Best PlacesClear Lake, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Clear Lake, 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.
Clear Lake ranks 29,236th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Clear Lake
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.
Clear Lake's strengths and weaknesses
Where Clear Lake ranks high
- Short commute16.7 minutes each way, better than 95% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 87% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 78% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 77% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 77% of towns
Where Clear Lake ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- School gradeD, better than only 6% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Clear Lake
A household needs to earn about $47,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Clear Lake home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $78,300, 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 Clear Lake's effective rate of 1.60%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Clear Lake
Clear Lake runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Clear Lake.
Who works in Clear Lake, and how
Work in Clear Lake centers on health care & social and public administration. 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 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Clear Lake
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Clear Lake.
What the weather is like in Clear Lake, month by month
Clear Lake sees roughly 61 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 | 66° | 54° | 44° |
| July | 87° | 77° | 68° |
| October | 69° | 57° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Clear Lake
The nearest airport, Abraham Lincoln Capital, is about 7 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 85 miles away.
The best schools in and around Clear Lake
Schools across Clear Lake average a D, better than 6% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Riverton Elem SchoolF · 6% proficient
Top middle schools
- Riverton Middle SchoolD− · 14% proficient
Top high schools
- Rochester High SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
- Riverton High SchoolD− · 18% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Clear Lake school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Clear Lake 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 Clear Lake against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Clear Lake
Is Clear Lake a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Clear Lake ranks 29,236th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, fast internet, and few empty homes, 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 Clear Lake expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $162,178. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $78,300 median income, cost of living beats 58% of towns.
Is Clear Lake safe?
Yes, Clear Lake is safer than 77% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $177 per resident a year.
Compare Clear Lake with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Clear Lake. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Clear Lake 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.
Clear Lake detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Clear Lake: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Clear Lake: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Clear Lake: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Clear Lake: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Clear Lake 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.