Best PlacesKankakee County, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Kankakee County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Kankakee County ranks 1,452nd of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on property taxes and state finances. It does better on big-city access, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in Kankakee 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 Kankakee County
The parts of Kankakee 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.
Bourbonnais
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and it is quieter.
Manteno
Fewer homes sit empty, though fewer households have young kids.
Momence & Grant Park
Crime runs lower, though advertised internet is slower.
St. Anne
More residents vote, though streets are more car-dependent.
Kankakee & Bradley
Health care is harder to reach and fewer adults hold degrees.
Kankakee County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 2% of the country and others in the top 6%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Kankakee County's strengths and weaknesses
Kankakee County lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Big-city access, cell coverage, and low disaster risk carry most of that.
The one real hole is property taxes, near the bottom of the country. State finances and taxes also cost it ground. Cost swings more from one part of Kankakee County to another than it does between Kankakee County and its neighbors, which the map below shows.
Where Kankakee County ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 96% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 93% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 90% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than 89% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than 83% of counties
Where Kankakee County ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 1% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 2% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of counties
- School gradeD, better than only 6% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 12% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Kankakee County
A household needs to earn about $60,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Kankakee County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $78,268, 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 Kankakee County's effective rate of 2.06%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Kankakee County
Kankakee County's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Kankakee County.
Who works in Kankakee County, and how
Work in Kankakee County centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Kankakee County
Kankakee County has more parkland per resident than 68% of counties and less late-night activity than most counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Kankakee County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Kankakee County growing, and who is moving in?
Kankakee County has lost about 5% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Chicago, IL.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Kankakee County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Kankakee County, month by month
Kankakee County sees roughly 71 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 33, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 33° | 26° | 20° |
| April | 62° | 50° | 40° |
| July | 84° | 74° | 65° |
| October | 66° | 55° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Kankakee County
Chicago Midway International sits about 44 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 9.4 million passengers in 2025, with 113 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Kankakee County
Schools across Kankakee County average a D, better than 6% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Herscher Intermediate SchB− · 43% proficient
- Reed-custer Elementary SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- St George Elem SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Manteno Middle SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Reed-custer Middle SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Limestone Middle SchC− · 29% proficient
Top high schools
- Herscher High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Peotone High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Gardner-south Wilmington Twp H SD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Kankakee County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Kankakee 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 Kankakee County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Kankakee County suits
Families
Schools land around the 6th percentile and crime safety beats 76%.
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 82% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 9% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Kankakee County
Is Kankakee County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Kankakee County ranks 1,452nd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on big-city access, cell coverage, and low disaster risk, and lowest on property 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 Kankakee County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $194,644. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $78,268 median income, cost of living beats 82% of counties.
Is Kankakee County safe?
Yes, Kankakee County is safer than 76% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $233 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Kankakee County?
July highs average about 84 degrees, and January highs near 33 with lows near 20. That works out to about 71 pleasant days a year, more than 22% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Kankakee County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Bourbonnais, Manteno, and Momence & Grant Park. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Kankakee County good for families?
Schools beat 6% of counties, crime safety beats 76%, and childcare runs $857 a month.
Is Kankakee County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 82% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 89% of counties. About 9% of workers already work from home.
Compare Kankakee County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Kankakee County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Kankakee 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.
Kankakee County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Kankakee County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Kankakee County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Kankakee County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Kankakee County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Kankakee 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.