Best PlacesPistakee Highlands, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Pistakee Highlands, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Pistakee Highlands ranks 12,277th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Pistakee Highlands
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.
Pistakee Highlands' strengths and weaknesses
Where Pistakee Highlands ranks high
- TransitBetter than 98% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 95% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 93% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 90% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 90% of towns
Where Pistakee Highlands ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,371 a month, better than only 7% of towns
- Short commute35.6 minutes each way, better than only 12% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Pistakee Highlands
A household needs to earn about $68,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Pistakee Highlands home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $101,758, 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 Pistakee Highlands' effective rate of 2.19%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Pistakee Highlands
Pistakee Highlands runs older than the country, though fewer residents are over 65 than the national share.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Pistakee Highlands.
Who works in Pistakee Highlands, and how
Work in Pistakee Highlands centers on manufacturing and construction. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Pistakee Highlands
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Pistakee Highlands.
What the weather is like in Pistakee Highlands, month by month
Pistakee Highlands sees roughly 94 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 32, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 32° | 25° | 19° |
| April | 56° | 46° | 37° |
| July | 83° | 73° | 65° |
| October | 63° | 54° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Pistakee Highlands
Chicago O'Hare International sits about 34 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 Pistakee Highlands
Schools across Pistakee Highlands average a C, better than 34% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Landmark Elem SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Johnsburg Jr High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Mchenry Middle SchoolD · 23% proficient
Top high schools
- Johnsburg High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Pistakee Highlands school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Pistakee Highlands 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 Pistakee Highlands against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Pistakee Highlands
Is Pistakee Highlands a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Pistakee Highlands ranks 12,277th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on transit, big-city access, and cell coverage, 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 Pistakee Highlands expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $219,892. The overall cost of living runs about 5% below the national average. Set against a $101,758 median income, cost of living beats 84% of towns.
Is Pistakee Highlands safe?
Yes, Pistakee Highlands is safer than 72% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $184 per resident a year.
Compare Pistakee Highlands with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Pistakee Highlands. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Pistakee Highlands 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.
Pistakee Highlands detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Pistakee Highlands: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Pistakee Highlands: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Pistakee Highlands: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Pistakee Highlands: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Pistakee Highlands 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.