Best PlacesPark Ridge, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Park Ridge, 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.
Park Ridge ranks 415th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and the weather ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Park Ridge
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.
Park Ridge's strengths and weaknesses
Where Park Ridge ranks high
- TransitBetter than 95% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 94% of cities
- Household income$159,136 median, better than 94% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than 92% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than 90% of cities
Where Park Ridge ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 53 pleasant days a year, better than only 1% of cities
- QuietBetter than only 5% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 5% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 6% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 8% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Park Ridge
A household needs to earn about $170,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Park Ridge home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $159,136; 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 Park Ridge's effective rate of 1.99%, 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 Park Ridge
Park Ridge runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Park Ridge.
Who works in Park Ridge, and how
Work in Park Ridge centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 64%
- Work from home 24%
- Transit, walk, or bike 12%
Life in Park Ridge
Park Ridge has more restaurants and bars per resident than 67% of cities and more parkland per resident than 88% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Park Ridge and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Park Ridge, month by month
Park Ridge sees roughly 53 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 Park Ridge
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 Park Ridge
Schools across Park Ridge average a C+, better than 40% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- George B Carpenter Elem SchoolA− · 62% proficient
- Stem Magnet Academy ElemB+ · 53% proficient
- Iroquois Community SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lincoln Middle SchoolB+ · 50% proficient
- Emerson Middle SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Chippewa Middle SchoolC · 33% proficient
Top high schools
- Maine South High SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Maine East High SchoolC− · 29% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Park Ridge school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Park Ridge 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 Park Ridge against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Park Ridge suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 94% of cities, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 24% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Park Ridge
Is Park Ridge a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Park Ridge ranks 415th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on transit, what local pay buys, and high incomes, and lowest on the weather and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Park Ridge expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $559,051. The overall cost of living runs about 9% above the national average. Set against a $159,136 median income, cost of living beats 94% of cities.
Is Park Ridge safe?
Park Ridge is safer than 37% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $265 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Park Ridge?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 35 with lows near 19. That works out to about 53 pleasant days a year, more than 1% of cities.
Is Park Ridge good for families?
Schools beat 40% of cities, crime safety beats 37%, and childcare runs $1,105 a month.
Compare Park Ridge with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Park Ridge. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Park Ridge 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.
Park Ridge detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Park Ridge: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Park Ridge: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Park Ridge: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Park Ridge: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Park Ridge 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.