Best PlacesPolo, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Polo, 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.
Polo ranks 25,841st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Polo
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.
Polo's strengths and weaknesses
Where Polo ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 95% of towns
- BikingBetter than 88% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 86% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 84% of towns
Where Polo 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 10% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 18% of towns
- School gradeC−, better than only 20% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Polo
A household needs to earn about $41,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Polo home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $67,687, 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 Polo's effective rate of 1.51%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Polo
Polo runs younger 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 Polo.
Who works in Polo, and how
Work in Polo centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Polo
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Polo.
What the weather is like in Polo, month by month
Polo sees roughly 81 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 Polo
The nearest airport, Chicago/Rockford International, is about 29 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago O'Hare International, about 86 miles away.
The best schools in and around Polo
Schools across Polo average a C−, better than 20% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Eastland Elementary SchoolB · 48% proficient
- Chadwick-milledgeville Elem SchC+ · 38% proficient
- Forreston Grade SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Aplington Middle SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Challand Middle SchoolD− · 17% proficient
Top high schools
- Eastland Jr/sr High SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Chadwick-milledgeville Jr HsC · 33% proficient
- Sterling High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Polo school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Polo 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 Polo against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Polo
Is Polo a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Polo ranks 25,841st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, fast internet, and biking, 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 Polo expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $141,926. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $67,687 median income, cost of living beats 57% of towns.
Is Polo safe?
Polo is safer than 18% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $368 per resident a year.
Compare Polo with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Polo. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Polo 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.
Polo detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Polo: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Polo: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Polo: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Polo: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Polo 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.