Best PlacesUnion, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Union, 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.
Union ranks 14,314th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on big-city access by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Union
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.
Union's strengths and weaknesses
Where Union ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 94% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 91% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 90% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 90% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 90% of towns
Where Union 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
- Cheap childcare$1,371 a month, better than only 7% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 13% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Union
A household needs to earn about $103,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Union home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $102,150; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Union's effective rate of 2.04%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Union
Union runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Union.
Who works in Union, and how
Work in Union centers on construction and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Union
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Union.
What the weather is like in Union, month by month
Union 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 Union
The nearest airport, Chicago/Rockford International, is about 29 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago O'Hare International, about 36 miles away.
The best schools in and around Union
Schools across Union average a C, better than 38% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Leggee Elementary SchoolB · 46% proficient
- Locust Elem SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Riley Comm Cons SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- Creekside Middle SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Marlowe Middle SchoolC · 31% proficient
- Heineman Middle SchoolC− · 29% proficient
Top high schools
- Huntley High SchoolB · 48% proficient
- Marengo High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
- Woodstock High SchoolC · 34% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Union school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Union 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 Union against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Union
Is Union a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Union ranks 14,314th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, cell coverage, 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 Union expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $336,672. The overall cost of living runs about 2% below the national average. Set against a $102,150 median income, cost of living beats 83% of towns.
Is Union safe?
Yes, Union is safer than 75% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $195 per resident a year.
Compare Union with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Union. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Union 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.
Union detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Union: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Union: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Union: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Union: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Union 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.