Best PlacesSycamore, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Sycamore, 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.
Sycamore ranks 6,538th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Sycamore
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.
Sycamore's strengths and weaknesses
Where Sycamore ranks high
- BikingBetter than 97% of towns
- TransitBetter than 95% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 94% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 93% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 93% of towns
Where Sycamore ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,236 a month, better than only 13% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Sycamore
A household needs to earn about $88,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sycamore home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $99,788, 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 Sycamore's effective rate of 2.27%, 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 Sycamore
Sycamore runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Sycamore.
Who works in Sycamore, and how
Work in Sycamore centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Sycamore
Sycamore has more restaurants and bars per resident than 74% of towns and more parkland per resident than 94% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Sycamore and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Sycamore, month by month
Sycamore sees roughly 73 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 30, with lows near 17. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 30° | 23° | 17° |
| April | 59° | 47° | 38° |
| July | 83° | 73° | 64° |
| October | 63° | 52° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Sycamore
The nearest airport, Chicago/Rockford International, is about 25 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago O'Hare International, about 40 miles away.
The best schools in and around Sycamore
Schools across Sycamore average a C−, better than 22% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- North Grove Elementary SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
- Southeast Elem SchoolC · 35% proficient
- North Elementary SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Prairie Knolls Middle SchB− · 43% proficient
- Genoa-kingston Middle SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Kaneland Harter Middle SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Central High SchoolB− · 45% proficient
- Kaneland Senior High SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
- Sycamore High SchoolC · 33% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sycamore school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sycamore 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 Sycamore against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Sycamore suits
Families
Schools land around the 22nd percentile and crime safety beats 78%.
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 82% of towns, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 13% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Sycamore
Is Sycamore a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sycamore ranks 6,538th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on biking, transit, and fast internet, 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 Sycamore expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $280,569. The overall cost of living runs about 5% below the national average. Set against a $99,788 median income, cost of living beats 82% of towns.
Is Sycamore safe?
Yes, Sycamore is safer than 78% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $179 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Sycamore?
July highs average about 83 degrees, and January highs near 30 with lows near 17. That works out to about 73 pleasant days a year, more than 32% of towns.
Is Sycamore good for families?
Schools beat 22% of towns, crime safety beats 78%, and childcare runs $1,236 a month.
Compare Sycamore with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sycamore. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sycamore 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.
Sycamore detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sycamore: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sycamore: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sycamore: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sycamore: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sycamore 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.