Best PlacesRodden, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Rodden, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Rodden ranks 23,551st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and biking ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Rodden
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.
Rodden's strengths and weaknesses
Where Rodden ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 99% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 87% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 80% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 77% of towns
Where Rodden ranks low
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 9% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Rodden
A household needs to earn about $66,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rodden home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $81,250, 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 Rodden's effective rate of 1.28%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Rodden
Rodden runs older 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 Rodden.
Who works in Rodden, and how
Work in Rodden centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Rodden
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Rodden.
What the weather is like in Rodden, month by month
Rodden sees roughly 87 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 30, with lows near 12. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 30° | 21° | 12° |
| April | 60° | 47° | 35° |
| July | 84° | 73° | 62° |
| October | 64° | 51° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Rodden
The nearest airport, Dubuque Regional, is about 18 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago O'Hare International, about 128 miles away.
The best schools in and around Rodden
Schools across Rodden average a C, better than 35% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- River Ridge Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Galena Primary SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Galena Middle SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- River Ridge Middle SchoolD · 23% proficient
Top high schools
- River Ridge High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
- Galena High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Rodden school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rodden 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 Rodden against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Rodden
Is Rodden a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rodden ranks 23,551st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, health care access, and tree cover, and lowest on biking and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Rodden expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $236,100. The overall cost of living runs about 6% above the national average. Set against a $81,250 median income, cost of living beats 43% of towns.
Is Rodden safe?
Yes, Rodden is safer than 77% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $174 per resident a year.
Compare Rodden with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rodden. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rodden 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.
Rodden detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rodden: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rodden: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rodden: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rodden: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rodden 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.