Best PlacesHunter, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Hunter, 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.
Hunter ranks 8,536th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on few empty homes by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Hunter
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.
Hunter's strengths and weaknesses
Where Hunter ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 96% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 91% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 90% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 90% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 89% of towns
Where Hunter ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- School gradeD, better than only 6% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 9% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,112 a month, better than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Hunter
A household needs to earn about $114,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hunter home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $99,728, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Hunter's effective rate of 1.30%, 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 Hunter
Hunter 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 Hunter.
Who works in Hunter, and how
Work in Hunter centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Hunter
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Hunter.
What the weather is like in Hunter, month by month
Hunter sees roughly 87 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 30, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 30° | 24° | 18° |
| April | 60° | 48° | 38° |
| July | 84° | 74° | 64° |
| October | 64° | 53° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Hunter
The nearest airport, Chicago/Rockford International, is about 20 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago O'Hare International, about 60 miles away.
The best schools in and around Hunter
Schools across Hunter average a D, better than 6% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Manchester Elem SchoolD+ · 23% proficient
- Caledonia Elem SchoolD− · 15% proficient
Top middle schools
- North Boone Middle SchoolD · 20% proficient
- Belvidere Central Middle SchoolD− · 13% proficient
Top high schools
- Belvidere North High SchC− · 30% proficient
- North Boone High SchoolD− · 15% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hunter school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hunter 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 Hunter against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Hunter
Is Hunter a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hunter ranks 8,536th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on few empty homes, what local pay buys, and low crime, 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 Hunter expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $406,956. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $99,728 median income, cost of living beats 91% of towns.
Is Hunter safe?
Yes, Hunter is safer than 90% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $141 per resident a year.
Compare Hunter with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hunter. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hunter 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.
Hunter detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hunter: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hunter: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hunter: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hunter: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hunter 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.