Best PlacesSunbeam, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Sunbeam, 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.
Sunbeam ranks 29,117th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on what local pay buys by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Sunbeam
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.
Sunbeam's strengths and weaknesses
Where Sunbeam ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 93% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 92% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 90% of towns
- Household income$100,686 median, better than 85% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 81% of towns
Where Sunbeam ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 6% of towns
- School gradeD, better than only 7% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Sunbeam
A household needs to earn about $35,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sunbeam home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $100,686, 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 Sunbeam's effective rate of 1.61%, 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 Sunbeam
Sunbeam runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Sunbeam.
Who works in Sunbeam, and how
Work in Sunbeam centers on retail trade and public administration. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 70%
- Work from home 21%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Sunbeam
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Sunbeam.
What the weather is like in Sunbeam, month by month
Sunbeam sees roughly 66 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 32, with lows near 17. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 32° | 24° | 17° |
| April | 63° | 50° | 40° |
| July | 85° | 74° | 65° |
| October | 65° | 53° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Sunbeam
The nearest airport, Quad Cities International, is about 26 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago O'Hare International, about 158 miles away.
The best schools in and around Sunbeam
Schools across Sunbeam average a D, better than 7% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Apollo Elem SchoolD− · 15% proficient
- United Elem Sch - WestD− · 15% proficient
Top middle schools
- Mercer County Jr High SchoolD · 22% proficient
- United Jr High SchD− · 17% proficient
Top high schools
- United High SchoolD · 20% proficient
- Mercer County High SchoolD− · 18% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sunbeam school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sunbeam 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 Sunbeam against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Sunbeam
Is Sunbeam a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sunbeam ranks 29,117th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on what local pay buys, civic engagement, and a stable housing market, 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 Sunbeam expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $122,172. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $100,686 median income, cost of living beats 93% of towns.
Is Sunbeam safe?
Sunbeam is safer than 14% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $391 per resident a year.
Compare Sunbeam with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sunbeam. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sunbeam 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.
Sunbeam detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sunbeam: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sunbeam: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sunbeam: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sunbeam: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sunbeam 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.