Best PlacesDarien, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Darien, 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.
Darien ranks 4,846th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Darien
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.
Darien's strengths and weaknesses
Where Darien ranks high
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 98% of towns
- TransitBetter than 96% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 96% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 95% of towns
Where Darien ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,560 a month, better than only 2% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 6% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 9% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Darien
A household needs to earn about $118,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Darien home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $113,674; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Darien's effective rate of 1.72%, 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 Darien
Darien runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Darien.
Who works in Darien, and how
Work in Darien centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 74%
- Work from home 21%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Darien
Darien has more restaurants and bars per resident than 69% of towns and more parkland per resident than 85% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Darien and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Darien, month by month
Darien sees roughly 79 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 32, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 32° | 26° | 20° |
| April | 60° | 49° | 40° |
| July | 84° | 75° | 66° |
| October | 65° | 54° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Darien
Chicago Midway International sits about 12 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 Darien
Schools across Darien average a C+, better than 51% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Gower West Elem SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Prairieview Elementary SchoolB− · 44% proficient
- River Valley SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Gower Middle SchoolA− · 55% proficient
- Westview Hills Middle SchoolB+ · 49% proficient
- Old Quarry Middle SchB · 46% proficient
Top high schools
- Lemont Twp High SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Hinsdale South High SchoolB− · 45% proficient
- Comm H S Dist 99 - South High SchB− · 41% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Darien school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Darien 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 Darien against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Darien suits
Families
Schools land around the 51st percentile and crime safety beats 64%.
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 88% of towns, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 21% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Darien
Is Darien a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Darien ranks 4,846th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on biking, big-city access, and transit, and lowest on childcare costs and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Darien expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $400,971. The overall cost of living runs about 1% above the national average. Set against a $113,674 median income, cost of living beats 88% of towns.
Is Darien safe?
Yes, Darien is safer than 64% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $202 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Darien?
July highs average about 84 degrees, and January highs near 32 with lows near 20. That works out to about 79 pleasant days a year, more than 44% of towns.
Is Darien good for families?
Schools beat 51% of towns, crime safety beats 64%, and childcare runs $1,560 a month.
Compare Darien with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Darien. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Darien 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.
Darien detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Darien: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Darien: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Darien: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Darien: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Darien 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.