Best PlacesCarbon Cliff, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Carbon Cliff, 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.
Carbon Cliff ranks 33,474th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Carbon Cliff
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.
Carbon Cliff's strengths and weaknesses
Where Carbon Cliff ranks high
- TransitBetter than 97% of towns
- BikingBetter than 94% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 92% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 89% of towns
- Short commute20.4 minutes each way, better than 86% of towns
Where Carbon Cliff ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 1% 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 5% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 5% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Carbon Cliff
A household needs to earn about $50,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Carbon Cliff home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $65,919, 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 Carbon Cliff's effective rate of 2.33%, 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 Carbon Cliff
Carbon Cliff runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Carbon Cliff.
Who works in Carbon Cliff, and how
Work in Carbon Cliff centers on manufacturing and hospitality & food. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Carbon Cliff
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Carbon Cliff.
What the weather is like in Carbon Cliff, month by month
Carbon Cliff sees roughly 62 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 25° | 16° |
| April | 66° | 51° | 39° |
| July | 88° | 76° | 65° |
| October | 69° | 55° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Carbon Cliff
The nearest airport, Quad Cities International, is about 7 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago O'Hare International, about 133 miles away.
The best schools in and around Carbon Cliff
Schools across Carbon Cliff average a D, better than 5% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Eagle Ridge SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Bowlesburg Elem SchoolD− · 13% proficient
- George O Barr SchoolF · 6% proficient
Top middle schools
- Glenview Middle SchoolF · 12% proficient
- Northeast Jr High SchoolF · 8% proficient
Top high schools
- United Twp High SchoolD− · 14% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Carbon Cliff school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Carbon Cliff 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 Carbon Cliff against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Carbon Cliff
Is Carbon Cliff a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Carbon Cliff ranks 33,474th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on transit, biking, and walkability, and lowest on property taxes and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Carbon Cliff expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $157,982. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $65,919 median income, cost of living beats 43% of towns.
Is Carbon Cliff safe?
Carbon Cliff is safer than 47% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $247 per resident a year.
Compare Carbon Cliff with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Carbon Cliff. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Carbon Cliff 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.
Carbon Cliff detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Carbon Cliff: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Carbon Cliff: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Carbon Cliff: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Carbon Cliff: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Carbon Cliff 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.