Best PlacesLyons, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lyons, 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.
Lyons ranks 25,601st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Lyons
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.
Lyons' strengths and weaknesses
Where Lyons ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of towns
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 99% of towns
- TransitBetter than 99% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of towns
Where Lyons 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
- Air qualityBetter than only 4% of towns
- School gradeD, better than only 6% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Lyons
A household needs to earn about $88,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lyons home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $75,398, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Lyons' effective rate of 2.19%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Lyons
Lyons'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 Lyons.
Who works in Lyons, and how
Work in Lyons centers on transportation & warehousing and construction. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 69%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 13%
Life in Lyons
Lyons has more restaurants and bars per resident than 76% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Lyons and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Lyons, month by month
Lyons sees roughly 76 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 28° | 22° |
| April | 61° | 50° | 43° |
| July | 86° | 77° | 70° |
| October | 66° | 57° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Lyons
Chicago Midway International sits about 4 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 Lyons
Schools across Lyons average a D, better than 6% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Central Elem SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Irving Elem SchoolD− · 15% proficient
- Home Elem SchoolD− · 11% proficient
Top middle schools
- L J Hauser Jr High SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Washington Middle SchoolF · 10% proficient
Top high schools
- Riverside Brookfield Twp HsB− · 44% proficient
- Argo Community High SchoolD · 20% proficient
- J Sterling Morton West High SchD− · 14% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lyons school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lyons 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 Lyons against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lyons
Is Lyons a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lyons ranks 25,601st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, biking, 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 Lyons expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $283,010. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $75,398 median income, cost of living beats 41% of towns.
Is Lyons safe?
Lyons is safer than 17% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $355 per resident a year.
Compare Lyons with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lyons. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lyons 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.
Lyons detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lyons: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lyons: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lyons: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lyons: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lyons 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.