Best PlacesBowen, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Bowen, 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.
Bowen ranks 32,111th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Bowen
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.
Bowen's strengths and weaknesses
Where Bowen ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 90% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 79% of towns
- BikingBetter than 77% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 77% of towns
Where Bowen ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- School gradeD, better than only 6% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 14% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Bowen
A household needs to earn about $23,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bowen home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $63,142, 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 Bowen's effective rate of 1.35%, 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 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Bowen
Bowen 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 Bowen.
Who works in Bowen, and how
Work in Bowen centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Bowen
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Bowen.
What the weather is like in Bowen, month by month
Bowen sees roughly 90 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 36, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36° | 28° | 21° |
| April | 66° | 53° | 43° |
| July | 87° | 77° | 68° |
| October | 68° | 57° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Bowen
The nearest airport, Quincy Regional-Baldwin Field, is about 22 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 111 miles away.
The best schools in and around Bowen
Schools across Bowen average a D, better than 6% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Southeastern Elementary SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Central 3-4 Middle SchoolD · 20% proficient
- Nauvoo Elem SchoolD · 20% proficient
Top middle schools
- Central Junior High SchoolD− · 15% proficient
Top high schools
- Keokuk High SchoolB+ · 57% proficient
- Fort Madison High SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
- Illini West High SchoolD · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bowen school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bowen 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 Bowen against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Bowen
Is Bowen a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bowen ranks 32,111th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, walkability, and few empty homes, and lowest on 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 Bowen expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $83,532. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $63,142 median income, cost of living beats 46% of towns.
Is Bowen safe?
Bowen is safer than 54% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $232 per resident a year.
Compare Bowen with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bowen. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bowen 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.
Bowen detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bowen: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bowen: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bowen: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bowen: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bowen 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.