Best PlacesJo Daviess County, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Jo Daviess County, 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.
Jo Daviess County ranks 2,034th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. State finances pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on civic engagement.
The best neighborhoods in Jo Daviess County
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.
The best areas in Jo Daviess County
The parts of Jo Daviess County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Galena
More adults hold degrees, commutes are shorter, and tree cover is thicker.
East Dubuque
Fewer homes sit empty, though it is noisier.
Stockton
More households have young kids, though incomes run lower.
Scores across Jo Daviess County run from about the 10th to the 58th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Jo Daviess County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Jo Daviess County ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 89% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than 89% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than 72% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than 72% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 71% of counties
Where Jo Daviess County ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 2% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 5% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 10% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than only 22% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Jo Daviess County
A household needs to earn about $59,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Jo Daviess County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $74,961, 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 Jo Daviess County's effective rate of 1.62%, 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 Jo Daviess County
Jo Daviess County 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 Jo Daviess County.
Who works in Jo Daviess County, and how
Work in Jo Daviess County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Jo Daviess County
Jo Daviess County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 96% of counties and more parkland per resident than 96% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Jo Daviess County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Jo Daviess County growing, and who is moving in?
Jo Daviess County has lost about 4% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Chicago, IL.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Jo Daviess County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Jo Daviess County, month by month
Jo Daviess County sees roughly 82 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 30, with lows near 12. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 30° | 21° | 12° |
| April | 60° | 47° | 35° |
| July | 84° | 73° | 62° |
| October | 64° | 51° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Jo Daviess County
The nearest airport, Dubuque Regional, is about 20 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago O'Hare International, about 127 miles away.
The best schools in and around Jo Daviess County
Schools across Jo Daviess County average a C, better than 36% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Stockton Elem SchoolB · 48% proficient
- Warren Elementary SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- River Ridge Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- East Dubuque Jr HighB+ · 48% proficient
- Lena-winslow Jr High SchoolB+ · 48% proficient
- Scales Mound Jr High SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- River Ridge High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
- Galena High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Warren Jr/sr High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Jo Daviess County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Jo Daviess County 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 Jo Daviess County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Jo Daviess County suits
Common questions about living in Jo Daviess County
Is Jo Daviess County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Jo Daviess County ranks 2,034th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on civic engagement, health care access, and state infrastructure, and lowest on state finances and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Jo Daviess County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $204,077. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $74,961 median income, cost of living beats 50% of counties.
Is Jo Daviess County safe?
Jo Daviess County is safer than 35% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $318 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Jo Daviess County?
July highs average about 84 degrees, and January highs near 30 with lows near 12. That works out to about 82 pleasant days a year, more than 42% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Jo Daviess County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Galena, East Dubuque, and Stockton. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Jo Daviess County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Jo Daviess County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Jo Daviess County 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.
Jo Daviess County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Jo Daviess County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Jo Daviess County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Jo Daviess County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Jo Daviess County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Jo Daviess County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.