Best PlacesHawthorn Woods, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Hawthorn Woods, 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.
Hawthorn Woods ranks 1,430th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on what local pay buys by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Hawthorn Woods
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.
Hawthorn Woods' strengths and weaknesses
Where Hawthorn Woods ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 99% of towns
- Household income$193,933 median, better than 99% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 98% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
Where Hawthorn Woods ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,267 a month, better than only 12% of towns
- Short commute34.1 minutes each way, better than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Hawthorn Woods
A household needs to earn about $177,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hawthorn Woods home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $193,933, 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 Hawthorn Woods' effective rate of 2.23%, 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 Hawthorn Woods
Hawthorn Woods runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Hawthorn Woods.
Who works in Hawthorn Woods, and how
Work in Hawthorn Woods centers on manufacturing and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 66%
- Work from home 26%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Hawthorn Woods
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Hawthorn Woods.
What the weather is like in Hawthorn Woods, month by month
Hawthorn Woods sees roughly 92 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 Hawthorn Woods
Chicago O'Hare International sits about 20 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 Hawthorn Woods
Schools across Hawthorn Woods average a B−, better than 63% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Country Meadows Elem SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
- Spencer Loomis Elementary SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- May Whitney Elem SchoolB− · 41% proficient
Top middle schools
- Woodlawn Middle SchoolA · 59% proficient
- Lake Zurich Middle - N CampusB · 44% proficient
- Fremont Jr High/middle SchoolB− · 41% proficient
Top high schools
- Adlai E Stevenson High SchoolA · 73% proficient
- Lake Zurich High SchoolB+ · 56% proficient
- Mundelein Cons High SchoolC · 31% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hawthorn Woods school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hawthorn Woods 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 Hawthorn Woods against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Hawthorn Woods
Is Hawthorn Woods a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hawthorn Woods ranks 1,430th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on what local pay buys, high incomes, and an educated workforce, and lowest on property taxes and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Hawthorn Woods expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $565,654. The overall cost of living runs about 5% above the national average. Set against a $193,933 median income, cost of living beats 100% of towns.
Is Hawthorn Woods safe?
Yes, Hawthorn Woods is safer than 66% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $198 per resident a year.
Compare Hawthorn Woods with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hawthorn Woods. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hawthorn Woods 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.
Hawthorn Woods detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hawthorn Woods: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hawthorn Woods: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hawthorn Woods: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hawthorn Woods: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hawthorn Woods 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.