Best PlacesDes Plaines, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Des Plaines, 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.
Des Plaines ranks 1,241st of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Des Plaines
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.
Des Plaines' strengths and weaknesses
Where Des Plaines ranks high
- TransitBetter than 92% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 88% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 88% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 88% of cities
- BikingBetter than 87% of cities
Where Des Plaines ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 5% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 6% of cities
- QuietBetter than only 7% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 11% of cities
- School gradeC−, better than only 15% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Des Plaines
A household needs to earn about $89,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Des Plaines home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $92,376, 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 Des Plaines' 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Des Plaines
Des Plaines runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Des Plaines.
Who works in Des Plaines, and how
Work in Des Plaines centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Des Plaines
Des Plaines has more restaurants and bars per resident than 70% of cities and more parkland per resident than 92% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Des Plaines and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Des Plaines, month by month
Des Plaines sees roughly 70 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 Des Plaines
Chicago O'Hare International sits about 4 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 Des Plaines
Schools across Des Plaines average a C−, better than 15% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Stem Magnet Academy ElemB+ · 53% proficient
- Iroquois Community SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Central Elem SchoolB · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- River Trails Middle SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Lincoln Middle SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Chippewa Middle SchoolC · 33% proficient
Top high schools
- Elk Grove High SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Maine West High SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
- East Leyden High SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Des Plaines school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Des Plaines 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 Des Plaines against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Des Plaines suits
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Des Plaines
Is Des Plaines a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Des Plaines ranks 1,241st of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on transit, big-city access, and walkability, 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 Des Plaines expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $299,692. The overall cost of living runs about 0% above the national average. Set against a $92,376 median income, cost of living beats 47% of cities.
Is Des Plaines safe?
Des Plaines is safer than 32% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $280 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Des Plaines?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 34 with lows near 21. That works out to about 70 pleasant days a year, more than 27% of cities.
Is Des Plaines good for families?
Schools beat 15% of cities, crime safety beats 32%, and childcare runs $1,105 a month.
Compare Des Plaines with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Des Plaines. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Des Plaines 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.
Des Plaines detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Des Plaines: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Des Plaines: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Des Plaines: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Des Plaines: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Des Plaines 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.