Best PlacesCerro Gordo, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cerro Gordo, 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.
Cerro Gordo ranks 20,611th 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 Cerro Gordo
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.
Cerro Gordo's strengths and weaknesses
Where Cerro Gordo ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 95% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 93% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 90% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 90% of towns
Where Cerro Gordo ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 9% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 12% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Cerro Gordo
A household needs to earn about $35,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cerro Gordo home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $82,907, 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 Cerro Gordo's effective rate of 1.64%, 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 Cerro Gordo
Cerro Gordo'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 Cerro Gordo.
Who works in Cerro Gordo, and how
Work in Cerro Gordo centers on retail trade and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Cerro Gordo
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Cerro Gordo.
What the weather is like in Cerro Gordo, month by month
Cerro Gordo sees roughly 74 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37° | 29° | 22° |
| April | 65° | 53° | 43° |
| July | 87° | 77° | 67° |
| October | 69° | 57° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Cerro Gordo
The nearest airport, Decatur, is about 8 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 118 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cerro Gordo
Schools across Cerro Gordo average a C, better than 39% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- White Heath Elem SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Cerro Gordo Elem SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Bement Elementary SchoolF · 5% proficient
Top middle schools
- Monticello Middle SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Bement Middle SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- Monticello High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
- Cerro Gordo Jr And Sr High SchC+ · 35% proficient
- Bement High SchoolD− · 16% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cerro Gordo school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cerro Gordo 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 Cerro Gordo against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Cerro Gordo
Is Cerro Gordo a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cerro Gordo ranks 20,611th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, fast internet, and cell coverage, 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 Cerro Gordo expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $121,508. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $82,907 median income, cost of living beats 78% of towns.
Is Cerro Gordo safe?
Cerro Gordo is safer than 40% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $264 per resident a year.
Compare Cerro Gordo with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cerro Gordo. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cerro Gordo 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.
Cerro Gordo detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cerro Gordo: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cerro Gordo: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cerro Gordo: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cerro Gordo: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cerro Gordo 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.