Best PlacesCalumet City, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Calumet City, 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.
Calumet City ranks 2,073rd of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cell coverage by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Calumet City
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.
Calumet City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Calumet City ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 93% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 92% of cities
- TransitBetter than 87% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 82% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than 80% of cities
Where Calumet City ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 1% of cities
- School gradeF, better than only 1% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than only 1% of cities
- Local economyBetter than only 3% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 5% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Calumet City
A household needs to earn about $49,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Calumet City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $59,539, 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 Calumet City's effective rate of 2.77%, 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 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Calumet City
Calumet City'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 Calumet City.
Who works in Calumet City, and how
Work in Calumet City centers on health care & social and transportation & warehousing. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 73%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 16%
Life in Calumet City
Calumet City has more restaurants and bars per resident than 93% of cities and more parkland per resident than 87% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Calumet City and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Calumet City, month by month
Calumet City sees roughly 74 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 33, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 33° | 26° | 20° |
| April | 60° | 48° | 39° |
| July | 84° | 74° | 65° |
| October | 65° | 54° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Calumet City
Chicago Midway International sits about 16 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 Calumet City
Schools across Calumet City average an F, better than 1% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Lincoln Elem SchoolD− · 11% proficient
- Greenwood Elem SchoolF · 10% proficient
- New Beginnings Learning AcademyF · 4% proficient
Top middle schools
- Schrum Memorial SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Wentworth Jr High SchoolF · 12% proficient
- S T E M AcademyF · 11% proficient
Top high schools
- Thornwood High SchoolF · 9% proficient
- Thornton Fractnl No High SchoolF · 8% proficient
- Thornridge High SchoolF · 6% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Calumet City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Calumet City 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 Calumet City against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Calumet City suits
Common questions about living in Calumet City
Is Calumet City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Calumet City ranks 2,073rd of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on cell coverage, walkability, and transit, and lowest on property taxes and the schools. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Calumet City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $147,365. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $59,539 median income, cost of living beats 9% of cities.
Is Calumet City safe?
Calumet City is safer than 1% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $585 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Calumet City?
July highs average about 84 degrees, and January highs near 33 with lows near 20. That works out to about 74 pleasant days a year, more than 35% of cities.
Is Calumet City good for families?
Schools beat 0% of cities, crime safety beats 1%, and childcare runs $1,105 a month.
Compare Calumet City with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Calumet City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Calumet City 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.
Calumet City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Calumet City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Calumet City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Calumet City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Calumet City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Calumet City 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.