Best PlacesSummit, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Summit, 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.
Summit ranks 40,264th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and civic engagement ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Summit
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.
Summit's strengths and weaknesses
Where Summit ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of towns
- TransitBetter than 99% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 99% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of towns
- BikingBetter than 98% of towns
Where Summit ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 1% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 2% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 2% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 2% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 2% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Summit
A household needs to earn about $75,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Summit home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $59,647, 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 Summit's effective rate of 2.06%, 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 Summit
Summit's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Summit.
Who works in Summit, and how
Work in Summit centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 13%
Life in Summit
Summit has more restaurants and bars per resident than 84% of towns and more parkland per resident than 92% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Summit and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Summit, month by month
Summit sees roughly 76 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 28° | 22° |
| April | 61° | 50° | 43° |
| July | 86° | 77° | 70° |
| October | 66° | 57° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Summit
Chicago Midway International sits about 3 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 Summit
Schools across Summit average a D−, better than 6% of towns.
Top high schools
- Argo Community High SchoolD · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Summit school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Summit 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 Summit against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Summit
Is Summit a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Summit ranks 40,264th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, transit, and cell coverage, and lowest on civic engagement and education levels. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Summit expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $245,600. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $59,647 median income, cost of living beats 16% of towns.
Is Summit safe?
Summit is safer than 16% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $368 per resident a year.
Compare Summit with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Summit. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Summit 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.
Summit detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Summit: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Summit: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Summit: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Summit: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Summit 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.