Best PlacesLansing, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lansing, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Lansing ranks 1,885th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cell coverage by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Lansing
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.
Lansing's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lansing ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 97% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 79% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 79% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than 79% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than 78% of cities
Where Lansing ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 1% of cities
- School gradeD−, better than only 1% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 5% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 6% of cities
- Short commute34.6 minutes each way, better than only 7% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Lansing
A household needs to earn about $62,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lansing home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $81,345, 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 Lansing's effective rate of 2.59%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Lansing
Lansing'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 Lansing.
Who works in Lansing, and how
Work in Lansing centers on transportation & warehousing and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Lansing
Lansing has more restaurants and bars per resident than 93% of cities and more parkland per resident than 84% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Lansing and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Lansing, month by month
Lansing sees roughly 74 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 Lansing
Chicago Midway International sits about 19 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 Lansing
Schools across Lansing average a D−, better than 1% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Coolidge Elementary SchoolD · 16% proficient
- Oak Glen Elem SchoolD− · 13% proficient
- Greenwood Elem SchoolF · 10% proficient
Top middle schools
- Schrum Memorial SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Heritage Middle SchoolD− · 18% proficient
- Memorial Jr High SchoolD− · 15% proficient
Top high schools
- Thornton Fractnl So High SchoolD− · 13% proficient
- Thornwood High SchoolF · 9% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lansing school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lansing 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 Lansing against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Lansing suits
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Lansing
Is Lansing a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lansing ranks 1,885th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on cell coverage, walkability, and big-city access, and lowest on property taxes and the schools. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lansing expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $190,108. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $81,345 median income, cost of living beats 42% of cities.
Is Lansing safe?
Lansing is safer than 8% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $406 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Lansing?
July highs average about 84 degrees, and January highs near 33 with lows near 20. That works out to about 74 pleasant days a year, more than 35% of cities.
Is Lansing good for families?
Schools beat 1% of cities, crime safety beats 8%, and childcare runs $1,105 a month.
Compare Lansing with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lansing. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lansing 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.
Lansing detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lansing: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lansing: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lansing: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lansing: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lansing 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.