Best PlacesOak Park, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Oak Park, 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.
Oak Park ranks 222nd of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Oak Park
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 Park's strengths and weaknesses
Where Oak Park ranks high
- BikingBetter than 99% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of cities
- TransitBetter than 99% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than 95% of cities
Where Oak Park ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 1% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 5% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 6% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than only 8% of cities
- QuietBetter than only 16% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Oak Park
A household needs to earn about $146,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Oak Park home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $129,444, 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 Oak Park's effective rate of 2.51%, 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 Oak Park
Oak Park's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Oak Park.
Who works in Oak Park, and how
Work in Oak Park centers on professional & technical and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 48%
- Work from home 31%
- Transit, walk, or bike 21%
Life in Oak Park
Oak Park has more restaurants and bars per resident than 72% of cities and more parkland per resident than 78% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Oak Park and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Oak Park, month by month
Oak Park sees roughly 73 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 Park
Chicago Midway International sits about 7 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 Park
Schools across Oak Park average a B, better than 63% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Horace Mann Elem SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Longfellow Elem SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- William Beye Elem SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Percy Julian Middle SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Gwendolyn Brooks Middle SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Top high schools
- Oak Park & River Forest High SchB+ · 57% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Oak Park school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Oak Park 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 Park against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Oak Park suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 86% of cities, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 31% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Oak Park
Is Oak Park a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Oak Park ranks 222nd of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on biking, walkability, and transit, and lowest on property taxes and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Oak Park expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $453,714. The overall cost of living runs about 3% above the national average. Set against a $129,444 median income, cost of living beats 86% of cities.
Is Oak Park safe?
Oak Park is safer than 8% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $399 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Oak Park?
July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 34 with lows near 22. That works out to about 73 pleasant days a year, more than 33% of cities.
Is Oak Park good for families?
Schools beat 63% of cities, crime safety beats 8%, and childcare runs $1,105 a month.
Compare Oak Park with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Oak Park. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Oak Park 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 Park detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Oak Park: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Oak Park: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Oak Park: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Oak Park: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Oak Park 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.