Best PlacesRantoul, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Rantoul, 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.
Rantoul ranks 41,173rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and the schools rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Rantoul
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.
Rantoul's strengths and weaknesses
Where Rantoul ranks high
- BikingBetter than 98% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 96% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 95% of towns
- TransitBetter than 92% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 91% of towns
Where Rantoul ranks low
- School gradeF, better than only 1% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 2% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 57 pleasant days a year, better than only 4% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Rantoul
A household needs to earn about $36,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rantoul home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $54,976, 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 Rantoul's effective rate of 2.14%, 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 Rantoul
Rantoul 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 Rantoul.
Who works in Rantoul, and how
Work in Rantoul centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Rantoul
Rantoul has more restaurants and bars per resident than 74% of towns and more parkland per resident than 90% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Rantoul and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Rantoul, month by month
Rantoul 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 Rantoul
The nearest airport, University of Illinois/Willard, is about 20 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago Midway International, about 104 miles away.
The best schools in and around Rantoul
Schools across Rantoul average an F, 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
- Prairieview-ogden Jr High SchB · 45% proficient
- Paxton-buckley-loda Jr High SchC+ · 37% proficient
- J W Eater Jr High SchoolF · 4% 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 Rantoul school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rantoul 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 Rantoul against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Rantoul
Is Rantoul a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rantoul ranks 41,173rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on biking, cell coverage, and walkability, and lowest on the schools and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Rantoul expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $117,620. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $54,976 median income, cost of living beats 22% of towns.
Is Rantoul safe?
Rantoul is safer than 21% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $353 per resident a year.
Compare Rantoul with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rantoul. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rantoul 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.
Rantoul detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rantoul: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rantoul: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rantoul: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rantoul: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rantoul 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.