Best PlacesTomahawk Bluff, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Tomahawk Bluff, 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.
Tomahawk Bluff ranks 12,883rd 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 Tomahawk Bluff
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.
Tomahawk Bluff's strengths and weaknesses
Where Tomahawk Bluff ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 95% of towns
- Household income$114,583 median, better than 92% of towns
- Short commute19.2 minutes each way, better than 90% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 88% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 87% of towns
Where Tomahawk Bluff ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 7% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 9% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Tomahawk Bluff
A household needs to earn about $82,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Tomahawk Bluff home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $114,583, 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 Tomahawk Bluff's effective rate of 1.51%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Tomahawk Bluff
Tomahawk Bluff runs older than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Tomahawk Bluff.
Who works in Tomahawk Bluff, and how
Work in Tomahawk Bluff centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Tomahawk Bluff
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Tomahawk Bluff.
What the weather is like in Tomahawk Bluff, month by month
Tomahawk Bluff sees roughly 74 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 October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 33° | 26° | 19° |
| April | 63° | 51° | 41° |
| July | 84° | 75° | 66° |
| October | 66° | 55° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Tomahawk Bluff
The nearest airport, Chicago/Rockford International, is about 55 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago O'Hare International, about 73 miles away.
The best schools in and around Tomahawk Bluff
Schools across Tomahawk Bluff average a C−, better than 18% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Waltham Elementary SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Dimmick Comm Cons Sd 175C · 33% proficient
- Northwest Elem SchoolD− · 11% proficient
Top middle schools
- Northbrook SchoolD− · 17% proficient
Top high schools
- La Salle-peru Twp High SchoolD · 21% proficient
- Mendota Twp High SchoolD− · 18% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Tomahawk Bluff school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Tomahawk Bluff 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 Tomahawk Bluff against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Tomahawk Bluff
Is Tomahawk Bluff a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Tomahawk Bluff ranks 12,883rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on what local pay buys, high incomes, and short commutes, 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 Tomahawk Bluff expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $285,400. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $114,583 median income, cost of living beats 95% of towns.
Is Tomahawk Bluff safe?
Yes, Tomahawk Bluff is safer than 72% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $181 per resident a year.
Compare Tomahawk Bluff with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Tomahawk Bluff. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Tomahawk Bluff 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.
Tomahawk Bluff detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Tomahawk Bluff: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Tomahawk Bluff: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Tomahawk Bluff: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Tomahawk Bluff: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Tomahawk Bluff 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.