Best PlacesPenrose, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Penrose, 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.
Penrose ranks 14,334th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on few empty homes by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Penrose
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.
Penrose's strengths and weaknesses
Where Penrose ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 95% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 90% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 88% of towns
- Short commute20.8 minutes each way, better than 85% of towns
- Household income$100,028 median, better than 85% of towns
Where Penrose ranks low
- 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
- Internet speedBetter than only 9% of towns
- School gradeD+, better than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Penrose
A household needs to earn about $69,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Penrose home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $100,028, 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 Penrose'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 and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Penrose
Penrose runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Penrose.
Who works in Penrose, and how
Work in Penrose centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 93%
- Work from home 2%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Penrose
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Penrose.
What the weather is like in Penrose, month by month
Penrose sees roughly 84 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 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 | 62° | 49° | 39° |
| July | 84° | 74° | 64° |
| October | 64° | 53° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Penrose
The nearest airport, Chicago/Rockford International, is about 36 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago O'Hare International, about 90 miles away.
The best schools in and around Penrose
Schools across Penrose average a D+, better than 14% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Eastland Elementary SchoolB · 48% proficient
- Chadwick-milledgeville Elem SchC+ · 38% proficient
- Centennial Elem SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Aplington Middle SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Challand Middle SchoolD− · 17% proficient
Top high schools
- Chadwick-milledgeville Jr HsC · 33% proficient
- Sterling High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Polo Comm High SchoolF · 11% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Penrose school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Penrose 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 Penrose against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Penrose
Is Penrose a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Penrose ranks 14,334th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on few empty homes, what local pay buys, and a stable housing market, and lowest on taxes and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Penrose expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $239,035. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $100,028 median income, cost of living beats 90% of towns.
Is Penrose safe?
Yes, Penrose is safer than 58% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $220 per resident a year.
Compare Penrose with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Penrose. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Penrose 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.
Penrose detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Penrose: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Penrose: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Penrose: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Penrose: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Penrose 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.