Best PlacesBureau Junction, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Bureau Junction, 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.
Bureau Junction ranks 44,151st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. A weak job market pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on big-city access.
The best neighborhoods in Bureau Junction
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.
Bureau Junction's strengths and weaknesses
Where Bureau Junction ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 82% of towns
- BikingBetter than 81% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 80% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 77% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 68% of towns
Where Bureau Junction ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- School gradeD−, better than only 4% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 6% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Bureau Junction
A household needs to earn about $19,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bureau Junction home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $56,563, 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 Bureau Junction's effective rate of 1.75%, 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 2 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Bureau Junction
Bureau Junction's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Bureau Junction.
Who works in Bureau Junction, and how
Work in Bureau Junction centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 99%
- Work from home 0%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Bureau Junction
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Bureau Junction.
What the weather is like in Bureau Junction, month by month
Bureau Junction sees roughly 72 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 33, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 33° | 26° | 19° |
| April | 63° | 51° | 41° |
| July | 84° | 75° | 66° |
| October | 66° | 55° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Bureau Junction
The nearest airport, General Downing - Peoria International, is about 46 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago O'Hare International, about 89 miles away.
The best schools in and around Bureau Junction
Schools across Bureau Junction average a D−, better than 4% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Ladd Comm Cons SchD− · 13% proficient
Top middle schools
- Logan Jr High SchoolD · 22% proficient
Top high schools
- Princeton High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Hall High SchoolD− · 15% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bureau Junction school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bureau Junction 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 Bureau Junction against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Bureau Junction
Is Bureau Junction a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bureau Junction ranks 44,151st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, biking, and a stable housing market, and lowest on a weak job market and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Bureau Junction expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $63,200. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $56,563 median income, cost of living beats 25% of towns.
Is Bureau Junction safe?
Yes, Bureau Junction is safer than 66% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $197 per resident a year.
Compare Bureau Junction with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bureau Junction. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bureau Junction 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.
Bureau Junction detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bureau Junction: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bureau Junction: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bureau Junction: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bureau Junction: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bureau Junction 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.