Best PlacesItasca, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Itasca, 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.
Itasca ranks 8,152nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Itasca
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.
Itasca's strengths and weaknesses
Where Itasca ranks high
- BikingBetter than 98% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 98% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 98% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 96% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 95% of towns
Where Itasca ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 1% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 53 pleasant days a year, better than only 2% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,560 a month, better than only 2% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Itasca
A household needs to earn about $129,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Itasca home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $116,548; 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 Itasca's 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Itasca
Itasca runs older than the country, though fewer residents are over 65 than the national share.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Itasca.
Who works in Itasca, and how
Work in Itasca centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 70%
- Work from home 22%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Itasca
Itasca has more restaurants and bars per resident than 82% of towns and more parkland per resident than 96% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Itasca and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Itasca, month by month
Itasca sees roughly 53 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 Itasca
Chicago O'Hare International sits about 6 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 Itasca
Schools across Itasca average a B−, better than 53% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Elmer H Franzen Intermediate SchB+ · 51% proficient
- Stone Elem SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Westview Elem SchoolD− · 15% proficient
Top middle schools
- F E Peacock Middle SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Medinah Middle SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Wood Dale Jr High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Lake Park High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
- Addison Trail High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Fenton High SchoolD · 23% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Itasca school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Itasca 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 Itasca against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Itasca
Is Itasca a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Itasca ranks 8,152nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on biking, big-city access, and population health, and lowest on noise and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Itasca expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $432,902. The overall cost of living runs about 1% above the national average. Set against a $116,548 median income, cost of living beats 91% of towns.
Is Itasca safe?
Itasca is safer than 36% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $269 per resident a year.
Compare Itasca with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Itasca. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Itasca 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.
Itasca detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Itasca: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Itasca: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Itasca: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Itasca: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Itasca 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.