Best PlacesHarmon, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Harmon, 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.
Harmon ranks 20,134th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Taxes pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on what local pay buys.
The best neighborhoods in Harmon
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.
Harmon's strengths and weaknesses
Where Harmon ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 89% of towns
- Household income$103,214 median, better than 87% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 83% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 77% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 77% of towns
Where Harmon ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 4% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 7% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Harmon
A household needs to earn about $64,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Harmon home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $103,214, 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 Harmon's effective rate of 1.68%, 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 Harmon
Harmon runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Harmon.
Who works in Harmon, and how
Work in Harmon centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Harmon
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Harmon.
What the weather is like in Harmon, month by month
Harmon sees roughly 84 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 32, with lows near 17. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 32° | 24° | 17° |
| April | 62° | 49° | 39° |
| July | 84° | 74° | 64° |
| October | 64° | 53° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Harmon
The nearest airport, Chicago/Rockford International, is about 42 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago O'Hare International, about 87 miles away.
The best schools in and around Harmon
Schools across Harmon average a D+, better than 16% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Amboy Central Elem SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Ohio Com Cons Grade SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Montmorency Ccsd #145D+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Reagan Middle SchoolD− · 16% proficient
- Amboy Jr High SchoolD− · 16% proficient
Top high schools
- Rock Falls Township High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Dixon High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Amboy High SchoolD · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Harmon school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Harmon 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 Harmon against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Harmon
Is Harmon a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Harmon ranks 20,134th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on what local pay buys, high incomes, and big-city access, 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 Harmon expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $217,515. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $103,214 median income, cost of living beats 89% of towns.
Is Harmon safe?
Harmon is safer than 40% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $263 per resident a year.
Compare Harmon with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Harmon. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Harmon 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.
Harmon detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Harmon: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Harmon: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Harmon: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Harmon: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Harmon 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.