Best PlacesRock City, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Rock City, 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.
Rock City ranks 18,836th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low crime by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Rock City
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.
Rock City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Rock City ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 95% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 83% of towns
- QuietBetter than 81% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 77% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 75% of towns
Where Rock City ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 17% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 20% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Rock City
A household needs to earn about $49,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rock City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $83,089, 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 Rock City's effective rate of 1.98%, 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 Rock City
Rock City runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Rock City.
Who works in Rock City, and how
Work in Rock City centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Rock City
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Rock City.
What the weather is like in Rock City, month by month
Rock City sees roughly 73 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 22° | 16° |
| April | 59° | 47° | 37° |
| July | 82° | 72° | 62° |
| October | 63° | 52° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Rock City
The nearest airport, Chicago/Rockford International, is about 24 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 Rock City
Schools across Rock City average a C+, better than 41% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Pecatonica Elem SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Orangeville Elem SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Dakota Elementary SchoolC− · 26% proficient
Top middle schools
- Pecatonica Comm Middle SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Orangeville Jr High SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Pecatonica High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
- Dakota Jr Sr High SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
- Orangeville High SchoolC · 31% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Rock City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rock City 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 Rock City against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Rock City
Is Rock City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rock City ranks 18,836th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low crime, big-city access, and quiet, and lowest on property taxes and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Rock City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $160,693. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $83,089 median income, cost of living beats 68% of towns.
Is Rock City safe?
Yes, Rock City is safer than 95% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $125 per resident a year.
Compare Rock City with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rock City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rock City 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.
Rock City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rock City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rock City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rock City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rock City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rock City 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.