Best PlacesNorthbrook, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Northbrook, 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.
Northbrook ranks 244th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on an educated workforce by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Northbrook
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.
Northbrook's strengths and weaknesses
Where Northbrook ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 98% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than 96% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 95% of cities
- Household income$160,620 median, better than 94% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than 91% of cities
Where Northbrook ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 5% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 6% of cities
- QuietBetter than only 8% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 16% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than only 25% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Northbrook
A household needs to earn about $185,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Northbrook home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $160,620, 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 Northbrook's effective rate of 1.63%, 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 Northbrook
Northbrook runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Northbrook.
Who works in Northbrook, and how
Work in Northbrook centers on professional & technical and finance & insurance. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 60%
- Work from home 29%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Northbrook
Northbrook has more restaurants and bars per resident than 74% of cities and more parkland per resident than 92% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Northbrook and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Northbrook, month by month
Northbrook sees roughly 86 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 27° | 21° |
| April | 60° | 49° | 40° |
| July | 85° | 75° | 67° |
| October | 65° | 55° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Northbrook
Chicago O'Hare International sits about 11 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 40.8 million passengers in 2025, with 305 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Northbrook
Schools across Northbrook average a B+, better than 80% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Meadowbrook Elem SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
- Shabonee SchoolA · 71% proficient
- West SchoolA · 70% proficient
Top middle schools
- Wood Oaks Jr High SchoolA+ · 69% proficient
- Maple SchoolA+ · 68% proficient
- Sunset Ridge Elem SchoolA · 67% proficient
Top high schools
- New Trier Township H S WinnetkaA · 78% proficient
- Glenbrook North High SchoolA− · 67% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Northbrook school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Northbrook 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 Northbrook against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Northbrook suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 95% of cities and 29% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Northbrook
Is Northbrook a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Northbrook ranks 244th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on an educated workforce, health care access, and what local pay buys, 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 Northbrook expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $636,031. The overall cost of living runs about 11% above the national average. Set against a $160,620 median income, cost of living beats 95% of cities.
Is Northbrook safe?
Northbrook is safer than 25% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $304 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Northbrook?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 34 with lows near 21. That works out to about 86 pleasant days a year, more than 50% of cities.
Is Northbrook good for families?
Schools beat 80% of cities, crime safety beats 25%, and childcare runs $1,105 a month.
Compare Northbrook with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Northbrook. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Northbrook 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.
Northbrook detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Northbrook: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Northbrook: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Northbrook: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Northbrook: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Northbrook 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.