Best PlacesWillow Springs, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Willow Springs, 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.
Willow Springs ranks 10,549th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on big-city access by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Willow Springs
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.
Willow Springs' strengths and weaknesses
Where Willow Springs ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 98% of towns
- TransitBetter than 97% of towns
- BikingBetter than 96% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 96% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 94% of towns
Where Willow Springs ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Willow Springs
A household needs to earn about $118,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Willow Springs home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $111,294; 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 Willow Springs' effective rate of 1.63%, 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 Willow Springs
Willow Springs runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Willow Springs.
Who works in Willow Springs, and how
Work in Willow Springs centers on health care & social and construction. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Willow Springs
Willow Springs has more restaurants and bars per resident than 76% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Willow Springs and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Willow Springs, month by month
Willow Springs 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 Willow Springs
Chicago Midway International sits about 8 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 Willow Springs
Schools across Willow Springs average a C+, better than 50% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Pleasantdale Elementary SchoolA · 63% proficient
- River Valley SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Hodgkins Elem SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- H H Conrady Jr High SchoolA− · 55% proficient
- Pleasantdale Middle SchA− · 54% proficient
- Old Quarry Middle SchB · 46% proficient
Top high schools
- Lyons Twp High SchB+ · 51% proficient
- Lemont Twp High SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Hinsdale South High SchoolB− · 45% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Willow Springs school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Willow Springs 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 Willow Springs against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Willow Springs
Is Willow Springs a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Willow Springs ranks 10,549th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, transit, and biking, and lowest on 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 Willow Springs expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $405,079. The overall cost of living runs about 3% above the national average. Set against a $111,294 median income, cost of living beats 86% of towns.
Is Willow Springs safe?
Willow Springs is safer than 26% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $305 per resident a year.
Compare Willow Springs with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Willow Springs. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Willow Springs 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.
Willow Springs detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Willow Springs: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Willow Springs: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Willow Springs: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Willow Springs: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Willow Springs 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.