Best PlacesLively Grove, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lively Grove, 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.
Lively Grove ranks 25,583rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. The weather pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on a stable housing market.
The best neighborhoods in Lively Grove
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.
Lively Grove's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lively Grove ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 85% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 84% of towns
- QuietBetter than 82% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 80% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 77% of towns
Where Lively Grove ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 48 pleasant days a year, better than only 1% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 9% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 9% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Lively Grove
A household needs to earn about $54,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lively Grove home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $78,296, 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 Lively Grove's effective rate of 1.56%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Lively Grove
Lively Grove 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 Lively Grove.
Who works in Lively Grove, and how
Work in Lively Grove centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Lively Grove
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Lively Grove.
What the weather is like in Lively Grove, month by month
Lively Grove sees roughly 48 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 33° | 25° |
| April | 69° | 56° | 45° |
| July | 89° | 78° | 69° |
| October | 73° | 59° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Lively Grove
The nearest airport, Scott AFB/Midamerica St Louis, is about 21 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 51 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lively Grove
Schools across Lively Grove average a C−, better than 20% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Okawville Grade SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Okawville Jr/sr High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lively Grove school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lively Grove 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 Lively Grove against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lively Grove
Is Lively Grove a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lively Grove ranks 25,583rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, civic engagement, and quiet, 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 Lively Grove expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $186,105. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $78,296 median income, cost of living beats 69% of towns.
Is Lively Grove safe?
Yes, Lively Grove is safer than 80% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $168 per resident a year.
Compare Lively Grove with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lively Grove. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lively Grove 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.
Lively Grove detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lively Grove: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lively Grove: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lively Grove: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lively Grove: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lively Grove 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.