Best PlacesFlorence, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Florence, 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.
Florence ranks 21,723rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Property taxes pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on an educated workforce.
The best neighborhoods in Florence
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.
Florence's strengths and weaknesses
Where Florence ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 90% of towns
- Short commute20.8 minutes each way, better than 85% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 83% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 81% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 79% of towns
Where Florence ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 2% 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
- Internet speedBetter than only 18% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Florence
A household needs to earn about $67,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Florence home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $84,934, 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 Florence's effective rate of 2.18%, 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 Florence
Florence 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 Florence.
Who works in Florence, and how
Work in Florence centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Florence
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Florence.
What the weather is like in Florence, month by month
Florence sees roughly 72 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 22° | 16° |
| April | 59° | 47° | 37° |
| July | 82° | 72° | 62° |
| October | 63° | 52° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Florence
The nearest airport, Chicago/Rockford International, is about 29 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago O'Hare International, about 92 miles away.
The best schools in and around Florence
Schools across Florence average a D, better than 6% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Eastland Elementary SchoolB · 48% proficient
- Pearl City Elementary SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Forreston Grade SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Pearl City Jr High SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Carl Sandburg Middle SchF · 10% proficient
- Freeport Middle SchoolF · 7% proficient
Top high schools
- Eastland Jr/sr High SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Pearl City High SchoolD · 21% proficient
- Freeport High SchoolD− · 15% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Florence school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Florence 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 Florence against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Florence
Is Florence a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Florence ranks 21,723rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on an educated workforce, short commutes, and health care access, 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 Florence expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $216,843. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $84,934 median income, cost of living beats 78% of towns.
Is Florence safe?
Yes, Florence is safer than 78% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $172 per resident a year.
Compare Florence with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Florence. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Florence 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.
Florence detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Florence: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Florence: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Florence: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Florence: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Florence 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.