Best PlacesLudlow, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ludlow, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Ludlow ranks 40,289th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. The schools pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on big-city access.
The best neighborhoods in Ludlow
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.
Ludlow's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ludlow ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 78% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 77% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 74% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 74% of towns
- Short commute23.2 minutes each way, better than 73% of towns
Where Ludlow ranks low
- School gradeD−, better than only 1% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 57 pleasant days a year, better than only 5% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ludlow
A household needs to earn about $43,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ludlow home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $78,983, 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 Ludlow's effective rate of 1.83%, 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 Ludlow
Ludlow'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 Ludlow.
Who works in Ludlow, and how
Work in Ludlow centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Ludlow
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Ludlow.
What the weather is like in Ludlow, month by month
Ludlow sees roughly 57 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 27° | 21° |
| April | 64° | 52° | 42° |
| July | 85° | 75° | 66° |
| October | 68° | 56° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Ludlow
The nearest airport, University of Illinois/Willard, is about 25 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago Midway International, about 99 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ludlow
Schools across Ludlow average a D−, better than 1% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Gifford Grade SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Fisher Grade SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Clara Peterson Elem SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Paxton-buckley-loda Jr High SchC+ · 37% proficient
Top high schools
- Fisher Jr/sr High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Paxton-buckley-loda High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Armstrong High SchoolD− · 16% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ludlow school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ludlow 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 Ludlow against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Ludlow
Is Ludlow a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ludlow ranks 40,289th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, state infrastructure, and cell coverage, and lowest on the schools and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Ludlow expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $143,336. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $78,983 median income, cost of living beats 61% of towns.
Is Ludlow safe?
Ludlow is safer than 33% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $283 per resident a year.
Compare Ludlow with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ludlow. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ludlow 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.
Ludlow detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ludlow: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ludlow: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ludlow: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ludlow: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ludlow 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.