Best PlacesBond County, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Bond County, 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.
Bond County ranks 2,150th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Bond County
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.
Bond County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Bond County ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 97% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 88% of counties
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 78% of counties
- BikingBetter than 73% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than 72% of counties
Where Bond County ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 2% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 2% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 59 pleasant days a year, better than only 5% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than only 10% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Bond County
A household needs to earn about $43,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bond County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $72,276, 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 Bond County's effective rate of 1.91%, 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 Bond County
Bond County's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Bond County.
Who works in Bond County, and how
Work in Bond County centers on health care & social and hospitality & food. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Bond County
Bond County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and more parkland per resident than 80% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Bond County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Bond County growing, and who is moving in?
Bond County has lost about 3% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the St Louis, MO metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Bond County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Bond County, month by month
Bond County sees roughly 59 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37° | 29° | 23° |
| April | 65° | 53° | 44° |
| July | 85° | 75° | 67° |
| October | 69° | 56° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Bond County
The nearest airport, Scott AFB/Midamerica St Louis, is about 32 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 51 miles away.
The best schools in and around Bond County
Schools across Bond County average a D+, better than 18% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Alhambra Primary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Highland Elementary SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Carlyle Elementary SchoolC · 33% proficient
Top middle schools
- Highland Middle SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Breese Elem SchoolC · 34% proficient
- Hillsboro Jr High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- Highland High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
- Central Comm High SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Bond Cty Comm Unit 2 High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bond County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bond County 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 Bond County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Bond County
Is Bond County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bond County ranks 2,150th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on fast internet, a stable housing market, and what local pay buys, 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 Bond County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $142,214. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $72,276 median income, cost of living beats 78% of counties.
Is Bond County safe?
Bond County is safer than 25% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $344 per resident a year.
Compare Bond County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bond County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bond County 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.
Bond County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bond County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bond County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bond County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bond County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bond County 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.