Best PlacesCarpentersville, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Carpentersville, 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.
Carpentersville ranks 1,383rd of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Carpentersville
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.
Carpentersville's strengths and weaknesses
Where Carpentersville ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 96% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than 96% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than 95% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than 92% of cities
- QuietBetter than 87% of cities
Where Carpentersville ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 5% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 6% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 6% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 6% of cities
- School gradeD+, better than only 8% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Carpentersville
A household needs to earn about $77,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Carpentersville home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $90,556, 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 Carpentersville's effective rate of 2.10%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Carpentersville
Carpentersville runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Carpentersville.
Who works in Carpentersville, and how
Work in Carpentersville centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Carpentersville
Carpentersville has more parkland per resident than 82% of cities. That concentrates in some parts of Carpentersville and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Carpentersville, month by month
Carpentersville sees roughly 101 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 32, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 32° | 25° | 18° |
| April | 61° | 49° | 39° |
| July | 85° | 75° | 65° |
| October | 64° | 54° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Carpentersville
Chicago O'Hare International sits about 22 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 Carpentersville
Schools across Carpentersville average a D+, better than 8% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Sleepy Hollow Elem SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Algonquin Lakes Elem SchC · 35% proficient
- Westfield Community SchoolC · 32% proficient
Top middle schools
- Barrington Middle Sch StationC+ · 38% proficient
- Barrington Mdle Sch- Prairie CmpsC · 35% proficient
- Dundee Middle SchoolC · 31% proficient
Top high schools
- Barrington High SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Dundee-crown High SchoolD · 21% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Carpentersville school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Carpentersville 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 Carpentersville against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Carpentersville suits
Families
Schools land around the 8th percentile and crime safety beats 60%.
Common questions about living in Carpentersville
Is Carpentersville a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Carpentersville ranks 1,383rd of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on a stable housing market, heat safety, and few empty homes, and lowest on taxes and education levels. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Carpentersville expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $251,308. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $90,556 median income, cost of living beats 46% of cities.
Is Carpentersville safe?
Yes, Carpentersville is safer than 60% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $220 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Carpentersville?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 32 with lows near 18. That works out to about 101 pleasant days a year, more than 61% of cities.
Is Carpentersville good for families?
Schools beat 8% of cities, crime safety beats 60%, and childcare runs $1,380 a month.
Compare Carpentersville with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Carpentersville. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Carpentersville 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.
Carpentersville detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Carpentersville: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Carpentersville: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Carpentersville: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Carpentersville: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Carpentersville 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.