Best PlacesTower Lakes, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Tower Lakes, 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.
Tower Lakes ranks 1,596th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on what local pay buys by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Tower Lakes
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.
Tower Lakes' strengths and weaknesses
Where Tower Lakes ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 99% of towns
- Household income$187,656 median, better than 99% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 99% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 98% of towns
Where Tower Lakes ranks low
- Low property taxBetter 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$1,267 a month, better than only 12% of towns
- Short commute35.4 minutes each way, better than only 13% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Tower Lakes
A household needs to earn about $176,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Tower Lakes home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $187,656, 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 Tower Lakes' effective rate of 2.05%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Tower Lakes
Tower Lakes runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Tower Lakes.
Who works in Tower Lakes, and how
Work in Tower Lakes centers on manufacturing and professional & technical. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 66%
- Work from home 24%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Tower Lakes
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Tower Lakes.
What the weather is like in Tower Lakes, month by month
Tower Lakes sees roughly 89 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 Tower Lakes
Chicago O'Hare International sits about 22 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 Tower Lakes
Schools across Tower Lakes average a B, better than 70% of towns.
Top middle schools
- Barrington Middle Sch StationC+ · 38% proficient
- Barrington Mdle Sch- Prairie CmpsC · 35% 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 Tower Lakes school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Tower Lakes 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 Tower Lakes against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Tower Lakes
Is Tower Lakes a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Tower Lakes ranks 1,596th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on what local pay buys, high incomes, and an educated workforce, 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 Tower Lakes expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $575,369. The overall cost of living runs about 8% above the national average. Set against a $187,656 median income, cost of living beats 100% of towns.
Is Tower Lakes safe?
Yes, Tower Lakes is safer than 76% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $176 per resident a year.
Compare Tower Lakes with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Tower Lakes. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Tower Lakes 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.
Tower Lakes detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Tower Lakes: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Tower Lakes: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Tower Lakes: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Tower Lakes: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Tower Lakes 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.