Best PlacesSkokie, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Skokie, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Skokie ranks 740th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Skokie
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.
Skokie's strengths and weaknesses
Where Skokie ranks high
- BikingBetter than 99% of cities
- TransitBetter than 98% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 97% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than 94% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 89% of cities
Where Skokie ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 5% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 6% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 9% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than only 14% of cities
- QuietBetter than only 19% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Skokie
A household needs to earn about $111,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Skokie home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $107,485; 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 Skokie's effective rate of 1.95%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Skokie
Skokie runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Skokie.
Who works in Skokie, and how
Work in Skokie centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 71%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Skokie
Skokie has more restaurants and bars per resident than 77% of cities and more parkland per resident than 91% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Skokie and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Skokie, month by month
Skokie sees roughly 78 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 Skokie
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 Skokie
Schools across Skokie average a C, better than 27% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Fairview South Elementary SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Park View Elem SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Walker Elem SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Oliver Mccracken Middle SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Old Orchard Jr High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Lincoln Jr High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- Evanston Twp High SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Niles West High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
- Niles North High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Skokie school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Skokie 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 Skokie against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Skokie suits
Common questions about living in Skokie
Is Skokie a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Skokie ranks 740th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on biking, transit, and walkability, and lowest on taxes and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Skokie expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $368,151. The overall cost of living runs about 5% above the national average. Set against a $107,485 median income, cost of living beats 59% of cities.
Is Skokie safe?
Skokie is safer than 14% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $356 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Skokie?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 34 with lows near 21. That works out to about 78 pleasant days a year, more than 41% of cities.
Is Skokie good for families?
Schools beat 27% of cities, crime safety beats 14%, and childcare runs $1,105 a month.
Compare Skokie with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Skokie. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Skokie 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.
Skokie detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Skokie: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Skokie: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Skokie: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Skokie: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Skokie 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.