Best PlacesAnchor, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Anchor, 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.
Anchor ranks 24,667th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Anchor
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.
Anchor's strengths and weaknesses
Where Anchor ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 95% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 86% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 79% of towns
- QuietBetter than 77% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 77% of towns
Where Anchor ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- School gradeD−, better than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,374 a month, better than only 7% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Anchor
A household needs to earn about $50,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Anchor home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $87,114, 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 Anchor's effective rate of 1.98%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Anchor
Anchor's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Anchor.
Who works in Anchor, and how
Work in Anchor centers on manufacturing and finance & insurance. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Anchor
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Anchor.
What the weather is like in Anchor, month by month
Anchor sees roughly 80 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 26° | 20° |
| April | 63° | 51° | 41° |
| July | 85° | 75° | 66° |
| October | 66° | 55° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Anchor
The nearest airport, Central Il Regional/Bloomington- Normal, is about 21 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago Midway International, about 94 miles away.
The best schools in and around Anchor
Schools across Anchor average a D−, better than 3% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Gcms Elementary SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Ridgeview Elementary SchoolD− · 13% proficient
Top middle schools
- Gcms Middle SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Ridgeview Jr High SchoolF · 10% proficient
Top high schools
- Gcms High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Ridgeview High SchoolD− · 16% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Anchor school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Anchor 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 Anchor against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Anchor
Is Anchor a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Anchor ranks 24,667th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, fast internet, and big-city access, and lowest on property taxes and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Anchor expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $165,150. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $87,114 median income, cost of living beats 69% of towns.
Is Anchor safe?
Anchor is safer than 52% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $230 per resident a year.
Compare Anchor with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Anchor. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Anchor 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.
Anchor detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Anchor: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Anchor: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Anchor: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Anchor: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Anchor 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.