Best PlacesPeoria, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Peoria metro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Photo by Scott Tranchitella from West Peoria, Illinois, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via commons
Peoria ranks 256th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on state finances and taxes. It does better on a stable housing market, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in the Peoria metro
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.
The best areas in Peoria
The towns and districts of the Peoria metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Chillicothe
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and crime runs lower.
Morton & Mackinaw
Schools score higher, though biking is worse.
Washington & Eureka
Prices have run up less and more adults hold degrees.
Dunlap, Princeville & Brimfield
More households have young kids, though tree cover is thinner.
Metamora, Henry & Lacon
Commutes are longer and transit reaches fewer jobs.
Creve Coeur, Marquette Heights & Tremont
Scores close to Metamora, Henry & Lacon, except that big-city amenities are further off here.
Bellevue, West Peoria & Hanna City
Fewer homes sit empty, though it is noisier.
Pekin & Bartonville
Homes cost less.
Downtown Peoria
Streets are more walkable, though fewer residents vote.
Peoria shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 1% of the country and others in the top 2%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Peoria's strengths and weaknesses
Peoria lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. A stable housing market, short commutes, and state infrastructure carry most of that.
The one real hole is state finances, near the bottom of the country. Taxes and property taxes also cost it ground. The detail is below, and the map is where it turns into a choice of neighborhood rather than just a place.
Where Peoria ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 87% of metro areas
- Short commute20.8 minutes each way, better than 78% of metro areas
- State infrastructureBetter than 76% of metro areas
- Voter turnoutBetter than 75% of metro areas
- TransitBetter than 70% of metro areas
Where Peoria ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 2% of metro areas
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 2% of metro areas
- Low property taxBetter than only 2% of metro areas
- Nice weatherabout 62 pleasant days a year, better than only 8% of metro areas
- Local economyBetter than only 12% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Peoria
A household needs to earn about $54,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Peoria home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $82,160, 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 Peoria's effective rate of 2.04%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Peoria
Peoria's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Peoria.
Who works in Peoria, and how
Work in Peoria centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Peoria
Peoria has more parkland per resident than 82% of metro areas. That concentrates in some parts of Peoria and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Peoria growing, and who is moving in?
Peoria has lost about 4% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Chicago, IL.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Peoria go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Peoria, month by month
Peoria sees roughly 62 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 36, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36° | 27° | 18° |
| April | 66° | 52° | 40° |
| July | 88° | 77° | 66° |
| October | 70° | 56° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Peoria
The nearest airport, General Downing - Peoria International, is about 6 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago Midway International, about 121 miles away.
The best schools in and around Peoria
Schools across Peoria average a C−, better than 12% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Hickory Grove Elementary SchoolA · 67% proficient
- Ridgeview Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Wilder-waite Grade SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
Top middle schools
- Reservoir Gifted SchoolA+ · 81% proficient
- Dunlap Middle SchoolA+ · 68% proficient
- Dunlap Valley Middle SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
Top high schools
- Dunlap High SchoolB+ · 57% proficient
- Metamora High SchoolB · 46% proficient
- Richwoods High SchoolC · 33% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Peoria school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Peoria 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 Peoria against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Peoria suits
Common questions about living in Peoria
Is Peoria a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Peoria ranks 256th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on a stable housing market, short commutes, and state infrastructure, and lowest on state finances and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Peoria expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $178,071. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $82,160 median income, cost of living beats 68% of metro areas.
Is Peoria safe?
Peoria is safer than 43% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $285 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Peoria?
July highs average about 88 degrees, and January highs near 36 with lows near 18. That works out to about 62 pleasant days a year, more than 8% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Peoria?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Chillicothe, Morton & Mackinaw, and Washington & Eureka. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Peoria good for families?
Schools beat 12% of metro areas, crime safety beats 43%, and childcare runs $1,085 a month.
Is Peoria good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 68% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 13% of metro areas. About 11% of workers already work from home.
Compare Peoria with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Peoria. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Peoria 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.
Peoria detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Peoria: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Peoria: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Peoria: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Peoria: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Peoria 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.