Northbrook, Illinois

Area Profile

34,585 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Northbrook, in Cook County.

66out of 100
Area Score
Top 30% of 2,943 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Data updated · 14 sources
Opportunity2,615th of 3,899 cities measured48
SchoolsTop 1% of 2,668 cities measured98
Growth2,272nd of 2,973 cities measured35
Housing affordabilityTop 42% of 4,147 cities measured86
Climate3,314th of 4,223 cities measured62
Physical resilienceTop 36% of 4,182 cities measured69
AccessTop 31% of 4,226 cities measured96
Economic stabilityTop 46% of 4,226 cities measured62
The quick read

Unemployment is 5.0% and median household income $157,782, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published city profiles.

Residential permitting has slowed: 43 units authorized over the past twelve months, 65% below the prior year.

A major airport is 11 miles away, giving the area unusually direct access to the national air network.

These sentences are written by fixed rules from the measurements below — a statement appears because a number crossed a stated threshold, and the values behind it are stored with it. No figure anywhere on this site is invented, estimated or inferred to fill a gap. How this works.

At a glance

Population
34,585
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$157,782
Top 4% nationally
Density
2,611/sq mi
13.2 sq mi of land
Median age
49.6
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Cook County
Illinois
Metro area
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN
Nearest major airport
ORD
11 mi · Chicago O'Hare Intl
Median home value
$652,300
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 5.0% is lower than 25% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment fell 3.1% over the past year, to 16,456 employed residents.

73% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 97% of measured US cities.

Household income is higher than at least 96% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$19,596$157,782Top 4%of 29,4632024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$7,322$87,173Top 3%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate4.3%Bottom 21%of 31,9002024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute29.5 minTop 36%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher72.6%Top 3%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Employment16,456Bottom 18%of 3,904June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-0.7%Bottom 38%of 3,903June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-3.1%Bottom 5%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force17,324Bottom 18%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force participation59.2%Bottom 45%of 31,9332024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$73,380Top 36%of 3,6582025 OEWS
Median annual wage$54,720Top 39%of 3,6582025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)0.8%Top 14%of 3,904June 2026
Unemployment rate5.0%Top 25%of 3,904June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/065.62.6
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 5.0% in June 2026. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.
Median household income, successive ACS releases
2021202220232024158k144k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $157,782 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.
Largest occupations — Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand157,920$40,550
General and Operations Managers122,930$109,390
Home Health and Personal Care Aides108,520$38,180
Registered Nurses100,240$100,490
Cashiers99,240$35,010
Fast Food and Counter Workers97,280$34,630

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

71% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 65% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 11.2 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
11
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
11.2
across all schools here
Math proficiency
70.7%
Top 1% in Illinois
Reading proficiency
64.7%
Top 2% in Illinois
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Glenbrook North High SchoolGlenbrook HSD 2252,11113.1
Northbrook Junior High SchoolNorthbrook SD 286218.562%57%
Meadowbrook Elem SchoolNorthbrook SD 2849712.178%69%
Wescott Elementary SchoolNorthbrook/Glenview SD 3046911.274%65%
Shabonee SchoolNorthbrook ESD 2746012.172%69%
Wood Oaks Jr High SchoolNorthbrook ESD 274559.972%67%
Maple SchoolNorthbrook/Glenview SD 3045110.777%72%
Hickory Point Elem SchoolNorthbrook ESD 2742511.8
Westmoor Elem SchoolNorthbrook SD 2835810.276%63%
Greenbriar Elem SchoolNorthbrook SD 283529.568%63%
Field SchoolWest Northfield SD 313339.857%57%

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Illinois’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Prices for everything a household buys run about 2% above the national average, on the Bureau of Economic Analysis index. Housing drives most of that difference.

A new two-bedroom lease runs about $2,370, close to the $2,463 tenants already here pay.

Median rent of $2,463 takes 19% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 4.1 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Cost of living
102.5

Prices here run about 2% above the national average. The spread between places is driven mostly by housing — goods vary far less — and this excludes taxes.

Rent as a share of income
18.7%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
4.1×
median home value ÷ median income
Market rent, two bedroom
$2,370
what a new lease costs · FY2026
Median gross rent
$2,463
what tenants now pay · 2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$652,300
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Cost of living index102.5Top 47%of 3,6582023
Home price to income4.13Top 24%of 27,9722024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate87.2%Top 27%of 31,7172024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±53814,435Top 4%of 32,1772024 ACS 5-Year
Market rent, one bedroom$2,100Top 16%of 4,067FY2026
Market rent, three bedroom$3,051Top 19%of 4,067FY2026
Market rent, two bedroom$2,370Top 19%of 4,067FY2026
Median gross rent ±$303$2,463Top 4%of 23,3292024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$20,230$652,300Top 7%of 29,3422024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income18.7%Top 49%of 22,8042024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate7.8%Bottom 42%of 31,8722024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
35/ 100
Ranks 2,272 of 2,973 published city profiles
The most recent move in permitting was downward, in a series running from 2020 to 2025. That is the direction of the recent run, not a comparison of the two endpoints.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has fallen 2% since 2020, reaching 34,546 in 2024.

Permitting has turned downward after moving the other way the year before.

At 1.2 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
43
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
1.2
Bottom 36% nationally
Year over year
−65%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
39.5%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202435k34k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.
Housing units permitted per year
2020202120222023202420259718
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2020 (+111%).

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 84°F and January a low of 18°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 32.3 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 54, in the Moderate band, and about 11 days a year pass 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station CHICAGO PALWAUKEE AP, 3.6 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.0"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index84.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation32.3"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low18°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high84°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 100112024 calendar year
Median air quality index54.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing50°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
54
Moderate on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
84
90th percentile index
Days above 100
11
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today. Air quality is measured rather than modeled, by EPA monitors, and published by county only where a monitor sits — a little over half the counties AreaProfile publishes have one, and about a fifth of all US counties do, and the rest show nothing rather than an estimate. Air masses are regional, so a county reading describes the air over a place reasonably well, but it is still the county reading.

Physical risk

69 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding and earthquake.

Inland floodingElevated
EarthquakeModerate

Low or minimal exposure: cold wave, tornado, winter weather, heat wave, strong wind, hail, lightning, ice storm, landslide, wildfire, hurricane, coastal flooding, drought.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

Violent crime
20
per 100,000 residents · 2025 calendar year
Property crime
910
per 100,000 residents · 2025 calendar year

Below these are deaths rather than offenses, published for the county. The two measure different things and are not comparable with each other.

Northbrook's police department reported 20 violent offenses per 100,000 residents, lower than most places with a department reporting. Property crime runs at 910.

Cook County records 10.6 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, higher than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 12.4 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 17.4 per 100,000 residents in Cook County.

Homicide
10.6
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
12.4
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
17.4
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
9.3
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Offenses are reported to the FBI by Northbrook’s own police department, for the population it serves, and are shown only where it reported every month of the year — a partial year is withheld rather than scaled up. Reported crime counts what was reported to and recorded by police, which is not the same as what happened, and a place that draws a large daytime workforce carries incidents its residents did not generate. Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Cook County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city center and a quiet suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Northbrook rather than Northbrook itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Some things people look for are not on this page, and each is absent for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Taxes
Taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Cost of living now is — the index above is the Bureau of Economic Analysis price parity for this area — but it is a price level for all consumption rather than a budget for a household, its spread is driven mostly by housing, and it excludes taxes. Housing affordability is computed separately from rent, price and income, because that answers a narrower and more actionable question. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house. School attendance zones, insurance pricing and the character of a neighborhood all vary within the places measured here.

Access

3 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 11 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Chicago O'Hare IntlORD11 mi11,245 ft
Gary/Chicago IntlGYY41 mi8,859 ft
South Bend IntlSBN83 mi8,412 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Area Score
66
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Other cities in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
ChicagoCook County2,711,22654vs Northbrook
AuroraKane County179,89864vs Northbrook
NapervilleDuPage County150,69271vs Northbrook
JolietWill County150,44559vs Northbrook
ElginKane County114,93457vs Northbrook
WaukeganLake County89,07658vs Northbrook
CiceroCook County82,79748vs Northbrook
SchaumburgCook County76,86861vs Northbrook
HammondLake County76,76858vs Northbrook
EvanstonCook County76,34063vs Northbrook
Arlington HeightsCook County76,00566vs Northbrook
BolingbrookWill County74,09664vs Northbrook

Every city here is measured on the same scale from the same source releases, so the comparison is like for like. A higher Area Score reflects AreaProfile’s standardized weighting rather than a judgment about which is the better place to live.

Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
SafetyFederal Bureau of Investigation, Crime Data Explorer
Summarized offense counts by law enforcement agency
2025 calendar yearAnnually, with monthly revisions
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
HousingU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
Regional price parities and county personal income
2023Annually, each December
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
SafetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April 2025 to March 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
SchoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them
HousingU.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research
Fair Market Rents
FY2026Annually, each October for the coming fiscal year
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar yearAnnually, once a calendar year is complete

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.

ZIP codes in Northbrook

1 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
6006241,406$143,32366