Best PlacesCherry Valley, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cherry Valley, 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.
Cherry Valley ranks 15,205th 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 Cherry Valley
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.
Cherry Valley's strengths and weaknesses
Where Cherry Valley ranks high
- TransitBetter than 92% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 91% of towns
- BikingBetter than 91% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 90% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 89% of towns
Where Cherry Valley 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
- QuietBetter than only 8% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,097 a month, better than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Cherry Valley
A household needs to earn about $71,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cherry Valley home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $91,341, 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 Cherry Valley's effective rate of 2.36%, 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 Cherry Valley
Cherry Valley runs older 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 Cherry Valley.
Who works in Cherry Valley, and how
Work in Cherry Valley centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Cherry Valley
Cherry Valley has more restaurants and bars per resident than 93% of towns and more parkland per resident than 98% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Cherry Valley and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Cherry Valley, month by month
Cherry Valley sees roughly 71 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 33, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 33° | 24° | 16° |
| April | 63° | 49° | 37° |
| July | 87° | 75° | 63° |
| October | 67° | 53° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Cherry Valley
The nearest airport, Chicago/Rockford International, is about 7 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago O'Hare International, about 57 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cherry Valley
Schools across Cherry Valley average a C−, better than 34% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Hiawatha Elem Sch Prek-5C− · 30% proficient
- Cherry Valley Elementary SchoolD · 17% proficient
- Arthur Froberg Elem SchoolF · 10% proficient
Top middle schools
- Thurgood Marshall SchoolA+ · 82% proficient
- Belvidere South Middle SchoolF · 8% proficient
Top high schools
- Belvidere High SchoolD− · 16% proficient
- Hiawatha Jr/sr High SchoolD− · 13% proficient
- Roosevelt CenterF · 4% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cherry Valley school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cherry Valley 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 Cherry Valley against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Cherry Valley
Is Cherry Valley a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cherry Valley ranks 15,205th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on transit, few empty homes, and biking, 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 Cherry Valley expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $225,455. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $91,341 median income, cost of living beats 83% of towns.
Is Cherry Valley safe?
Yes, Cherry Valley is safer than 72% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $215 per resident a year.
Compare Cherry Valley with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cherry Valley. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cherry Valley 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.
Cherry Valley detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cherry Valley: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cherry Valley: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cherry Valley: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cherry Valley: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cherry Valley 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.