Best PlacesShorewood, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Shorewood, 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.
Shorewood ranks 8,005th 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 Shorewood
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.
Shorewood's strengths and weaknesses
Where Shorewood ranks high
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 97% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 96% of towns
- TransitBetter than 94% of towns
- Household income$123,218 median, better than 94% of towns
Where Shorewood ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 2% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 53 pleasant days a year, better than only 2% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,352 a month, better than only 7% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Shorewood
A household needs to earn about $107,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Shorewood home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $123,218, 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 Shorewood's effective rate of 2.15%, 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 Shorewood
Shorewood runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Shorewood.
Who works in Shorewood, and how
Work in Shorewood centers on retail trade and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Shorewood
Shorewood has more restaurants and bars per resident than 80% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Shorewood and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Shorewood, month by month
Shorewood sees roughly 53 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 27° | 21° |
| April | 63° | 51° | 41° |
| July | 86° | 76° | 66° |
| October | 66° | 55° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Shorewood
Chicago Midway International sits about 30 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 9.4 million passengers in 2025, with 113 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Shorewood
Schools across Shorewood average a C−, better than 23% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Walnut Trails Elem SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Troy Shorewood SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Troy Hofer Elem SchC · 33% proficient
Top middle schools
- Minooka Jr High SchoolC− · 29% proficient
- Orenic Intermediate SchoolD · 22% proficient
Top high schools
- Minooka Community High SchoolC · 32% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Shorewood school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Shorewood 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 Shorewood against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Shorewood suits
Families
Schools land around the 23rd percentile and crime safety beats 65%.
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 94% of towns, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 13% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Shorewood
Is Shorewood a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Shorewood ranks 8,005th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on biking, cell coverage, and big-city access, and lowest on property taxes and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Shorewood expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $346,911. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $123,218 median income, cost of living beats 94% of towns.
Is Shorewood safe?
Yes, Shorewood is safer than 65% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $218 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Shorewood?
July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 34 with lows near 21. That works out to about 53 pleasant days a year, more than 2% of towns.
Is Shorewood good for families?
Schools beat 23% of towns, crime safety beats 65%, and childcare runs $1,352 a month.
Compare Shorewood with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Shorewood. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Shorewood 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.
Shorewood detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Shorewood: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Shorewood: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Shorewood: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Shorewood: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Shorewood 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.