Best PlacesArcher, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Archer, 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.
Archer ranks 37,719th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Archer
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.
Archer's strengths and weaknesses
Where Archer ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 94% of towns
- Short commute19.1 minutes each way, better than 90% of towns
- TransitBetter than 89% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 77% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 77% of towns
Where Archer ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 1% of towns
- School gradeF, better than only 1% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Archer
A household needs to earn about $47,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Archer home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $82,000, 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 Archer's effective rate of 1.62%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Archer
Archer 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 Archer.
Who works in Archer, and how
Work in Archer centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 19%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Archer
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Archer.
What the weather is like in Archer, month by month
Archer sees roughly 60 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37° | 29° | 22° |
| April | 66° | 54° | 44° |
| July | 87° | 77° | 68° |
| October | 69° | 57° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Archer
The nearest airport, Abraham Lincoln Capital, is about 1 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 85 miles away.
The best schools in and around Archer
Schools across Archer average an F, better than 1% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Sherman Elem SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
- Cantrall Elem SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Jane Addams Elem SchoolF · 8% proficient
Top middle schools
- Cantrall Intermediate SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
- Williamsville Jr High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- U S Grant Middle SchoolF · 11% proficient
Top high schools
- Williamsville High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Athens Sr High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Lanphier High SchoolD− · 13% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Archer school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Archer 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 Archer against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Archer
Is Archer a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Archer ranks 37,719th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, short commutes, and transit, and lowest on noise and the schools. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Archer expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $161,300. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $82,000 median income, cost of living beats 75% of towns.
Is Archer safe?
Archer is safer than 47% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $236 per resident a year.
Compare Archer with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Archer. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Archer 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.
Archer detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Archer: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Archer: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Archer: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Archer: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Archer 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.