amli at Chevy Chase & Woodstone
Scores across Buffalo Grove run from about the 52nd to the 98th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Buffalo Grove's strengths and weaknesses
Where Buffalo Grove ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 95% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than 94% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than 93% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than 93% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than 93% of cities
Where Buffalo Grove ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 1% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 5% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 6% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than only 20% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than only 30% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Buffalo Grove
A household needs to earn about $132,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Buffalo Grove home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $141,137, 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 Buffalo Grove's effective rate of 2.46%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Buffalo Grove
Buffalo Grove runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Buffalo Grove.
Who works in Buffalo Grove, and how
Work in Buffalo Grove 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 63%
- Work from home 31%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Buffalo Grove
Buffalo Grove has more restaurants and bars per resident than 72% of cities and more parkland per resident than 94% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Buffalo Grove and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Buffalo Grove, month by month
Buffalo Grove sees roughly 87 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 Buffalo Grove
Chicago O'Hare International sits about 13 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 Buffalo Grove
Schools across Buffalo Grove average a B, better than 69% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Prairie Elementary SchoolA · 63% proficient
- Ivy Hall Elementary SchoolA− · 59% proficient
- Henry W Longfellow Elem SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Top middle schools
- Daniel Wright Jr High SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Twin Groves Middle SchoolA · 63% proficient
- Aptakisic Junior High SchoolA · 60% proficient
Top high schools
- Adlai E Stevenson High SchoolA · 73% proficient
- Buffalo Grove High SchoolB− · 45% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Buffalo Grove school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Buffalo Grove 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 Buffalo Grove against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Buffalo Grove suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 91% of cities and 31% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Buffalo Grove
Is Buffalo Grove a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Buffalo Grove ranks 262nd of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on a stable housing market, cell coverage, and an educated workforce, and lowest on property taxes and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Buffalo Grove expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $412,935. The overall cost of living runs about 2% above the national average. Set against a $141,137 median income, cost of living beats 91% of cities.
Is Buffalo Grove safe?
Buffalo Grove is safer than 50% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $238 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Buffalo Grove?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 34 with lows near 21. That works out to about 87 pleasant days a year, more than 51% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Buffalo Grove?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Woodlands at Fiore & Churchill Lane, Strathmore Grove, and Old Farm Village & Waterbury Place. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Buffalo Grove with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Buffalo Grove. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Buffalo Grove 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.
Buffalo Grove detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Buffalo Grove: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Buffalo Grove: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Buffalo Grove: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Buffalo Grove: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Buffalo Grove 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.