Best PlacesMinooka, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Minooka, 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.
Minooka ranks 8,038th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on few empty homes by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Minooka
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.
Minooka's strengths and weaknesses
Where Minooka ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 95% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 95% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 95% of towns
- BikingBetter than 95% of towns
Where Minooka ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 4% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 57 pleasant days a year, better than only 5% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Minooka
A household needs to earn about $96,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Minooka home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $113,826, 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 Minooka's effective rate of 1.92%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Minooka
Minooka runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Minooka.
Who works in Minooka, and how
Work in Minooka centers on health care & social and transportation & warehousing. 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 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Minooka
Minooka has more restaurants and bars per resident than 67% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Minooka and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Minooka, month by month
Minooka sees roughly 57 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 27° | 21° |
| April | 63° | 51° | 41° |
| July | 86° | 76° | 66° |
| October | 66° | 55° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Minooka
Chicago Midway International sits about 36 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 Minooka
Schools across Minooka average a C−, better than 26% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Lisbon Grade SchoolA · 68% proficient
- Coal City Intermediate SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Saratoga Elem SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
Top middle schools
- Three Rivers SchoolB− · 39% proficient
- Yorkville Intermediate SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Minooka Jr High SchoolC− · 29% proficient
Top high schools
- Yorkville High SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
- Oswego High SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Minooka Community High SchoolC · 32% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Minooka school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Minooka 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 Minooka against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Minooka
Is Minooka a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Minooka ranks 8,038th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on few empty homes, population health, and heat safety, and lowest on taxes and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Minooka expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $319,739. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $113,826 median income, cost of living beats 90% of towns.
Is Minooka safe?
Yes, Minooka is safer than 81% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $171 per resident a year.
Compare Minooka with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Minooka. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Minooka 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.
Minooka detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Minooka: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Minooka: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Minooka: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Minooka: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Minooka 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.