Best PlacesBloomington, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Bloomington metro, 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.
Photo by Teemu008 from Palatine, Illinois, CC BY-SA 2.0, via wiki
Bloomington ranks 152nd of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on cell coverage and short commutes. The weaker spots are state finances, property taxes, and taxes.
The best neighborhoods in the Bloomington metro
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.
The best areas in Bloomington
The towns and districts of the Bloomington metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Normal
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and more households have young kids.
Heyworth
Biking is worse and homes cost more.
Downtown Bloomington
More adults hold degrees and it is quieter.
Le Roy
Prices have run up less, though transit reaches fewer jobs.
Lexington
More residents vote, though commutes are longer.
Bloomington shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 9% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Bloomington's strengths and weaknesses
Bloomington lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Cell coverage, short commutes, and an educated workforce carry most of that.
The one real hole is state finances, near the bottom of the country. Property taxes and taxes also cost it ground. The detail is below, and the map is where it turns into a choice of neighborhood rather than just a place.
Where Bloomington ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 96% of metro areas
- Short commute18.3 minutes each way, better than 95% of metro areas
- Educational attainmentBetter than 93% of metro areas
- BikingBetter than 88% of metro areas
- TransitBetter than 88% of metro areas
Where Bloomington ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 2% of metro areas
- Low property taxBetter than only 2% of metro areas
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 2% of metro areas
- Cheap childcare$1,405 a month, better than only 9% of metro areas
- School gradeC−, better than only 9% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Bloomington
A household needs to earn about $68,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bloomington home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $89,232, 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 Bloomington's effective rate of 2.07%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Bloomington
Bloomington runs younger 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 Bloomington.
Who works in Bloomington, and how
Work in Bloomington centers on finance & insurance and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 75%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Bloomington
Bloomington has more parkland per resident than 67% of metro areas and more late-night spots per resident than 91% of metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Bloomington and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Bloomington growing, and who is moving in?
Bloomington has lost about 1% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Chicago, IL.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Bloomington go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Bloomington, month by month
Bloomington sees roughly 82 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 Bloomington
The nearest airport, Central Il Regional/Bloomington- Normal, is about 3 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago Midway International, about 110 miles away.
The best schools in and around Bloomington
Schools across Bloomington average a C−, better than 9% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Tri-valley Elem SchoolA · 63% proficient
- Benjamin Elem SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Northpoint Elementary SchoolB · 48% proficient
Top middle schools
- Tri-valley Middle SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Chiddix Jr High SchoolC · 31% proficient
- Parkside Jr High SchoolD+ · 27% proficient
Top high schools
- Tri-valley High SchoolB− · 45% proficient
- Normal Community High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Normal Community West High SchoolC · 31% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bloomington school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bloomington 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 Bloomington against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Bloomington suits
Families
Schools land around the 9th percentile and crime safety beats 70%.
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 74% of metro areas, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 17% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Bloomington
Is Bloomington a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bloomington ranks 152nd of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on cell coverage, short commutes, and an educated workforce, and lowest on state finances and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Bloomington expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $222,491. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $89,232 median income, cost of living beats 74% of metro areas.
Is Bloomington safe?
Yes, Bloomington is safer than 70% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $232 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Bloomington?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 35 with lows near 20. That works out to about 82 pleasant days a year, more than 42% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Bloomington?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Normal, Heyworth, and Downtown Bloomington. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Bloomington good for families?
Schools beat 9% of metro areas, crime safety beats 70%, and childcare runs $1,405 a month.
Is Bloomington good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 74% of metro areas, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 87% of metro areas. About 17% of workers already work from home.
Compare Bloomington with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bloomington. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bloomington 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.
Bloomington detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bloomington: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bloomington: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bloomington: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bloomington: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bloomington 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.