Best PlacesCook County, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Cook County, 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.
Cook County ranks 1,760th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Cook County
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.
Cook County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Cook County ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than 98% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than 97% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than 94% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 92% of counties
Where Cook County ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 4% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than only 6% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than only 7% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,079 a month, better than only 13% of counties
- Local economyBetter than only 13% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Cook County
A household needs to earn about $86,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cook County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $70,591, 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 Cook County's effective rate of 0.68%, 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 Cook County
Cook County runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Cook County.
Who works in Cook County, and how
Work in Cook County centers on retail trade and hospitality & food. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 66%
- Work from home 22%
- Transit, walk, or bike 11%
Life in Cook County
Cook County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 99% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Cook County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Cook County growing, and who is moving in?
Cook County has grown about 6% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Duluth, MN.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Cook County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Cook County, month by month
Cook County sees roughly 83 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 71 degrees. January highs sit near 25, with lows near 11. The comfortable stretch runs July through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 25° | 18° | 11° |
| April | 44° | 36° | 30° |
| July | 71° | 60° | 53° |
| October | 53° | 46° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Cook County
The nearest airport, Gogebic/Iron County, is about 88 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 243 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cook County
Schools across Cook County average a C+, better than 46% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Birch Grove Community SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Sawtooth Mountain ElementaryB− · 43% proficient
- Great ExpectationsB− · 42% proficient
Top middle schools
- Cook County MiddleD · 23% proficient
Top high schools
- Cook County Senior HighB− · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cook County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cook County 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 Cook County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Cook County
Is Cook County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cook County ranks 1,760th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on health care access, tree cover, and an educated workforce, and lowest on distance from a big city and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cook County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $332,881. The overall cost of living runs about 15% above the national average. Set against a $70,591 median income, cost of living beats 13% of counties.
Is Cook County safe?
Cook County is safer than 14% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $495 per resident a year.
Compare Cook County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cook County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cook County 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.
Cook County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cook County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cook County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cook County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cook County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cook County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.