Best PlacesLake County, IN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Lake County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Lake County ranks 1,446th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on noise and air quality. It does better on big-city access, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in Lake County
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.
The best areas in Lake County
The parts of Lake County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Dyer & St. John
Incomes run higher, crime runs lower, and local pay stretches further.
Munster & Highland
Fewer homes sit empty, though fewer households have young kids.
Winfield
More residents vote, though streets are more car-dependent.
Crown Point, Merrillville & Schererville
Schools score higher and more adults hold degrees.
Griffith
Homes cost less and tree cover is thicker.
Hammond, East Chicago & Whiting
Biking is better, though health care is harder to reach.
Gary, Hobart & Lake Station
Prices have run up more and health outcomes score lower.
Lake County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 1% of the country and others in the top 2%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Lake County's strengths and weaknesses
Lake County lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Big-city access is the standout, in the top 2% of counties. Cell coverage and walkability follow.
The one real hole is noise, near the bottom of the country. Air quality and crime also cost it ground. That varies block to block rather than evenly, and the map below shows where.
Where Lake County ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 98% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 96% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than 88% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 87% of counties
- BikingBetter than 85% of counties
Where Lake County ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 2% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than only 11% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than only 14% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 16% of counties
- Short commute28.5 minutes each way, better than only 22% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Lake County
A household needs to earn about $62,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lake County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $80,271, 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 Lake County's effective rate of 0.94%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Lake County
Lake County'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 Lake County.
Who works in Lake County, and how
Work in Lake County centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Lake County
Lake County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 94% of counties and more parkland per resident than 70% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Lake County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Lake County growing, and who is moving in?
Lake County has grown about 2% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Chicago, IL metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Lake County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Lake County, month by month
Lake County sees roughly 73 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 33, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 33° | 26° | 20° |
| April | 60° | 48° | 39° |
| July | 84° | 74° | 65° |
| October | 65° | 54° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Lake County
Chicago Midway International sits about 26 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 Lake County
Schools across Lake County average a C, better than 40% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Frank H Hammond Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Jerry Ross Elementary SchoolA · 64% proficient
- Dwight D Eisenhower Elem SchoolA · 64% proficient
Top middle schools
- Wilbur Wright Middle SchoolA− · 55% proficient
- Lowell Middle SchoolB+ · 48% proficient
- Hal E Clark Middle SchoolB+ · 47% proficient
Top high schools
- Munster High SchoolA · 76% proficient
- Crown Point High SchoolA− · 61% proficient
- Lake Central High SchoolB+ · 57% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lake County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lake County 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 Lake County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Lake County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 9% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Lake County
Is Lake County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lake County ranks 1,446th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on big-city access, cell coverage, and walkability, and lowest on noise and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lake County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $233,821. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $80,271 median income, cost of living beats 64% of counties.
Is Lake County safe?
Lake County is safer than 14% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $518 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Lake County?
July highs average about 84 degrees, and January highs near 33 with lows near 20. That works out to about 73 pleasant days a year, more than 26% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Lake County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Dyer & St. John, Munster & Highland, and Winfield. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Lake County good for families?
Schools beat 40% of counties, crime safety beats 14%, and childcare runs $873 a month.
Is Lake County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 64% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 81% of counties. About 9% of workers already work from home.
Compare Lake County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lake County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lake County 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.
Lake County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lake County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lake County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lake County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lake County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lake County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.