Best PlacesSouth Barrington, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around South Barrington, 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.
South Barrington ranks 1,010th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on what local pay buys by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in South Barrington
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.
South Barrington's strengths and weaknesses
Where South Barrington ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 99% of towns
- Household income$224,318 median, better than 99% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 97% of towns
Where South Barrington ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 5% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 13% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in South Barrington
A household needs to earn about $259,000 a year to comfortably buy the median South Barrington home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $224,318, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 South Barrington's effective rate of 1.82%, 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 South Barrington
South Barrington runs older than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for South Barrington.
Who works in South Barrington, and how
Work in South Barrington centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 72%
- Work from home 23%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in South Barrington
South Barrington has more parkland per resident than 97% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of South Barrington and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in South Barrington, month by month
South Barrington sees roughly 96 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 South Barrington
Chicago O'Hare International sits about 15 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 South Barrington
Schools across South Barrington average a B, better than 67% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Barbara B Rose Elem SchoolA · 67% proficient
- Thomas Jefferson Elem SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Parkview Elementary SchoolD− · 11% proficient
Top middle schools
- Barrington Middle Sch StationC+ · 38% proficient
- Barrington Mdle Sch- Prairie CmpsC · 35% proficient
- Carl Sandburg Jr High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Barrington High SchoolA− · 60% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every South Barrington school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
South Barrington 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 South Barrington against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in South Barrington
Is South Barrington a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, South Barrington ranks 1,010th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on what local pay buys, high incomes, and an educated workforce, 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 South Barrington expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $871,109. The overall cost of living runs about 10% above the national average. Set against a $224,318 median income, cost of living beats 100% of towns.
Is South Barrington safe?
South Barrington is safer than 48% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $237 per resident a year.
Compare South Barrington with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to South Barrington. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in South Barrington 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.
South Barrington detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for South Barrington: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in South Barrington: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of South Barrington: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in South Barrington: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
South Barrington 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.