Best PlacesWheeling, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Wheeling, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Wheeling ranks 1,393rd of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. The schools pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on biking.
The best neighborhoods in Wheeling
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.
Wheeling's strengths and weaknesses
Where Wheeling ranks high
- BikingBetter than 87% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 83% of cities
- TransitBetter than 79% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than 78% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than 75% of cities
Where Wheeling ranks low
- School gradeD, better than only 3% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 5% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 5% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 6% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 15% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Wheeling
A household needs to earn about $94,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wheeling home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $89,484; 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 Wheeling's effective rate of 2.16%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Wheeling
Wheeling'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 Wheeling.
Who works in Wheeling, and how
Work in Wheeling centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Wheeling
Wheeling has more restaurants and bars per resident than 74% of cities and more parkland per resident than 86% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Wheeling and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Wheeling, month by month
Wheeling sees roughly 86 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 Wheeling
Chicago O'Hare International sits about 11 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 Wheeling
Schools across Wheeling average a D, better than 3% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Henry Winkelman Elem SchoolB− · 44% proficient
- Betsy Ross Elem SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Booth Tarkington Elem SchoolD+ · 23% proficient
Top middle schools
- Aptakisic Junior High SchoolA · 60% proficient
- Field SchoolA · 59% proficient
- Macarthur Middle SchoolB− · 42% proficient
Top high schools
- Adlai E Stevenson High SchoolA · 73% proficient
- Wheeling High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wheeling school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wheeling 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 Wheeling against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Wheeling suits
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Wheeling
Is Wheeling a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wheeling ranks 1,393rd of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on biking, big-city access, and transit, and lowest on the schools and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Wheeling expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $304,578. The overall cost of living runs about 2% below the national average. Set against a $89,484 median income, cost of living beats 49% of cities.
Is Wheeling safe?
Wheeling is safer than 30% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $286 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Wheeling?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 34 with lows near 21. That works out to about 86 pleasant days a year, more than 50% of cities.
Is Wheeling good for families?
Schools beat 3% of cities, crime safety beats 30%, and childcare runs $1,105 a month.
Compare Wheeling with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wheeling. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wheeling 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.
Wheeling detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wheeling: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wheeling: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wheeling: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wheeling: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wheeling 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.