Best PlacesOnarga, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Onarga, 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.
Onarga ranks 27,581st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and education levels rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Onarga
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.
Onarga's strengths and weaknesses
Where Onarga ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 96% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 95% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 88% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 86% of towns
- Short commute22.1 minutes each way, better than 79% of towns
Where Onarga ranks low
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 2% 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 8% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 11% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Onarga
A household needs to earn about $33,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Onarga home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $76,538, 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 Onarga's effective rate of 1.60%, 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 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Onarga
Onarga'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 Onarga.
Who works in Onarga, and how
Work in Onarga centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 95%
- Work from home 2%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Onarga
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Onarga.
What the weather is like in Onarga, month by month
Onarga 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 Onarga
The nearest airport, University of Illinois/Willard, is about 49 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago Midway International, about 75 miles away.
The best schools in and around Onarga
Schools across Onarga average a C, better than 34% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Iroquois West Elem School/gilmanA− · 60% proficient
- Clara Peterson Elem SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Paxton-buckley-loda Jr High SchC+ · 37% proficient
- Iroquois West Middle SchoolD · 23% proficient
Top high schools
- Paxton-buckley-loda High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Cissna Park Sr High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Iroquois West High SchoolD− · 15% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Onarga school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Onarga 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 Onarga against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Onarga
Is Onarga a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Onarga ranks 27,581st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on fast internet, a stable housing market, and walkability, and lowest on education levels and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Onarga expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $113,980. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $76,538 median income, cost of living beats 71% of towns.
Is Onarga safe?
Onarga is safer than 24% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $327 per resident a year.
Compare Onarga with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Onarga. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Onarga 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.
Onarga detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Onarga: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Onarga: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Onarga: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Onarga: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Onarga 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.