Best PlacesGlen Ellyn, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Glen Ellyn, 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.
Glen Ellyn ranks 395th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on an educated workforce by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Glen Ellyn
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.
Glen Ellyn's strengths and weaknesses
Where Glen Ellyn ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 90% of cities
- Household income$143,097 median, better than 89% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 88% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than 87% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 86% of cities
Where Glen Ellyn ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 5% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 6% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 9% of cities
- Cheap childcare$1,560 a month, better than only 11% of cities
- Local economyBetter than only 16% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Glen Ellyn
A household needs to earn about $155,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Glen Ellyn home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $143,097; 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 Glen Ellyn's effective rate of 1.97%, 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 Glen Ellyn
Glen Ellyn'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 Glen Ellyn.
Who works in Glen Ellyn, and how
Work in Glen Ellyn centers on professional & technical and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 60%
- Work from home 30%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Glen Ellyn
Glen Ellyn has more restaurants and bars per resident than 74% of cities and more parkland per resident than 92% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Glen Ellyn and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Glen Ellyn, month by month
Glen Ellyn 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 Glen Ellyn
Chicago O'Hare International sits about 11 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 Glen Ellyn
Schools across Glen Ellyn average a B, better than 59% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Benjamin Franklin Elem SchoolA− · 57% proficient
- Lincoln Elem SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Arbor View Elem SchoolB · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Hadley Junior High SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Franklin Middle SchoolB · 44% proficient
- Glen Crest Middle SchoolB− · 42% proficient
Top high schools
- Glenbard West High SchoolB+ · 54% proficient
- York Comm High SchoolB+ · 54% proficient
- Wheaton North High SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Glen Ellyn school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Glen Ellyn 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 Glen Ellyn against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Glen Ellyn suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 88% of cities and 30% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Glen Ellyn
Is Glen Ellyn a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Glen Ellyn ranks 395th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on an educated workforce, high incomes, and what local pay buys, 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 Glen Ellyn expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $511,616. The overall cost of living runs about 8% above the national average. Set against a $143,097 median income, cost of living beats 88% of cities.
Is Glen Ellyn safe?
Yes, Glen Ellyn is safer than 56% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $225 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Glen Ellyn?
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 23% of cities.
Is Glen Ellyn good for families?
Schools beat 59% of cities, crime safety beats 56%, and childcare runs $1,560 a month.
Compare Glen Ellyn with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Glen Ellyn. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Glen Ellyn 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.
Glen Ellyn detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Glen Ellyn: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Glen Ellyn: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Glen Ellyn: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Glen Ellyn: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Glen Ellyn 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.