Best PlacesSpeer, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Speer, 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.
Speer ranks 24,555th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Speer
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.
Speer's strengths and weaknesses
Where Speer ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 96% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 92% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 87% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 85% of towns
- Household income$94,297 median, better than 81% of towns
Where Speer ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 5% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Speer
A household needs to earn about $48,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Speer home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $94,297, 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 Speer's effective rate of 1.83%, 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 Speer
Speer 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 Speer.
Who works in Speer, and how
Work in Speer centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Speer
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Speer.
What the weather is like in Speer, month by month
Speer sees roughly 87 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 33, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 33° | 25° | 19° |
| April | 62° | 50° | 41° |
| July | 84° | 74° | 66° |
| October | 65° | 54° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Speer
The nearest airport, General Downing - Peoria International, is about 23 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago Midway International, about 113 miles away.
The best schools in and around Speer
Schools across Speer average a D+, better than 15% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Princeville Elem SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Midland Elementary SchoolD · 20% proficient
- Stark County Elem SchD · 20% proficient
Top middle schools
- Midland Middle SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Stark County Junior High SchoolF · 13% proficient
Top high schools
- Princeville High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
- Midland High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Stark County High SchoolD · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Speer school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Speer 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 Speer against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Speer
Is Speer a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Speer ranks 24,555th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, what local pay buys, and a stable housing market, and lowest on tree cover and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Speer expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $159,769. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $94,297 median income, cost of living beats 92% of towns.
Is Speer safe?
Speer is safer than 34% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $279 per resident a year.
Compare Speer with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Speer. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Speer 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.
Speer detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Speer: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Speer: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Speer: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Speer: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Speer 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.