Best PlacesSaunemin, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Saunemin, 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.
Saunemin ranks 26,799th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Taxes pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on big-city access.
The best neighborhoods in Saunemin
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.
Saunemin's strengths and weaknesses
Where Saunemin ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 86% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 83% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 80% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 77% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 76% of towns
Where Saunemin ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 58 pleasant days a year, better than only 6% of towns
- School gradeD, better than only 10% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 11% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Saunemin
A household needs to earn about $41,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Saunemin home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $79,858, 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 Saunemin's effective rate of 1.48%, 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 3 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Saunemin
Saunemin runs younger than the country, though it still carries a larger-than-average share of residents over 65.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Saunemin.
Who works in Saunemin, and how
Work in Saunemin centers on manufacturing and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 96%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Saunemin
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Saunemin.
What the weather is like in Saunemin, month by month
Saunemin sees roughly 58 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 26° | 20° |
| April | 63° | 51° | 41° |
| July | 85° | 74° | 65° |
| October | 67° | 55° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Saunemin
The nearest airport, Central Il Regional/Bloomington- Normal, is about 39 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago Midway International, about 71 miles away.
The best schools in and around Saunemin
Schools across Saunemin average a D, better than 10% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Saunemin Elem SchoolD · 20% proficient
- Tri Point Elementary SchoolD− · 16% proficient
Top middle schools
- Tri-point Jr High/elementaryD · 23% proficient
Top high schools
- Pontiac High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Tri-point High SchoolF · 11% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Saunemin school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Saunemin 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 Saunemin against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Saunemin
Is Saunemin a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Saunemin ranks 26,799th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, low disaster risk, and few empty homes, and lowest on taxes and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Saunemin expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $144,174. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $79,858 median income, cost of living beats 67% of towns.
Is Saunemin safe?
Saunemin is safer than 39% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $258 per resident a year.
Compare Saunemin with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Saunemin. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Saunemin 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.
Saunemin detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Saunemin: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Saunemin: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Saunemin: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Saunemin: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Saunemin 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.