Best PlacesWilmette, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Wilmette, 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.
Wilmette ranks 86th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on an educated workforce by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Wilmette
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.
Wilmette's strengths and weaknesses
Where Wilmette ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of cities
- Household income$195,639 median, better than 99% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 98% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than 97% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than 96% of cities
Where Wilmette ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 5% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 6% of cities
- Short commute34.5 minutes each way, better than only 7% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than only 8% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 13% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Wilmette
A household needs to earn about $257,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wilmette home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $195,639, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Wilmette's effective rate of 1.75%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Wilmette
Wilmette runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Wilmette.
Who works in Wilmette, and how
Work in Wilmette centers on professional & technical and finance & insurance. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 44%
- Work from home 36%
- Transit, walk, or bike 19%
Life in Wilmette
Wilmette has more parkland per resident than 89% of cities. That concentrates in some parts of Wilmette and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Wilmette, month by month
Wilmette 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 Wilmette
Chicago O'Hare International sits about 12 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 Wilmette
Schools across Wilmette average an A, better than 90% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Harper Elem SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Central Elem SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Romona Elem SchoolA− · 58% proficient
Top middle schools
- Marie Murphy SchoolA · 64% proficient
- Wilmette Junior High SchoolA · 60% proficient
- Highcrest Middle SchoolA− · 58% proficient
Top high schools
- New Trier Township H S WinnetkaA · 78% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wilmette school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wilmette 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 Wilmette against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Wilmette suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 98% of cities, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 36% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Wilmette
Is Wilmette a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wilmette ranks 86th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on an educated workforce, high incomes, and what local pay buys, 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 Wilmette expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $871,616. The overall cost of living runs about 22% above the national average. Set against a $195,639 median income, cost of living beats 98% of cities.
Is Wilmette safe?
Wilmette is safer than 8% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $396 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Wilmette?
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 Wilmette good for families?
Schools beat 90% of cities, crime safety beats 8%, and childcare runs $1,105 a month.
Compare Wilmette with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wilmette. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wilmette 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.
Wilmette detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wilmette: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wilmette: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wilmette: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wilmette: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wilmette 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.