Best PlacesElva, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Elva, 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.
Elva ranks 25,793rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Elva
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.
Elva's strengths and weaknesses
Where Elva ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 95% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 92% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 86% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 82% of towns
- Household income$91,576 median, better than 78% of towns
Where Elva 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
- School gradeD, better than only 6% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,235 a month, better than only 13% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Elva
A household needs to earn about $68,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Elva home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $91,576, 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 Elva's effective rate of 2.22%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Elva
Elva runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Elva.
Who works in Elva, and how
Work in Elva centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Elva
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Elva.
What the weather is like in Elva, month by month
Elva sees roughly 101 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 30, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 30° | 23° | 16° |
| April | 61° | 47° | 37° |
| July | 83° | 72° | 62° |
| October | 64° | 52° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Elva
The nearest airport, Chicago/Rockford International, is about 28 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago O'Hare International, about 45 miles away.
The best schools in and around Elva
Schools across Elva average a D, better than 6% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Indian Creek Elementary SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Hinckley-big Rock Elem SchD · 20% proficient
- Lincoln Elementary SchoolF · 10% proficient
Top middle schools
- Hinckley-big Rock Middle SchC− · 28% proficient
- Indian Creek Middle SchoolD · 23% proficient
- Huntley Middle SchoolD− · 14% proficient
Top high schools
- Hinckley-big Rock High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
- Indian Creek High SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Dekalb High SchoolD · 23% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Elva school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Elva 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 Elva against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Elva
Is Elva a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Elva ranks 25,793rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on heat safety, big-city access, and cell coverage, 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 Elva expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $218,745. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $91,576 median income, cost of living beats 75% of towns.
Is Elva safe?
Elva is safer than 40% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $272 per resident a year.
Compare Elva with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Elva. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Elva 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.
Elva detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Elva: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Elva: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Elva: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Elva: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Elva 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.