Best PlacesProspect Heights, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Prospect Heights, 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.
Prospect Heights ranks 14,346th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Prospect Heights
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.
Prospect Heights' strengths and weaknesses
Where Prospect Heights ranks high
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
- TransitBetter than 98% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 98% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 98% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 97% of towns
Where Prospect Heights ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- School gradeD, better than only 7% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Prospect Heights
A household needs to earn about $90,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Prospect Heights home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $89,288; 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 Prospect Heights' effective rate of 1.94%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Prospect Heights
Prospect Heights runs older than the country, 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 Prospect Heights.
Who works in Prospect Heights, and how
Work in Prospect Heights centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Prospect Heights
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Prospect Heights.
What the weather is like in Prospect Heights, month by month
Prospect Heights sees roughly 86 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 27° | 21° |
| April | 60° | 49° | 40° |
| July | 85° | 75° | 67° |
| October | 65° | 55° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Prospect Heights
Chicago O'Hare International sits about 9 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 Prospect Heights
Schools across Prospect Heights average a D, better than 7% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Olive-mary Stitt SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Ivy Hill Elem SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Henry Winkelman Elem SchoolB− · 44% proficient
Top middle schools
- Field SchoolA · 59% proficient
- Thomas Middle SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- River Trails Middle SchoolB− · 42% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Prospect Heights school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Prospect Heights 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 Prospect Heights against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Prospect Heights
Is Prospect Heights a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Prospect Heights ranks 14,346th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on biking, transit, and big-city access, and lowest on taxes and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Prospect Heights expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $297,759. The overall cost of living runs about 3% below the national average. Set against a $89,288 median income, cost of living beats 69% of towns.
Is Prospect Heights safe?
Prospect Heights is safer than 36% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $269 per resident a year.
Compare Prospect Heights with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Prospect Heights. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Prospect Heights 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.
Prospect Heights detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Prospect Heights: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Prospect Heights: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Prospect Heights: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Prospect Heights: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Prospect Heights 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.