Best PlacesWinthrop Harbor, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Winthrop Harbor, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Winthrop Harbor ranks 23,944th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on big-city access by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Winthrop Harbor
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.
Winthrop Harbor's strengths and weaknesses
Where Winthrop Harbor ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 95% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 93% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 92% of towns
- BikingBetter than 91% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 90% of towns
Where Winthrop Harbor ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- School gradeD−, better than only 3% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Winthrop Harbor
A household needs to earn about $82,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Winthrop Harbor home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $83,807, 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 Winthrop Harbor's effective rate of 2.76%, 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 Winthrop Harbor
Winthrop Harbor runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Winthrop Harbor.
Who works in Winthrop Harbor, and how
Work in Winthrop Harbor centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Winthrop Harbor
Winthrop Harbor has more restaurants and bars per resident than 93% of towns and more parkland per resident than 99% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Winthrop Harbor and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Winthrop Harbor, month by month
Winthrop Harbor sees roughly 93 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 32, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 32° | 25° | 19° |
| April | 56° | 46° | 37° |
| July | 83° | 73° | 65° |
| October | 63° | 54° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Winthrop Harbor
General Mitchell International sits about 32 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 2.9 million passengers in 2025, with 66 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Winthrop Harbor
Schools across Winthrop Harbor average a D−, better than 3% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Westfield SchoolD+ · 23% proficient
- Newport Elem SchoolF · 8% proficient
- Kenneth Murphy SchoolF · 3% proficient
Top middle schools
- North Prairie Jr HighD− · 15% proficient
- Beach Park Middle SchoolF · 12% proficient
- Zion Central Middle SchoolF · 6% proficient
Top high schools
- Zion-benton Twnshp Hi SchD− · 13% proficient
- New Tech High - Zion-benton EastF · 8% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Winthrop Harbor school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Winthrop Harbor 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 Winthrop Harbor against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Winthrop Harbor
Is Winthrop Harbor a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Winthrop Harbor ranks 23,944th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, cell coverage, and low disaster risk, and lowest on property taxes and the schools. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Winthrop Harbor expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $246,104. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $83,807 median income, cost of living beats 66% of towns.
Is Winthrop Harbor safe?
Yes, Winthrop Harbor is safer than 58% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $233 per resident a year.
Compare Winthrop Harbor with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Winthrop Harbor. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Winthrop Harbor 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.
Winthrop Harbor detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Winthrop Harbor: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Winthrop Harbor: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Winthrop Harbor: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Winthrop Harbor: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Winthrop Harbor 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.