Best PlacesThe Galena Territory, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around The Galena Territory, 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.
The Galena Territory ranks 22,326th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in The Galena Territory
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.
The Galena Territory's strengths and weaknesses
Where The Galena Territory ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 98% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 95% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 93% of towns
- Household income$111,585 median, better than 90% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 89% of towns
Where The Galena Territory ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in The Galena Territory
A household needs to earn about $99,000 a year to comfortably buy the median The Galena Territory home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $111,585, 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 The Galena Territory's effective rate of 1.33%, 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 The Galena Territory
The Galena Territory 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 The Galena Territory.
Who works in The Galena Territory, and how
Work in The Galena Territory centers on finance & insurance and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 56%
- Work from home 34%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in The Galena Territory
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across The Galena Territory.
What the weather is like in The Galena Territory, month by month
The Galena Territory sees roughly 86 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 30, with lows near 12. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 30° | 21° | 12° |
| April | 60° | 47° | 35° |
| July | 84° | 73° | 62° |
| October | 64° | 51° | 40° |
Flying in and out of The Galena Territory
The nearest airport, Dubuque Regional, is about 20 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago O'Hare International, about 127 miles away.
The best schools in and around The Galena Territory
Schools across The Galena Territory average a C, better than 30% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- River Ridge Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Galena Primary SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Scales Mound Elem SchoolD− · 16% proficient
Top middle schools
- Scales Mound Jr High SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Galena Middle SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- River Ridge Middle SchoolD · 23% proficient
Top high schools
- River Ridge High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
- Galena High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Scales Mound High SchoolD · 21% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every The Galena Territory school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
The Galena Territory 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 The Galena Territory against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in The Galena Territory
Is The Galena Territory a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, The Galena Territory ranks 22,326th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on health care access, an educated workforce, and civic engagement, and lowest on an overheated housing market and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is The Galena Territory expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $354,502. The overall cost of living runs about 2% above the national average. Set against a $111,585 median income, cost of living beats 89% of towns.
Is The Galena Territory safe?
The Galena Territory is safer than 10% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $445 per resident a year.
Compare The Galena Territory with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to The Galena Territory. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in The Galena Territory 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.
The Galena Territory detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for The Galena Territory: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in The Galena Territory: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of The Galena Territory: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in The Galena Territory: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
The Galena Territory 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.