Best PlacesDowners Grove, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Downers Grove, 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.
Downers Grove ranks 512th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Downers Grove
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.
Downers Grove's strengths and weaknesses
Where Downers Grove ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 95% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than 88% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than 87% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 87% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than 85% of cities
Where Downers Grove ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 5% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 6% of cities
- Cheap childcare$1,560 a month, better than only 11% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 17% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than only 18% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Downers Grove
A household needs to earn about $132,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Downers Grove home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $131,924; 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 Downers Grove's effective rate of 1.59%, 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 Downers Grove
Downers Grove runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Downers Grove.
Who works in Downers Grove, and how
Work in Downers Grove 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 66%
- Work from home 24%
- Transit, walk, or bike 11%
Life in Downers Grove
Downers Grove has more restaurants and bars per resident than 79% of cities and more parkland per resident than 90% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Downers Grove and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Downers Grove, month by month
Downers Grove sees roughly 68 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 26° | 19° |
| April | 62° | 49° | 39° |
| July | 87° | 76° | 66° |
| October | 67° | 56° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Downers Grove
Chicago Midway International sits about 14 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 Downers Grove
Schools across Downers Grove average a B−, better than 44% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Westfield Elem SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Prairieview Elementary SchoolB− · 44% proficient
- River Valley SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Old Quarry Middle SchB · 46% proficient
- Cass Jr High SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Lakeview Jr High SchoolB− · 42% proficient
Top high schools
- Comm H S Dist 99 - North H SB+ · 53% proficient
- Westmont High SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Lemont Twp High SchoolB · 47% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Downers Grove school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Downers Grove 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 Downers Grove against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Downers Grove suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 85% of cities and 24% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Downers Grove
Is Downers Grove a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Downers Grove ranks 512th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on a stable housing market, health care access, 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 Downers Grove expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $454,320. The overall cost of living runs about 4% above the national average. Set against a $131,924 median income, cost of living beats 85% of cities.
Is Downers Grove safe?
Downers Grove is safer than 47% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $244 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Downers Grove?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 35 with lows near 19. That works out to about 68 pleasant days a year, more than 21% of cities.
Is Downers Grove good for families?
Schools beat 44% of cities, crime safety beats 47%, and childcare runs $1,560 a month.
Compare Downers Grove with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Downers Grove. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Downers Grove 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.
Downers Grove detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Downers Grove: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Downers Grove: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Downers Grove: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Downers Grove: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Downers Grove 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.