Best PlacesKnox County, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Knox 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.
Knox County ranks 2,309th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and state finances rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Knox 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 Knox County
The parts of Knox 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.
Knoxville
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and it is quieter.
Galesburg
Fewer households have young kids and fewer residents vote.
Abingdon
Commutes are longer and crime runs higher.
Scores across Knox County run from about the 4th to the 75th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Knox County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Knox County ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 90% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 85% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 83% of counties
- TransitBetter than 81% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than 78% of counties
Where Knox County ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 2% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 3% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 4% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,319 a month, better than only 6% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Knox County
A household needs to earn about $38,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Knox County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $60,994, 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 Knox County's effective rate of 1.84%, 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 Knox County
Knox 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 Knox County.
Who works in Knox County, and how
Work in Knox County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Knox County
Knox County has more parkland per resident than 76% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Knox County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Knox County growing, and who is moving in?
Knox County has lost about 6% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Chicago, IL.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Knox County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Knox County, month by month
Knox County sees roughly 69 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 32, with lows near 17. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 32° | 24° | 17° |
| April | 63° | 50° | 40° |
| July | 85° | 74° | 65° |
| October | 65° | 53° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Knox County
The nearest airport, Quad Cities International, is about 36 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago O'Hare International, about 144 miles away.
The best schools in and around Knox County
Schools across Knox County average a D, better than 7% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Spoon River Valley Elem SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Williamsfield Elem SchoolC · 31% proficient
- United Elem Sch - NorthC− · 28% proficient
Top middle schools
- Farmington Central Jr High SchC− · 30% proficient
- Spoon River Valley Jr High SchC− · 30% proficient
- Williamsfield Middle SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Knoxville Sr High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- R O W V A Jr And Sr High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Galesburg Senior High SchoolD · 22% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Knox County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Knox 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 Knox County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Knox County suits
Families
Schools land around the 7th percentile and crime safety beats 78%.
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 7% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Knox County
Is Knox County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Knox County ranks 2,309th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on fast internet, cell coverage, and a stable housing market, and lowest on state finances and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Knox County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $128,350. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $60,994 median income, cost of living beats 26% of counties.
Is Knox County safe?
Yes, Knox County is safer than 78% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $211 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Knox County?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 32 with lows near 17. That works out to about 69 pleasant days a year, more than 20% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Knox County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Knoxville, Galesburg, and Abingdon. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Knox County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Knox County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Knox 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.
Knox County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Knox County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Knox County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Knox County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Knox County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Knox 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.