Best PlacesFoster Pond, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Foster Pond, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Foster Pond ranks 10,804th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on what local pay buys by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Foster Pond
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.
Foster Pond's strengths and weaknesses
Where Foster Pond ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 93% of towns
- Household income$109,558 median, better than 90% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 86% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 86% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 85% of towns
Where Foster Pond ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 10% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 64 pleasant days a year, better than only 15% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Foster Pond
A household needs to earn about $94,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Foster Pond home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $109,558, 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 Foster Pond's effective rate of 1.52%, 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 Foster Pond
Foster Pond's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Foster Pond.
Who works in Foster Pond, and how
Work in Foster Pond centers on construction and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Foster Pond
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Foster Pond.
What the weather is like in Foster Pond, month by month
Foster Pond sees roughly 64 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 42, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 42° | 33° | 26° |
| April | 70° | 57° | 46° |
| July | 90° | 80° | 70° |
| October | 72° | 59° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Foster Pond
The nearest airport, Scott AFB/Midamerica St Louis, is about 27 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 31 miles away.
The best schools in and around Foster Pond
Schools across Foster Pond average a C+, better than 48% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Gardner Elementary SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Valmeyer Elementary SchoolD · 20% proficient
Top middle schools
- Valmeyer Jr HighD− · 18% proficient
Top high schools
- Waterloo High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
- Valmeyer High SchoolD− · 16% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Foster Pond school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Foster Pond 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 Foster Pond against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Foster Pond
Is Foster Pond a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Foster Pond ranks 10,804th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on what local pay buys, high incomes, 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 Foster Pond expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $326,278. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $109,558 median income, cost of living beats 93% of towns.
Is Foster Pond safe?
Yes, Foster Pond is safer than 68% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $197 per resident a year.
Compare Foster Pond with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Foster Pond. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Foster Pond 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.
Foster Pond detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Foster Pond: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Foster Pond: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Foster Pond: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Foster Pond: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Foster Pond 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.