Best PlacesWinnetka, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Winnetka, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Winnetka ranks 1,449th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Winnetka
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.
Winnetka's strengths and weaknesses
Where Winnetka ranks high
- BikingBetter than 99% of cities
- TransitBetter than 95% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 238 pleasant days a year, better than 94% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 92% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 92% of cities
Where Winnetka ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 3% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than only 6% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than only 9% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 10% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 10% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Winnetka
A household needs to earn about $198,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Winnetka home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $99,952, 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 Winnetka's effective rate of 0.70%, 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 Winnetka
Winnetka'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 Winnetka.
Who works in Winnetka, and how
Work in Winnetka centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Winnetka
The coast is about 19 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Winnetka, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Winnetka, month by month
Winnetka sees roughly 238 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 95 degrees. January highs sit near 70, with lows near 46. The comfortable stretch runs October through June.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 70° | 57° | 46° |
| April | 79° | 64° | 52° |
| July | 95° | 78° | 65° |
| October | 88° | 71° | 58° |
Flying in and out of Winnetka
Bob Hope sits about 12 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 3.1 million passengers in 2025, with 54 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Winnetka
Schools across Winnetka average a C, better than 29% of cities.
Top high schools
- Early College Academy-la Trade Tech CollegeB · 50% proficient
- Valley Academy Of Arts And SciencesC+ · 35% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Winnetka school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Winnetka 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 Winnetka against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Winnetka suits
Common questions about living in Winnetka
Is Winnetka a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Winnetka ranks 1,449th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on biking, transit, and the weather, and lowest on air quality and summer heat. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Winnetka expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $767,354. The overall cost of living runs about 34% above the national average. Set against a $99,952 median income, cost of living beats 14% of cities.
Is Winnetka safe?
Winnetka is safer than 33% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $368 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Winnetka?
July highs average about 95 degrees, and January highs near 70 with lows near 46. That works out to about 238 pleasant days a year, more than 94% of cities.
Is Winnetka good for families?
Schools beat 29% of cities, crime safety beats 33%, and childcare runs $1,130 a month.
Compare Winnetka with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Winnetka. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Winnetka 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.
Winnetka detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Winnetka: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Winnetka: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Winnetka: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Winnetka: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Winnetka 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.