Best PlacesCalhoun County, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Calhoun County, 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.
Calhoun County ranks 1,888th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on what local pay buys by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Calhoun 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.
Calhoun County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Calhoun County ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 97% of counties
- QuietBetter than 97% of counties
- Household income$97,710 median, better than 91% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than 88% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than 84% of counties
Where Calhoun County ranks low
- Short commute47.7 minutes each way, better than only 1% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 2% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of counties
- BikingBetter than only 4% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than only 5% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Calhoun County
A household needs to earn about $47,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Calhoun County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $97,710, 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 Calhoun County's effective rate of 1.04%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Calhoun County
Calhoun County runs older than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Calhoun County.
Who works in Calhoun County, and how
Work in Calhoun County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Calhoun County
Calhoun County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 99% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Calhoun County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Calhoun County growing, and who is moving in?
Calhoun County has lost about 14% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Chicago, IL.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Calhoun County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Calhoun County, month by month
Calhoun County sees roughly 77 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 41, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41° | 31° | 24° |
| April | 69° | 56° | 46° |
| July | 90° | 79° | 70° |
| October | 72° | 59° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Calhoun County
St Louis Lambert International sits about 30 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 7.5 million passengers in 2025, with 114 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Calhoun County
Schools across Calhoun County average a D+, better than 9% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Calhoun Elementary/ Jr High SchC− · 26% proficient
- Brussels Grade SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Pleasant Hill Elem SchoolF · 6% proficient
Top middle schools
- Pikeland Community SchoolD− · 14% proficient
Top high schools
- Calhoun High SchoolD · 21% proficient
- Brussels High SchoolD− · 16% proficient
- Pittsfield High SchoolD− · 15% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Calhoun County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Calhoun 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 Calhoun County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Calhoun County
Is Calhoun County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Calhoun County ranks 1,888th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on what local pay buys, quiet, and high incomes, and lowest on long commutes and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Calhoun County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $174,099. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $97,710 median income, cost of living beats 97% of counties.
Is Calhoun County safe?
Calhoun County is safer than 38% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $282 per resident a year.
Compare Calhoun County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Calhoun County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Calhoun 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.
Calhoun County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Calhoun County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Calhoun County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Calhoun County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Calhoun County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Calhoun 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.