Best PlacesGage Park, Chicago, IL Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood in and around Gage Park, Chicago, 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.

See the map of best neighborhoods

Gage Park, Chicago ranks 4,341st of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and education levels rank lowest.

#4,341
of 5,983 neighborhoods
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 5,983 neighborhoods
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in Gage Park, Chicago

Map of the best neighborhoods in the Gage Park, Chicago area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
Colorblind friendly off
Popular priorities:

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.

Gage Park, Chicago's strengths and weaknesses

Top 10%Transit
Top 10%Walkability
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare Gage Park, Chicago with other neighborhoods.

Where Gage Park, Chicago ranks high

  • TransitBetter than 93% of neighborhoods
  • WalkabilityBetter than 92% of neighborhoods
  • Big-city accessBetter than 90% of neighborhoods
  • Disaster safetyBetter than 87% of neighborhoods
  • State infrastructureBetter than 78% of neighborhoods

Where Gage Park, Chicago ranks low

  • Educational attainmentBetter than only 4% of neighborhoods
  • Voter turnoutBetter than only 4% of neighborhoods
  • Healthcare accessBetter than only 4% of neighborhoods
  • State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of neighborhoods
  • Short commute36.1 minutes each way, better than only 5% of neighborhoods

What it costs to buy a home in Gage Park, Chicago

A household needs to earn about $63,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Gage Park, Chicago home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $71,082, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.

Income to buy the median home
$63,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$1,462
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $232,146 home
Median rent
$1,084
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$1,184
Property tax$201
Homeowners insurance$77

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 Gage Park, Chicago's effective rate of 1.04%, 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.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in Gage Park, Chicago

Gage Park, Chicago runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.

Median age
34
younger than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
12%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
3.4
above the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1823%
18 to 3428%
35 to 4919%
50 to 6418%
65 and older12%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Gage Park, Chicago.


Who works in Gage Park, Chicago, and how

Work in Gage Park, Chicago centers on manufacturing and hospitality & food. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.

Work from home
4%
below the national average
Unemployment
10.3%
above the national average
Job growth
−1.7%
/y 2019-2023, slower than the national pace

Largest industries

Manufacturing15%
Hospitality & food13%
Health care & social13%
Construction9%
Admin & support services9%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 73%
  • Work from home 4%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 22%

Life in Gage Park, Chicago

The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Gage Park, Chicago.

Places to eat and drink
55
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 20.5 per 10,000 residents, more than 44% of neighborhoods

What the weather is like in Gage Park, Chicago, month by month

Gage Park, Chicago sees roughly 76 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, September, and October.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January34°28°22°
April61°50°43°
July86°77°70°
October66°57°49°

Flying in and out of Gage Park, Chicago

Chicago Midway International sits about 3 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 9.4 million passengers in 2025, with 113 nonstop destinations.

Nearest airport
MDW
Chicago Midway International, about 3 miles
Airport size
Large hub
31st-busiest in the US, 113 nonstop destinations
Average drive
8 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around Gage Park, Chicago

Schools across Gage Park, Chicago average a C, better than 42% of neighborhoods.

Top elementary schools

Top middle schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Gage Park, Chicago school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


Gage Park, Chicago 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 Gage Park, Chicago against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.


Who Gage Park, Chicago suits

Families

Schools land around the 42nd percentile.

See the families priority ↑

Remote workers

4% already work from home.

See the remote-work priority ↑

Retirees

Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.

See the retirees priority ↑


Common questions about living in Gage Park, Chicago

Is Gage Park, Chicago a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Gage Park, Chicago ranks 4,341st of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on transit, walkability, and big-city access, and lowest on education levels and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is Gage Park, Chicago expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $232,146. The overall cost of living runs about 2% below the national average. Set against a $71,082 median income, cost of living beats 34% of neighborhoods.

Is Gage Park, Chicago safe?

Gage Park, Chicago is safer than 28% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $483 per resident a year.

What is the weather like in Gage Park, Chicago?

July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 34 with lows near 22. That works out to about 76 pleasant days a year, more than 34% of neighborhoods.

Is Gage Park, Chicago good for families?

Schools beat 42% of neighborhoods, crime safety beats 28%, and childcare runs $1,105 a month.


Compare Gage Park, Chicago with other neighborhoods


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Gage Park, Chicago. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Gage Park, Chicago 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.

Gage Park, Chicago detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for Gage Park, Chicago: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in Gage Park, Chicago: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of Gage Park, Chicago: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in Gage Park, Chicago: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

Gage Park, Chicago detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. 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.
  2. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  3. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  4. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  5. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  6. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  7. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  8. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  9. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  10. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  11. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  12. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.