Best PlacesGrundy County, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Grundy County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages hide a wide spread here, so the area matters as much as the address. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Grundy County ranks 770th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on few empty homes by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Grundy County
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.
The best areas in Grundy County
The parts of Grundy County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Minooka & Channahon
Biking is better, more households have young kids, and incomes run higher.
Morris
Commutes are shorter and prices have run up less.
Coal City & Diamond
It is noisier and local pay stretches less far.
Scores across Grundy County run from about the 25th to the 80th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Grundy County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Grundy County ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 99% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 96% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than 92% of counties
- Household income$96,077 median, better than 90% of counties
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 88% of counties
Where Grundy County ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 2% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 2% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,059 a month, better than only 14% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 66 pleasant days a year, better than only 14% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Grundy County
A household needs to earn about $85,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Grundy County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $96,077, 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 Grundy County's effective rate of 1.89%, 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 Grundy County
Grundy County's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Grundy County.
Who works in Grundy County, and how
Work in Grundy County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Grundy County
Grundy County has more late-night spots per resident than 79% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Grundy County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Grundy County growing, and who is moving in?
Grundy County has grown about 7% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Chicago, IL metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Grundy County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Grundy County, month by month
Grundy County sees roughly 66 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 33, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 33° | 25° | 19° |
| April | 63° | 50° | 40° |
| July | 84° | 74° | 65° |
| October | 66° | 54° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Grundy County
Chicago Midway International sits about 43 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 9.4 million passengers in 2025, with 113 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Grundy County
Schools across Grundy County average a C, better than 31% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Lisbon Grade SchoolA · 68% proficient
- Coal City Intermediate SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Saratoga Elem SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
Top middle schools
- Coal City Middle SchoolA− · 53% proficient
- Three Rivers SchoolB− · 39% proficient
- Seneca Elem School South CampusC− · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- Minooka Community High SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Morris Community High SchoolC · 31% proficient
- Coal City High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Grundy County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Grundy County 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 Grundy County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Grundy County suits
Families
Schools land around the 31st percentile and crime safety beats 92%.
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 88% of counties and 11% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Grundy County
Is Grundy County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Grundy County ranks 770th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on few empty homes, big-city access, and low crime, and lowest on property 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 Grundy County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $283,301. The overall cost of living runs about 5% below the national average. Set against a $96,077 median income, cost of living beats 88% of counties.
Is Grundy County safe?
Yes, Grundy County is safer than 92% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $181 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Grundy County?
July highs average about 84 degrees, and January highs near 33 with lows near 19. That works out to about 66 pleasant days a year, more than 14% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Grundy County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Minooka & Channahon, Morris, and Coal City & Diamond. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Grundy County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Grundy County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Grundy County 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.
Grundy County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Grundy County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Grundy County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Grundy County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Grundy County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Grundy County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.