Best PlacesHarvard Hills, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Harvard Hills, 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.
Harvard Hills ranks 9,637th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on an educated workforce by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Harvard Hills
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.
Harvard Hills' strengths and weaknesses
Where Harvard Hills ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 95% of towns
- Short commute18.1 minutes each way, better than 93% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 92% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 91% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 91% of towns
Where Harvard Hills ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 61 pleasant days a year, better than only 9% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 13% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Harvard Hills
A household needs to earn about $77,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Harvard Hills home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $100,282, 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 Harvard Hills' effective rate of 2.36%, 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 Harvard Hills
Harvard Hills runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Harvard Hills.
Who works in Harvard Hills, and how
Work in Harvard Hills centers on manufacturing and education. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Harvard Hills
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Harvard Hills.
What the weather is like in Harvard Hills, month by month
Harvard Hills sees roughly 61 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 36, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36° | 27° | 18° |
| April | 66° | 52° | 40° |
| July | 88° | 77° | 66° |
| October | 70° | 56° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Harvard Hills
The nearest airport, General Downing - Peoria International, is about 12 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago Midway International, about 116 miles away.
The best schools in and around Harvard Hills
Schools across Harvard Hills average a B, better than 70% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Central Primary SchA− · 60% proficient
- Lincoln Grade SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Robein Elem SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top middle schools
- Germantown Hills Middle SchoolA · 61% proficient
- Central Intermediate SchA− · 58% proficient
- Washington Middle SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
Top high schools
- Metamora High SchoolB · 46% proficient
- Washington Comm High SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- East Peoria High SchoolD− · 16% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Harvard Hills school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Harvard Hills 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 Harvard Hills against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Harvard Hills
Is Harvard Hills a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Harvard Hills ranks 9,637th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on an educated workforce, short commutes, and low crime, and lowest on property taxes and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Harvard Hills expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $244,312. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $100,282 median income, cost of living beats 84% of towns.
Is Harvard Hills safe?
Yes, Harvard Hills is safer than 92% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $140 per resident a year.
Compare Harvard Hills with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Harvard Hills. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Harvard Hills 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.
Harvard Hills detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Harvard Hills: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Harvard Hills: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Harvard Hills: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Harvard Hills: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Harvard Hills 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.