Best PlacesFarmer City, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Farmer City, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Farmer City ranks 24,255th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cell coverage by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Farmer City
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.
Farmer City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Farmer City ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 98% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 96% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 96% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 90% of towns
- BikingBetter than 88% of towns
Where Farmer City ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 4% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- School gradeD, better than only 8% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 13% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Farmer City
A household needs to earn about $49,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Farmer City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $74,565, 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 Farmer City's effective rate of 1.93%, 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 Farmer City
Farmer City 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 Farmer City.
Who works in Farmer City, and how
Work in Farmer City centers on retail trade and manufacturing. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Farmer City
Farmer City has more parkland per resident than 98% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Farmer City and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Farmer City, month by month
Farmer City sees roughly 117 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 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° | 27° | 21° |
| April | 65° | 51° | 41° |
| July | 84° | 74° | 65° |
| October | 68° | 55° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Farmer City
The nearest airport, Central Il Regional/Bloomington- Normal, is about 22 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago Midway International, about 116 miles away.
The best schools in and around Farmer City
Schools across Farmer City average a D, better than 8% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Leroy Elementary SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
- Deland-weldon Elem SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Ruth M Schneider Elem SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Leroy Junior High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Blue Ridge Intermediate-jr HsD− · 15% proficient
- Deland-weldon Middle SchoolF · 8% proficient
Top high schools
- Leroy High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Deland-weldon High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Blue Ridge High SchoolD · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Farmer City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Farmer City 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 Farmer City against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Farmer City
Is Farmer City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Farmer City ranks 24,255th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cell coverage, walkability, and fast internet, and lowest on taxes and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Farmer City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $162,207. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $74,565 median income, cost of living beats 55% of towns.
Is Farmer City safe?
Yes, Farmer City is safer than 73% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $190 per resident a year.
Compare Farmer City with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Farmer City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Farmer City 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.
Farmer City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Farmer City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Farmer City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Farmer City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Farmer City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Farmer City 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.