Best PlacesChampaign County, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Champaign 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.
Champaign County ranks 1,331st of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on an educated workforce and walkability. The weaker spots are property taxes, state finances, and taxes.
The best neighborhoods in Champaign 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.
The best areas in Champaign County
The parts of Champaign County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Mahomet
More households have young kids, incomes run higher, and local pay stretches further.
Savoy & Tolono
More adults hold degrees and fewer homes sit empty.
St. Joseph
Biking is worse and streets are more car-dependent.
Champaign & Urbana
Crime runs higher and fewer residents vote.
Rantoul
Prices have run up more and health outcomes score lower.
Champaign County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 3% of the country and others in the top 6%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Champaign County's strengths and weaknesses
Champaign County lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. An educated workforce is the standout, in the top 3% of counties. Walkability and biking follow.
The one real hole is property taxes, near the bottom of the country. State finances and taxes also cost it ground. Cost swings more from one part of Champaign County to another than it does between Champaign County and its neighbors, which the map below shows.
Where Champaign County ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 97% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than 97% of counties
- BikingBetter than 95% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than 95% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 93% of counties
Where Champaign County ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 1% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 2% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of counties
- School gradeD, better than only 4% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,324 a month, better than only 6% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Champaign County
A household needs to earn about $66,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Champaign County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $73,128, 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 Champaign County's effective rate of 2.02%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Champaign County
Champaign County runs younger 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 Champaign County.
Who works in Champaign County, and how
Work in Champaign County centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 68%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 17%
Life in Champaign County
Champaign County has more parkland per resident than 74% of counties and more late-night spots per resident than 94% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Champaign County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Champaign County growing, and who is moving in?
Champaign County has grown about 2% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Chicago, IL.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Champaign County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Champaign County, month by month
Champaign County sees roughly 76 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 36, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36° | 28° | 21° |
| April | 65° | 52° | 42° |
| July | 85° | 75° | 66° |
| October | 69° | 56° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Champaign County
The nearest airport, University of Illinois/Willard, is about 6 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Indianapolis International, about 107 miles away.
The best schools in and around Champaign County
Schools across Champaign County average a D, better than 4% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- St Joseph Elem SchoolB · 50% proficient
- White Heath Elem SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Carrie Busey Elem SchoolB · 48% proficient
Top middle schools
- St Joseph Middle SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
- Prairieview-ogden Jr High SchB · 45% proficient
- Monticello Middle SchoolB− · 41% proficient
Top high schools
- Mahomet-seymour High SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- St Joseph-ogden High SchoolB− · 45% proficient
- Unity High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Champaign County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Champaign 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 Champaign County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Champaign County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 16% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Champaign County
Is Champaign County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Champaign County ranks 1,331st of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on an educated workforce, walkability, and biking, and lowest on property 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 Champaign County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $215,736. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $73,128 median income, cost of living beats 59% of counties.
Is Champaign County safe?
Champaign County is safer than 27% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $348 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Champaign County?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 36 with lows near 21. That works out to about 76 pleasant days a year, more than 32% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Champaign County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Mahomet, Savoy & Tolono, and St. Joseph. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Champaign County good for families?
Schools beat 4% of counties, crime safety beats 27%, and childcare runs $1,324 a month.
Is Champaign County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 59% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 78% of counties. About 16% of workers already work from home.
Compare Champaign County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Champaign County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Champaign 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.
Champaign County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Champaign County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Champaign County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Champaign County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Champaign County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Champaign 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.