Best Places61019, IL Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 61019, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.

See the map of best neighborhoods

61019 ranks 9,746th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.

#9,746
of 33,110 zip codes
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 33,110 zip codes
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in 61019

Map of the best neighborhoods in the 61019 area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
Colorblind friendly off
Popular priorities:

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.

61019's strengths and weaknesses

Top 10%Quiet
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare 61019 with other zip codes.

Where 61019 ranks high

  • QuietBetter than 91% of zip codes
  • Crime safetyBetter than 89% of zip codes
  • Voter turnoutBetter than 88% of zip codes
  • Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 86% of zip codes
  • Household income$100,221 median, better than 80% of zip codes

Where 61019 ranks low

  • Low property taxBetter than only 4% of zip codes
  • State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of zip codes
  • Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 5% of zip codes
  • Short commute34.8 minutes each way, better than only 11% of zip codes
  • BikingBetter than only 16% of zip codes

What it costs to buy a home in 61019

A household needs to earn about $65,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 61019 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $100,221, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.

Income to buy the median home
$65,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$1,525
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $214,875 home
Median rent
$836
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$1,096
Property tax$358
Homeowners insurance$72

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 61019's effective rate of 2.00%, 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.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in 61019

61019 runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.

Median age
47
older than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
31%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.4
below the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1818%
18 to 3420%
35 to 4916%
50 to 6415%
65 and older31%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 61019.


Who works in 61019, and how

Work in 61019 centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.

Work from home
14%
about the national average
Unemployment
9.5%
above the national average
Job growth
+0.6%
/y 2019-2023, slower than the national pace

Largest industries

Manufacturing22%
Health care & social12%
Retail trade10%
Admin & support services7%
Education7%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 81%
  • Work from home 14%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 5%

Life in 61019

The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across 61019.


What the weather is like in 61019, month by month

61019 sees roughly 77 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 17. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January29°22°17°
April58°47°38°
July82°73°65°
October61°52°44°

Flying in and out of 61019

The nearest airport, Chicago/Rockford International, is about 23 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago O'Hare International, about 83 miles away.

Nearest airport
RFD
Chicago/Rockford International, about 23 miles
Airport size
Nonhub
206th-busiest in the US, 10 nonstop destinations
Average drive
33 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around 61019

Schools across 61019 average a C, better than 36% of zip codes.

Top elementary schools

Top middle schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 61019 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


61019 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 61019 against the other 33,109 zip codes.


Common questions about living in 61019

Is 61019 a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 61019 ranks 9,746th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on quiet, low crime, and civic engagement, and lowest on property 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 61019 expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $214,875. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $100,221 median income, cost of living beats 86% of zip codes.

Is 61019 safe?

Yes, 61019 is safer than 89% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $152 per resident a year.


Compare 61019 with other zip codes


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 61019. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 61019 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.

61019 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for 61019: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in 61019: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of 61019: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in 61019: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

61019 detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. 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.
  2. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  3. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  4. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  5. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  6. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  7. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  8. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  9. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  10. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  11. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  12. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.