Best PlacesGriswold, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Griswold, 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.
Griswold ranks 22,616th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Tree cover pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on big-city access.
The best neighborhoods in Griswold
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.
Griswold's strengths and weaknesses
Where Griswold ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 88% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 85% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 79% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 77% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 74% of towns
Where Griswold ranks low
- 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
- School gradeD, better than only 7% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Griswold
A household needs to earn about $39,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Griswold home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $84,368, 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 Griswold's effective rate of 1.64%, 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 Griswold
Griswold 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 Griswold.
Who works in Griswold, and how
Work in Griswold centers on education and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Griswold
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Griswold.
What the weather is like in Griswold, month by month
Griswold sees roughly 61 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 26° | 20° |
| April | 63° | 51° | 41° |
| July | 85° | 74° | 65° |
| October | 67° | 55° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Griswold
The nearest airport, Central Il Regional/Bloomington- Normal, is about 44 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago Midway International, about 66 miles away.
The best schools in and around Griswold
Schools across Griswold average a D, better than 7% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Saunemin Elem SchoolD · 20% proficient
- Tri Point Elementary SchoolD− · 16% proficient
Top middle schools
- Tri-point Jr High/elementaryD · 23% proficient
Top high schools
- Pontiac High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Tri-point High SchoolF · 11% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Griswold school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Griswold 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 Griswold against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Griswold
Is Griswold a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Griswold ranks 22,616th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, low disaster risk, and a strong job market, and lowest on tree cover and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Griswold expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $132,193. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $84,368 median income, cost of living beats 74% of towns.
Is Griswold safe?
Yes, Griswold is safer than 62% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $207 per resident a year.
Compare Griswold with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Griswold. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Griswold 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.
Griswold detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Griswold: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Griswold: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Griswold: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Griswold: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Griswold 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.