Best PlacesWill County, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Will County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages hide a wide spread here, so the area matters as much as the address. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Will County ranks 479th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $119,543, everyday costs sit below the national average, and an educated workforce ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are property taxes, state finances, and taxes.
The best neighborhoods in Will County
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.
The best areas in Will County
The parts of Will County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Plainfield & Naperville
More adults hold degrees, incomes run higher, and local pay stretches further.
Homer Glen
More residents vote and crime runs lower.
Mokena & Frankfort Square
Schools score higher and health care is easier to reach.
Channahon, Wilmington & Braidwood
Biking is worse and fewer households have young kids.
New Lenox, Frankfort & Crete
Scores close to Channahon, Wilmington & Braidwood, except that commutes are longer here.
Shorewood
Scores close to New Lenox, Frankfort & Crete, except that prices have run up less here.
Bolingbrook, Romeoville & Lockport
Scores close to Shorewood, except that tree cover is thicker here.
Elwood
Health outcomes score lower and more homes sit empty.
Joliet
Transit reaches more jobs and streets are more walkable.
Will County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 1% of the country and others in the top 3%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Will County's strengths and weaknesses
Will County ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. Few empty homes is the standout, in the top 1% of counties. Big-city access and cell coverage follow.
The one real hole is property taxes, near the bottom of the country. State finances and taxes also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Will County ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 99% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 98% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 98% of counties
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 97% of counties
- Household income$119,543 median, better than 97% of counties
Where Will County ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 1% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 2% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,352 a month, better than only 5% of counties
- Short commute31.4 minutes each way, better than only 11% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Will County
A household needs to earn about $102,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Will County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $119,543, 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 Will County's effective rate of 2.12%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Will County
Will County'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 Will County.
Who works in Will County, and how
Work in Will County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Will County
Will County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and more parkland per resident than 83% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Will County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Will County growing, and who is moving in?
Will County has grown about 3% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Chicago, IL metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Will County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Will County, month by month
Will County sees roughly 71 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 32, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 32° | 26° | 20° |
| April | 60° | 49° | 40° |
| July | 84° | 75° | 66° |
| October | 65° | 54° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Will County
Chicago Midway International sits about 22 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 Will County
Schools across Will County average a C−, better than 24% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Chelsea Elem SchoolA · 66% proficient
- River Woods Elementary SchoolA− · 59% proficient
- V Blanche Graham ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- Hickory Creek Middle SchoolA+ · 77% proficient
- Scullen Middle SchoolA− · 57% proficient
- Gordon Gregory Middle SchoolA− · 54% proficient
Top high schools
- Neuqua Valley High SchoolA− · 66% proficient
- Naperville Central High SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Waubonsie Valley High SchoolB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Will County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Will County 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 Will County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Will County suits
Families
Schools land around the 24th percentile and crime safety beats 66%.
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 97% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 15% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Will County
Is Will County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Will County ranks 479th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on few empty homes, big-city access, and cell coverage, and lowest on property 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 Will County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $332,006. The overall cost of living runs about 3% below the national average. Set against a $119,543 median income, cost of living beats 97% of counties.
Is Will County safe?
Yes, Will County is safer than 66% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $245 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Will County?
July highs average about 84 degrees, and January highs near 32 with lows near 20. That works out to about 71 pleasant days a year, more than 22% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Will County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Plainfield & Naperville, Homer Glen, and Mokena & Frankfort Square. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Will County good for families?
Schools beat 24% of counties, crime safety beats 66%, and childcare runs $1,352 a month.
Is Will County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 97% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 72% of counties. About 15% of workers already work from home.
Compare Will County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Will County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Will County 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.
Will County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Will County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Will County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Will County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Will County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Will County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.