Best PlacesHarvard, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Harvard, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Harvard ranks 31,273rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and the schools rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Harvard
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's strengths and weaknesses
Where Harvard ranks high
- TransitBetter than 96% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 94% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 92% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 92% of towns
- BikingBetter than 92% of towns
Where Harvard ranks low
- School gradeF, better than only 1% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 2% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,369 a month, better than only 7% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Harvard
A household needs to earn about $64,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Harvard home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $75,097, 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's effective rate of 2.08%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Harvard
Harvard runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Harvard.
Who works in Harvard, and how
Work in Harvard centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Harvard
Harvard has more restaurants and bars per resident than 90% of towns and more parkland per resident than 90% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Harvard and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Harvard, month by month
Harvard sees roughly 70 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 31, with lows near 17. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 31° | 24° | 17° |
| April | 58° | 45° | 36° |
| July | 83° | 71° | 60° |
| October | 62° | 51° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Harvard
The nearest airport, Chicago/Rockford International, is about 29 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago O'Hare International, about 48 miles away.
The best schools in and around Harvard
Schools across Harvard average an F, better than 1% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Westwood Elem SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Alden Hebron Elem SchoolD · 20% proficient
- Jefferson Elem SchoolF · 8% proficient
Top middle schools
- Creekside Middle SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Northwood Middle SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Alden-hebron Middle SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Woodstock High SchoolC · 34% proficient
- Woodstock North High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Alden-hebron High SchoolD · 21% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Harvard school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Harvard 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 against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Harvard
Is Harvard a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Harvard ranks 31,273rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on transit, fast internet, and cell coverage, and lowest on the schools and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Harvard expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $207,353. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $75,097 median income, cost of living beats 41% of towns.
Is Harvard safe?
Harvard is safer than 46% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $251 per resident a year.
Compare Harvard with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Harvard. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Harvard 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 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Harvard: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Harvard: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Harvard: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Harvard: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Harvard 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.