Best PlacesGreen Acres, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Green Acres, 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.
Green Acres ranks 3,766th 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 Green Acres
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.
Green Acres' strengths and weaknesses
Where Green Acres ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 98% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 97% of towns
- Household income$148,334 median, better than 97% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 93% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 93% of towns
Where Green Acres 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 5% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 61 pleasant days a year, better than only 10% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Green Acres
A household needs to earn about $89,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Green Acres home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $148,334, 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 Green Acres' effective rate of 1.81%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Green Acres
Green Acres runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Green Acres.
Who works in Green Acres, and how
Work in Green Acres centers on wholesale trade and finance & insurance. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 93%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Green Acres
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Green Acres.
What the weather is like in Green Acres, month by month
Green Acres sees roughly 61 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37° | 29° | 22° |
| April | 66° | 54° | 44° |
| July | 87° | 77° | 68° |
| October | 69° | 57° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Green Acres
The nearest airport, Abraham Lincoln Capital, is about 3 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 87 miles away.
The best schools in and around Green Acres
Schools across Green Acres average a C+, better than 46% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Cantrall Elem SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Jane Addams Elem SchoolF · 8% proficient
Top middle schools
- Cantrall Intermediate SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
- U S Grant Middle SchoolF · 11% proficient
Top high schools
- Athens Sr High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Lanphier High SchoolD− · 13% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Green Acres school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Green Acres 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 Green Acres against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Green Acres
Is Green Acres a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Green Acres ranks 3,766th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on what local pay buys, civic engagement, and high incomes, 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 Green Acres expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $299,705. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $148,334 median income, cost of living beats 98% of towns.
Is Green Acres safe?
Yes, Green Acres is safer than 90% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $143 per resident a year.
Compare Green Acres with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Green Acres. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Green Acres 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.
Green Acres detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Green Acres: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Green Acres: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Green Acres: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Green Acres: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Green Acres 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.