Best PlacesSabina, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Sabina, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Sabina ranks 12,671st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on few empty homes by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Sabina
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.
Sabina's strengths and weaknesses
Where Sabina ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 95% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 90% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 90% of towns
- Household income$108,502 median, better than 89% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 89% of towns
Where Sabina ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 4% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,405 a month, better than only 6% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Sabina
A household needs to earn about $76,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sabina home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $108,502, 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 Sabina's effective rate of 1.94%, 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 Sabina
Sabina'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 Sabina.
Who works in Sabina, and how
Work in Sabina centers on finance & insurance and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Sabina
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Sabina.
What the weather is like in Sabina, month by month
Sabina sees roughly 83 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 26° | 20° |
| April | 63° | 51° | 41° |
| July | 85° | 75° | 66° |
| October | 66° | 55° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Sabina
The nearest airport, Central Il Regional/Bloomington- Normal, is about 16 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago Midway International, about 110 miles away.
The best schools in and around Sabina
Schools across Sabina average a C−, better than 25% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Leroy Elementary SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
- Ruth M Schneider Elem SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Leroy Junior High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Blue Ridge Intermediate-jr HsD− · 15% proficient
Top high schools
- Leroy High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Blue Ridge High SchoolD · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sabina school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sabina 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 Sabina against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Sabina
Is Sabina a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sabina ranks 12,671st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on few empty homes, an educated workforce, and what local pay buys, and lowest on taxes and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Sabina expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $250,900. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $108,502 median income, cost of living beats 90% of towns.
Is Sabina safe?
Yes, Sabina is safer than 87% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $151 per resident a year.
Compare Sabina with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sabina. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sabina 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.
Sabina detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sabina: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sabina: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sabina: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sabina: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sabina 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.