Best PlacesNorth Riverside, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around North Riverside, 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.
North Riverside ranks 14,973rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in North Riverside
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.
North Riverside's strengths and weaknesses
Where North Riverside ranks high
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
- TransitBetter than 99% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 96% of towns
Where North Riverside 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
- Air qualityBetter than only 8% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in North Riverside
A household needs to earn about $90,000 a year to comfortably buy the median North Riverside home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $81,689; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 North Riverside's effective rate of 1.87%, 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 North Riverside
North Riverside 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 North Riverside.
Who works in North Riverside, and how
Work in North Riverside centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in North Riverside
North Riverside has more restaurants and bars per resident than 88% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of North Riverside and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in North Riverside, month by month
North Riverside 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 North Riverside
Chicago Midway International sits about 6 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 North Riverside
Schools across North Riverside average a B−, better than 54% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- A F Ames Elem SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
- Hollywood Elem SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Komarek Elem SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Top middle schools
- L J Hauser Jr High SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Forest Park Middle SchoolF · 9% proficient
Top high schools
- Proviso Math And Science AcademyB− · 45% proficient
- Riverside Brookfield Twp HsB− · 44% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every North Riverside school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
North Riverside 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 North Riverside against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in North Riverside
Is North Riverside a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, North Riverside ranks 14,973rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on biking, transit, and big-city access, 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 North Riverside expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $301,690. The overall cost of living runs about 4% above the national average. Set against a $81,689 median income, cost of living beats 48% of towns.
Is North Riverside safe?
North Riverside is safer than 8% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $487 per resident a year.
Compare North Riverside with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to North Riverside. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in North Riverside 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.
North Riverside detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for North Riverside: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in North Riverside: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of North Riverside: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in North Riverside: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
North Riverside 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.