Best PlacesStanford, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Stanford, 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.
Stanford ranks 25,252nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cell coverage by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Stanford
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.
Stanford's strengths and weaknesses
Where Stanford ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 92% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 88% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 84% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 80% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 77% of towns
Where Stanford ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 2% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,403 a month, better than only 6% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Stanford
A household needs to earn about $44,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Stanford home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $84,751, 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 Stanford's effective rate of 2.07%, 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 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Stanford
Stanford's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Stanford.
Who works in Stanford, and how
Work in Stanford centers on education and wholesale trade. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Stanford
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Stanford.
What the weather is like in Stanford, month by month
Stanford sees roughly 81 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 Stanford
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 120 miles away.
The best schools in and around Stanford
Schools across Stanford average a C, better than 28% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Olympia North Elem SchC · 35% proficient
- Olympia West Elem SchC · 33% proficient
- Olympia South Elem SchC− · 28% proficient
Top middle schools
- Olympia Middle SchoolD+ · 26% proficient
Top high schools
- Olympia High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Stanford school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Stanford 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 Stanford against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Stanford
Is Stanford a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Stanford ranks 25,252nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cell coverage, fast internet, and population health, and lowest on property taxes and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Stanford expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $144,474. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $84,751 median income, cost of living beats 65% of towns.
Is Stanford safe?
Stanford is safer than 44% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $247 per resident a year.
Compare Stanford with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Stanford. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Stanford 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.
Stanford detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Stanford: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Stanford: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Stanford: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Stanford: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Stanford 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.