Best PlacesGarber, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Garber, 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.
Garber ranks 33,176th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Garber
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.
Garber's strengths and weaknesses
Where Garber ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 82% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 82% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 80% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 77% of towns
Where Garber ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 1% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter 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 5% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Garber
A household needs to earn about $45,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Garber home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $87,183, 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 Garber's effective rate of 1.78%, 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 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Garber
Garber 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 Garber.
Who works in Garber, and how
Work in Garber centers on health care & social and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Garber
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Garber.
What the weather is like in Garber, month by month
Garber sees roughly 58 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 27° | 21° |
| April | 64° | 52° | 42° |
| July | 85° | 75° | 66° |
| October | 68° | 56° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Garber
The nearest airport, Central Il Regional/Bloomington- Normal, is about 27 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago Midway International, about 94 miles away.
The best schools in and around Garber
Schools across Garber average a C−, better than 26% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Gcms Elementary SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Gcms Middle SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Gcms High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Garber school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Garber 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 Garber against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Garber
Is Garber a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Garber ranks 33,176th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, few empty homes, and what local pay buys, and lowest on noise and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Garber expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $150,379. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $87,183 median income, cost of living beats 82% of towns.
Is Garber safe?
Garber is safer than 29% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $301 per resident a year.
Compare Garber with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Garber. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Garber 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.
Garber detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Garber: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Garber: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Garber: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Garber: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Garber 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.