Best PlacesEldena, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Eldena, 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.
Eldena ranks 32,408th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Eldena
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.
Eldena's strengths and weaknesses
Where Eldena ranks high
- Short commute18.9 minutes each way, better than 91% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 91% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 87% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 84% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 78% of towns
Where Eldena ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 2% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 7% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 9% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Eldena
A household needs to earn about $62,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Eldena home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $69,701, 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 Eldena's effective rate of 1.65%, 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 Eldena
Eldena 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 Eldena.
Who works in Eldena, and how
Work in Eldena centers on utilities and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 95%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Eldena
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Eldena.
What the weather is like in Eldena, month by month
Eldena sees roughly 85 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 32, with lows near 17. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 32° | 24° | 17° |
| April | 62° | 49° | 39° |
| July | 84° | 74° | 64° |
| October | 64° | 53° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Eldena
The nearest airport, Chicago/Rockford International, is about 34 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago O'Hare International, about 79 miles away.
The best schools in and around Eldena
Schools across Eldena average a D+, better than 13% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Amboy Central Elem SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Reagan Middle SchoolD− · 16% proficient
- Amboy Jr High SchoolD− · 16% proficient
Top high schools
- Dixon High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Amboy High SchoolD · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Eldena school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Eldena 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 Eldena against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Eldena
Is Eldena a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Eldena ranks 32,408th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, civic engagement, and a strong job market, and lowest on internet speeds and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Eldena expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $213,666. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $69,701 median income, cost of living beats 50% of towns.
Is Eldena safe?
Eldena is safer than 40% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $268 per resident a year.
Compare Eldena with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Eldena. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Eldena 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.
Eldena detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Eldena: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Eldena: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Eldena: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Eldena: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Eldena 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.