Best PlacesLake Fork, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lake Fork, 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.
Lake Fork ranks 24,279th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and the weather ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Lake Fork
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.
Lake Fork's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lake Fork ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 96% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 94% of towns
- Household income$103,257 median, better than 87% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 85% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 83% of towns
Where Lake Fork ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 54 pleasant days a year, better than only 2% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 6% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Lake Fork
A household needs to earn about $38,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lake Fork home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $103,257, 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 Lake Fork's effective rate of 1.58%, 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 Lake Fork
Lake Fork 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 Lake Fork.
Who works in Lake Fork, and how
Work in Lake Fork centers on public administration and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Lake Fork
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Lake Fork.
What the weather is like in Lake Fork, month by month
Lake Fork sees roughly 54 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37° | 29° | 22° |
| April | 65° | 53° | 43° |
| July | 87° | 76° | 67° |
| October | 69° | 57° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Lake Fork
The nearest airport, Abraham Lincoln Capital, is about 20 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 101 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lake Fork
Schools across Lake Fork average a D+, better than 13% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Mount Pulaski Elem SchoolD · 19% proficient
Top high schools
- Mount Pulaski High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lake Fork school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lake Fork 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 Lake Fork against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lake Fork
Is Lake Fork a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lake Fork ranks 24,279th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, what local pay buys, and high incomes, and lowest on the weather and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lake Fork expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $130,901. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $103,257 median income, cost of living beats 94% of towns.
Is Lake Fork safe?
Yes, Lake Fork is safer than 63% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $204 per resident a year.
Compare Lake Fork with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lake Fork. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lake Fork 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.
Lake Fork detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lake Fork: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lake Fork: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lake Fork: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lake Fork: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lake Fork 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.