Best PlacesCrystal Lake, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Crystal Lake, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Crystal Lake ranks 707th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Crystal Lake
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 Crystal Lake
The parts of Crystal Lake, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first.
Four Colonies
Prairie Ridge
North Shore
Downtown
Coventry
Scores across Crystal Lake run from about the 28th to the 92nd percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Crystal Lake's strengths and weaknesses
Where Crystal Lake ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 91% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than 87% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than 84% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 80% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than 80% of cities
Where Crystal Lake ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 3% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 5% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 6% of cities
- Local economyBetter than only 24% of cities
- Cheap childcare$1,371 a month, better than only 25% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Crystal Lake
A household needs to earn about $102,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Crystal Lake home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $117,375, 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 Crystal Lake's effective rate of 2.30%, 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 Crystal Lake
Crystal Lake'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 Crystal Lake.
Who works in Crystal Lake, and how
Work in Crystal Lake centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Crystal Lake
Crystal Lake has more restaurants and bars per resident than 76% of cities and more parkland per resident than 98% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Crystal Lake and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Crystal Lake, month by month
Crystal Lake sees roughly 98 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 Crystal Lake
Chicago O'Hare International sits about 28 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 Crystal Lake
Schools across Crystal Lake average a C+, better than 32% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Martin Elementary SchoolB− · 44% proficient
- Glacier Ridge Elementary SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Woods Creek Elementary SchoolB− · 42% proficient
Top middle schools
- Richard F Bernotas Middle SchB− · 40% proficient
- Creekside Middle SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Hannah Beardsley Middle SchoolC · 32% proficient
Top high schools
- Prairie Ridge High SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Huntley High SchoolB · 48% proficient
- Cary-grove Community High SchoolB− · 44% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Crystal Lake school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Crystal Lake 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 Crystal Lake against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Crystal Lake suits
Families
Schools land around the 32nd percentile and crime safety beats 80%.
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 80% of cities and 17% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 59% of cities, health care access beats 67%, and it is quieter than 72%.
Common questions about living in Crystal Lake
Is Crystal Lake a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Crystal Lake ranks 707th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on low disaster risk, heat safety, and few empty homes, 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 Crystal Lake expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $324,733. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $117,375 median income, cost of living beats 80% of cities.
Is Crystal Lake safe?
Yes, Crystal Lake is safer than 80% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $180 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Crystal Lake?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 34 with lows near 21. That works out to about 98 pleasant days a year, more than 59% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Crystal Lake?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Four Colonies, Prairie Ridge, and North Shore. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Crystal Lake with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Crystal Lake. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Crystal Lake 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.
Crystal Lake detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Crystal Lake: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Crystal Lake: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Crystal Lake: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Crystal Lake: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Crystal Lake 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.