Best PlacesBelvidere, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Belvidere, 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.
Belvidere ranks 1,519th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. The schools pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on low disaster risk.
The best neighborhoods in Belvidere
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.
Belvidere's strengths and weaknesses
Where Belvidere ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 83% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than 83% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than 80% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than 78% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than 76% of cities
Where Belvidere ranks low
- School gradeD−, better than only 2% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 5% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 6% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 7% of cities
- Local economyBetter than only 9% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Belvidere
A household needs to earn about $62,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Belvidere home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $83,542, 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 Belvidere's effective rate of 2.05%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Belvidere
Belvidere runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Belvidere.
Who works in Belvidere, and how
Work in Belvidere centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Belvidere
Belvidere has more restaurants and bars per resident than 75% of cities and more parkland per resident than 97% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Belvidere and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Belvidere, month by month
Belvidere sees roughly 72 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 33, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 33° | 24° | 16° |
| April | 63° | 49° | 37° |
| July | 87° | 75° | 63° |
| October | 67° | 53° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Belvidere
The nearest airport, Chicago/Rockford International, is about 13 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago O'Hare International, about 52 miles away.
The best schools in and around Belvidere
Schools across Belvidere average a D−, better than 2% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Hiawatha Elem Sch Prek-5C− · 30% proficient
- Seth Whitman Elem SchC− · 28% proficient
- Spring Creek Elem SchoolD · 18% proficient
Top middle schools
- Thurgood Marshall SchoolA+ · 82% proficient
- North Boone Middle SchoolD · 20% proficient
- Belvidere Central Middle SchoolD− · 13% proficient
Top high schools
- Belvidere North High SchC− · 30% proficient
- Belvidere High SchoolD− · 16% proficient
- North Boone High SchoolD− · 15% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Belvidere school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Belvidere 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 Belvidere against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Belvidere suits
Families
Schools land around the 2nd percentile and crime safety beats 66%.
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 10% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Belvidere
Is Belvidere a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Belvidere ranks 1,519th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on low disaster risk, fast internet, and few empty homes, and lowest on the schools and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Belvidere expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $203,078. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $83,542 median income, cost of living beats 55% of cities.
Is Belvidere safe?
Yes, Belvidere is safer than 66% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $218 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Belvidere?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 33 with lows near 16. That works out to about 72 pleasant days a year, more than 30% of cities.
Is Belvidere good for families?
Schools beat 2% of cities, crime safety beats 66%, and childcare runs $1,112 a month.
Compare Belvidere with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Belvidere. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Belvidere 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.
Belvidere detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Belvidere: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Belvidere: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Belvidere: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Belvidere: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Belvidere 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.