Best PlacesLake Summerset, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lake Summerset, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Lake Summerset ranks 16,467th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on few empty homes by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Lake Summerset
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.
Lake Summerset's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lake Summerset ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 85% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 82% of towns
- QuietBetter than 82% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 82% of towns
Where Lake Summerset ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 11% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Lake Summerset
A household needs to earn about $67,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lake Summerset home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $76,796, 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 Summerset's effective rate of 2.02%, 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 Lake Summerset
Lake Summerset runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Lake Summerset.
Who works in Lake Summerset, and how
Work in Lake Summerset centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 74%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 13%
Life in Lake Summerset
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Lake Summerset.
What the weather is like in Lake Summerset, month by month
Lake Summerset sees roughly 78 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 17. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 22° | 17° |
| April | 58° | 47° | 38° |
| July | 82° | 73° | 65° |
| October | 61° | 52° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Lake Summerset
The nearest airport, Chicago/Rockford International, is about 24 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 82 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lake Summerset
Schools across Lake Summerset average a C, better than 40% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Durand Elem SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Orangeville Elem SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Dakota Elementary SchoolC− · 26% proficient
Top middle schools
- Orangeville Jr High SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Durand Jr High SchoolD− · 15% proficient
Top high schools
- Dakota Jr Sr High SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
- Durand High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
- Orangeville High SchoolC · 31% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lake Summerset school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lake Summerset 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 Summerset against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lake Summerset
Is Lake Summerset a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lake Summerset ranks 16,467th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on few empty homes, big-city access, and cell coverage, 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 Lake Summerset expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $218,434. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $76,796 median income, cost of living beats 71% of towns.
Is Lake Summerset safe?
Yes, Lake Summerset is safer than 81% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $164 per resident a year.
Compare Lake Summerset with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lake Summerset. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lake Summerset 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 Summerset detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lake Summerset: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lake Summerset: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lake Summerset: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lake Summerset: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lake Summerset 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.