Best PlacesIllinois Bend, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Illinois Bend, 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.
Illinois Bend ranks 25,436th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low taxes by a wide margin, and biking ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Illinois Bend
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.
Illinois Bend's strengths and weaknesses
Where Illinois Bend ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 92% of towns
- QuietBetter than 89% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 129 pleasant days a year, better than 85% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 81% of towns
- Cheap childcare$602 a month, better than 78% of towns
Where Illinois Bend ranks low
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 4% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 4% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 5% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Illinois Bend
A household needs to earn about $78,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Illinois Bend home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $82,493, 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 Illinois Bend's effective rate of 1.16%, 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 Illinois Bend
Illinois Bend 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 Illinois Bend.
Who works in Illinois Bend, and how
Work in Illinois Bend centers on agriculture & forestry and education. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Illinois Bend
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Illinois Bend.
What the weather is like in Illinois Bend, month by month
Illinois Bend sees roughly 129 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 96 degrees. January highs sit near 56, with lows near 33. The comfortable stretch runs March through May and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 56° | 43° | 33° |
| April | 75° | 62° | 52° |
| July | 96° | 84° | 73° |
| October | 77° | 64° | 54° |
Flying in and out of Illinois Bend
The nearest airport, Sheppard AFB/Wichita Falls Municipal, is about 57 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Dallas-Fort Worth International, about 73 miles away.
The best schools in and around Illinois Bend
Schools across Illinois Bend average a B, better than 68% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Saint Jo ElB− · 40% proficient
- Nocona ElC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- Nocona MiddleB · 45% proficient
Top high schools
- Saint Jo H SB · 50% proficient
- Nocona H SB · 47% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Illinois Bend school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Illinois Bend 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 Illinois Bend against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Illinois Bend
Is Illinois Bend a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Illinois Bend ranks 25,436th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low taxes, quiet, and the weather, and lowest on biking and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Illinois Bend expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $285,730. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $82,493 median income, cost of living beats 72% of towns.
Is Illinois Bend safe?
Illinois Bend is safer than 49% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $355 per resident a year.
Compare Illinois Bend with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Illinois Bend. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Illinois Bend 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.
Illinois Bend detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Illinois Bend: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Illinois Bend: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Illinois Bend: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Illinois Bend: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Illinois Bend 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.