Best PlacesOak Lawn, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Oak Lawn, 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.
Oak Lawn ranks 1,349th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cell coverage by a wide margin, and the schools rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Oak Lawn
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.
Oak Lawn's strengths and weaknesses
Where Oak Lawn ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 92% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 89% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 88% of cities
- TransitBetter than 86% of cities
- BikingBetter than 84% of cities
Where Oak Lawn ranks low
- School gradeD, better than only 4% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 5% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 5% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 6% of cities
- Short commute30.8 minutes each way, better than only 20% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Oak Lawn
A household needs to earn about $85,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Oak Lawn home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $94,648, 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 Oak Lawn's effective rate of 2.14%, 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 Oak Lawn
Oak Lawn'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 Oak Lawn.
Who works in Oak Lawn, and how
Work in Oak Lawn centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Oak Lawn
Oak Lawn has more restaurants and bars per resident than 74% of cities and more parkland per resident than 82% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Oak Lawn and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Oak Lawn, month by month
Oak Lawn 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 Oak Lawn
Chicago Midway International sits about 5 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 Oak Lawn
Schools across Oak Lawn average a D, better than 4% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Stem Magnet Academy ElemB+ · 53% proficient
- Kolmar Avenue Elem SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Columbus Manor Elem SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Prairie Jr High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Oak Lawn-hometown Middle SchD · 21% proficient
- Hamlin Upper Grade CenterD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Oak Lawn Comm High SchoolD · 22% proficient
- H L Richards High Sch(campus)D · 19% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Oak Lawn school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Oak Lawn 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 Oak Lawn against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Oak Lawn suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 11% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Oak Lawn
Is Oak Lawn a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Oak Lawn ranks 1,349th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on cell coverage, walkability, and big-city access, and lowest on the schools and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Oak Lawn expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $274,959. The overall cost of living runs about 5% below the national average. Set against a $94,648 median income, cost of living beats 57% of cities.
Is Oak Lawn safe?
Oak Lawn is safer than 22% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $312 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Oak Lawn?
July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 34 with lows near 22. That works out to about 76 pleasant days a year, more than 38% of cities.
Is Oak Lawn good for families?
Schools beat 4% of cities, crime safety beats 22%, and childcare runs $1,105 a month.
Compare Oak Lawn with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Oak Lawn. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Oak Lawn 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.
Oak Lawn detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Oak Lawn: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Oak Lawn: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Oak Lawn: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Oak Lawn: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Oak Lawn 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.