Best PlacesRock Island, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Rock Island, 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 Island ranks 1,746th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and the schools rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Rock Island
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 Island's strengths and weaknesses
Where Rock Island ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 99% of cities
- TransitBetter than 96% of cities
- Short commute19.0 minutes each way, better than 91% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than 89% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 87% of cities
Where Rock Island ranks low
- School gradeD−, better than only 1% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 5% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than only 6% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 6% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 6% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Rock Island
A household needs to earn about $37,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rock Island home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $62,626, 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 Island's effective rate of 2.06%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Rock Island
Rock Island'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 Rock Island.
Who works in Rock Island, and how
Work in Rock Island centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Rock Island
Rock Island has more restaurants and bars per resident than 95% of cities and more parkland per resident than 93% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Rock Island and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Rock Island, month by month
Rock Island sees roughly 62 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 25° | 16° |
| April | 66° | 51° | 39° |
| July | 88° | 76° | 65° |
| October | 69° | 55° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Rock Island
The nearest airport, Quad Cities International, is about 4 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago O'Hare International, about 141 miles away.
The best schools in and around Rock Island
Schools across Rock Island average a D−, better than 1% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Mckinley Elementary SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Eugene Field Elem SchoolD · 20% proficient
- Benjamin Franklin Elem SchoolD · 18% proficient
Top middle schools
- Sudlow IntermediateA− · 54% proficient
- Rockridge Jr High SchoolD+ · 26% proficient
- Woodrow Wilson Middle SchoolD− · 18% proficient
Top high schools
- Rockridge High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
- Rock Island High SchoolF · 11% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Rock Island school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rock Island 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 Island against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Rock Island suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 11% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Rock Island
Is Rock Island a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rock Island ranks 1,746th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on a stable housing market, transit, and short commutes, and lowest on the schools and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Rock Island expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $121,617. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $62,626 median income, cost of living beats 31% of cities.
Is Rock Island safe?
Rock Island is safer than 6% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $456 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Rock Island?
July highs average about 88 degrees, and January highs near 35 with lows near 16. That works out to about 62 pleasant days a year, more than 11% of cities.
Is Rock Island good for families?
Schools beat 1% of cities, crime safety beats 6%, and childcare runs $1,080 a month.
Compare Rock Island with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rock Island. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rock Island 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 Island detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rock Island: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rock Island: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rock Island: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rock Island: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rock Island 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.