Best PlacesNorthlake, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Northlake, 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.
Northlake ranks 35,988th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and the weather ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Northlake
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.
Northlake's strengths and weaknesses
Where Northlake ranks high
- TransitBetter than 99% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 98% of towns
- BikingBetter than 98% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 96% of towns
Where Northlake ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 51 pleasant days a year, better than only 1% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 4% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 4% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Northlake
A household needs to earn about $74,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Northlake home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $78,423, 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 Northlake's effective rate of 1.89%, 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 Northlake
Northlake's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Northlake.
Who works in Northlake, and how
Work in Northlake centers on manufacturing and transportation & warehousing. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Northlake
Northlake has more restaurants and bars per resident than 69% of towns and more parkland per resident than 95% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Northlake and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Northlake, month by month
Northlake sees roughly 51 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 26° | 19° |
| April | 62° | 49° | 39° |
| July | 87° | 76° | 66° |
| October | 67° | 56° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Northlake
Chicago O'Hare International sits about 4 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 Northlake
Schools across Northlake average a D−, better than 4% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Field Elem SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
- Westdale Elem SchoolD− · 15% proficient
- Roy Elem SchoolD− · 13% proficient
Top middle schools
- Sandburg Middle SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Mannheim Middle SchoolD− · 18% proficient
- Northlake Middle SchoolD− · 17% proficient
Top high schools
- York Comm High SchoolB+ · 54% proficient
- Proviso Math And Science AcademyB− · 45% proficient
- West Leyden High SchoolD− · 12% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Northlake school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Northlake 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 Northlake against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Northlake
Is Northlake a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Northlake ranks 35,988th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on transit, big-city access, and cell coverage, and lowest on the weather and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Northlake expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $245,633. The overall cost of living runs about 2% below the national average. Set against a $78,423 median income, cost of living beats 40% of towns.
Is Northlake safe?
Northlake is safer than 20% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $342 per resident a year.
Compare Northlake with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Northlake. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Northlake 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.
Northlake detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Northlake: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Northlake: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Northlake: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Northlake: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Northlake 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.