Best PlacesRolling Meadows, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Rolling Meadows, 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.
Rolling Meadows ranks 10,627th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Rolling Meadows
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.
Rolling Meadows' strengths and weaknesses
Where Rolling Meadows ranks high
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 98% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 97% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 95% of towns
- TransitBetter than 94% of towns
Where Rolling Meadows ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 2% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 6% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,105 a month, better than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Rolling Meadows
A household needs to earn about $101,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rolling Meadows home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $105,458, 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 Rolling Meadows' effective rate of 2.11%, 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 Rolling Meadows
Rolling Meadows's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Rolling Meadows.
Who works in Rolling Meadows, and how
Work in Rolling Meadows centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Rolling Meadows
Rolling Meadows has more restaurants and bars per resident than 78% of towns and more parkland per resident than 89% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Rolling Meadows and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Rolling Meadows, month by month
Rolling Meadows sees roughly 87 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 Rolling Meadows
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 Rolling Meadows
Schools across Rolling Meadows average a D+, better than 16% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Pleasant Hill Elem SchoolB+ · 54% proficient
- Westgate Elem SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
- Fairview Elem SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
Top middle schools
- Margaret Mead JhsB+ · 51% proficient
- South Middle SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Plum Grove Jr High SchoolB · 45% proficient
Top high schools
- Rolling Meadows High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Rolling Meadows school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rolling Meadows 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 Rolling Meadows against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Rolling Meadows suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 83% of towns, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 16% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Rolling Meadows
Is Rolling Meadows a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rolling Meadows ranks 10,627th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on biking, big-city access, and population health, 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 Rolling Meadows expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $326,739. The overall cost of living runs about 1% below the national average. Set against a $105,458 median income, cost of living beats 83% of towns.
Is Rolling Meadows safe?
Rolling Meadows is safer than 34% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $280 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Rolling Meadows?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 34 with lows near 21. That works out to about 87 pleasant days a year, more than 57% of towns.
Is Rolling Meadows good for families?
Schools beat 16% of towns, crime safety beats 34%, and childcare runs $1,105 a month.
Compare Rolling Meadows with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rolling Meadows. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rolling Meadows 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.
Rolling Meadows detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rolling Meadows: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rolling Meadows: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rolling Meadows: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rolling Meadows: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rolling Meadows 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.