Best PlacesPrinters Row, Chicago, IL Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood in and around Printers Row, Chicago, 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.

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Printers Row, Chicago ranks 807th of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on population health by a wide margin, and state finances rank lowest.

#807
of 5,983 neighborhoods
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 5,983 neighborhoods
Your rank
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The best neighborhoods in Printers Row, Chicago

Map of the best neighborhoods in the Printers Row, Chicago area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
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Popular priorities:

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.

Printers Row, Chicago's strengths and weaknesses

Top 1%Population health
Top 1%Transit
Top 3%Walkability
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare Printers Row, Chicago with other neighborhoods.

Where Printers Row, Chicago ranks high

  • Health outlookBetter than 99% of neighborhoods
  • TransitBetter than 99% of neighborhoods
  • WalkabilityBetter than 98% of neighborhoods
  • Educational attainmentBetter than 95% of neighborhoods
  • BikingBetter than 93% of neighborhoods

Where Printers Row, Chicago ranks low

  • State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of neighborhoods
  • Tree shadeBetter than only 6% of neighborhoods
  • QuietBetter than only 8% of neighborhoods
  • Low property taxBetter than only 9% of neighborhoods
  • Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 10% of neighborhoods

What it costs to buy a home in Printers Row, Chicago

A household needs to earn about $127,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Printers Row, Chicago home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $125,006; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.

Income to buy the median home
$127,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$2,973
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $433,589 home
Median rent
$2,444
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$2,211
Property tax$618
Homeowners insurance$145

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 Printers Row, Chicago's effective rate of 1.71%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in Printers Row, Chicago

Printers Row, Chicago runs younger than the country, and households here run smaller than average.

Median age
31
younger than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
9%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
1.6
below the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 189%
18 to 3446%
35 to 4923%
50 to 6412%
65 and older9%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Printers Row, Chicago.


Who works in Printers Row, Chicago, and how

Work in Printers Row, Chicago centers on professional & technical and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.

Work from home
33%
above the national average
Unemployment
4.3%
about the national average
Job growth
+3.1%
/y 2019-2023, faster than the national pace

Largest industries

Professional & technical24%
Education13%
Health care & social11%
Finance & insurance11%
Hospitality & food8%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 24%
  • Work from home 33%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 44%

Life in Printers Row, Chicago

Printers Row, Chicago has more restaurants and bars per resident than 88% of neighborhoods and more late-night spots per resident than 73% of neighborhoods. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Printers Row, Chicago and thins out in others, which the map shows.

Places to eat and drink
364
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 172.2 per 10,000 residents, more than 88% of neighborhoods
Coffee shops
58
about 27.4 per 10,000 residents, more than 91% of neighborhoods
Open past 10pm
~59
food and drink venues open late, about 27.9 per 10,000 residents, more than 73% of neighborhoods
Living on campus
2,642
students living in college or university housing

What the weather is like in Printers Row, Chicago, month by month

Printers Row, Chicago 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.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January34°28°22°
April61°50°43°
July86°77°70°
October66°57°49°

Flying in and out of Printers Row, Chicago

Chicago Midway International sits about 9 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 9.4 million passengers in 2025, with 113 nonstop destinations.

Nearest airport
MDW
Chicago Midway International, about 9 miles
Airport size
Large hub
31st-busiest in the US, 113 nonstop destinations
Average drive
12 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around Printers Row, Chicago

Schools across Printers Row, Chicago average a C+, better than 49% of neighborhoods.

Top elementary schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Printers Row, Chicago school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


Printers Row, Chicago 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 Printers Row, Chicago against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.


Who Printers Row, Chicago suits

Families

Schools land around the 49th percentile.

See the families priority ↑

Remote workers

Cost of living against local pay beats 86% of neighborhoods and 33% already work from home.

See the remote-work priority ↑

Retirees

Health care access beats 68%.

See the retirees priority ↑


Common questions about living in Printers Row, Chicago

Is Printers Row, Chicago a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Printers Row, Chicago ranks 807th of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on population health, transit, and walkability, and lowest on state finances and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is Printers Row, Chicago expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $433,589. The overall cost of living runs about 11% above the national average. Set against a $125,006 median income, cost of living beats 86% of neighborhoods.

Is Printers Row, Chicago safe?

Printers Row, Chicago is safer than 13% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $685 per resident a year.

What is the weather like in Printers Row, Chicago?

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 34% of neighborhoods.

Is Printers Row, Chicago good for families?

Schools beat 49% of neighborhoods, crime safety beats 13%, and childcare runs $1,105 a month.


Compare Printers Row, Chicago with other neighborhoods


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Printers Row, Chicago. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Printers Row, Chicago 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.

Printers Row, Chicago detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for Printers Row, Chicago: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in Printers Row, Chicago: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of Printers Row, Chicago: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in Printers Row, Chicago: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

Printers Row, Chicago detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. 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.
  2. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  3. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  4. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  5. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  6. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  7. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  8. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  9. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  10. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  11. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  12. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.