Best PlacesThird Lake, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Third Lake, 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.
Third Lake ranks 3,448th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on population health by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Third Lake
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.
Third Lake's strengths and weaknesses
Where Third Lake ranks high
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of towns
- TransitBetter than 99% of towns
- BikingBetter than 98% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 98% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 97% of towns
Where Third Lake ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,267 a month, better than only 12% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Third Lake
A household needs to earn about $111,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Third Lake home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $135,050, 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 Third Lake's effective rate of 2.80%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Third Lake
Third Lake'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 Third Lake.
Who works in Third Lake, and how
Work in Third Lake centers on manufacturing and education. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Third Lake
Third Lake has more restaurants and bars per resident than 95% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Third Lake and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Third Lake, month by month
Third Lake sees roughly 94 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 32, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 32° | 25° | 19° |
| April | 56° | 46° | 37° |
| July | 83° | 73° | 65° |
| October | 63° | 54° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Third Lake
Chicago O'Hare International sits about 28 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 Third Lake
Schools across Third Lake average a C, better than 30% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Woodland Intermediate SchD+ · 25% proficient
- Woodland ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
- Hillcrest Elementary SchoolD+ · 23% proficient
Top middle schools
- Antioch Upper Grade SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Frederick SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Peter J Palombi SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Lakes Community High SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Grayslake North High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
- Warren Township High SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Third Lake school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Third Lake 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 Third Lake against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Third Lake
Is Third Lake a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Third Lake ranks 3,448th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on population health, transit, and biking, 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 Third Lake expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $333,760. The overall cost of living runs about 5% below the national average. Set against a $135,050 median income, cost of living beats 97% of towns.
Is Third Lake safe?
Yes, Third Lake is safer than 74% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $178 per resident a year.
Compare Third Lake with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Third Lake. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Third Lake 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.
Third Lake detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Third Lake: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Third Lake: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Third Lake: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Third Lake: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Third Lake 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.