Best PlacesChatham, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Chatham, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Chatham ranks 3,518th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Chatham
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.
Chatham's strengths and weaknesses
Where Chatham ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 96% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 96% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 96% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 95% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 94% of towns
Where Chatham ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 5% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 62 pleasant days a year, better than only 11% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 24% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Chatham
A household needs to earn about $76,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Chatham home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $117,111, 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 Chatham's effective rate of 1.82%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Chatham
Chatham runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Chatham.
Who works in Chatham, and how
Work in Chatham centers on public administration and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Chatham
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Chatham.
What the weather is like in Chatham, month by month
Chatham sees roughly 62 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37° | 29° | 22° |
| April | 66° | 54° | 44° |
| July | 87° | 77° | 68° |
| October | 69° | 57° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Chatham
The nearest airport, Abraham Lincoln Capital, is about 11 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 74 miles away.
The best schools in and around Chatham
Schools across Chatham average a C, better than 35% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Chatham Elem SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Glenwood Elementary SchoolC · 31% proficient
- Ball Elementary SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top middle schools
- Glenwood Intermediate SchC · 31% proficient
- Glenwood Middle SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- New Berlin Jr High SchoolD− · 18% proficient
Top high schools
- Glenwood High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- New Berlin High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Auburn High SchoolD · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Chatham school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Chatham 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 Chatham against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Chatham
Is Chatham a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Chatham ranks 3,518th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, population health, and an educated workforce, 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 Chatham expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $253,763. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $117,111 median income, cost of living beats 94% of towns.
Is Chatham safe?
Yes, Chatham is safer than 95% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $127 per resident a year.
Compare Chatham with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Chatham. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Chatham 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.
Chatham detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Chatham: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Chatham: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Chatham: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Chatham: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Chatham 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.