Best PlacesYates City, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Yates City, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Yates City ranks 34,446th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Taxes pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on civic engagement.
The best neighborhoods in Yates City
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.
Yates City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Yates City ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 81% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 78% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 77% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 71% of towns
- BikingBetter than 68% of towns
Where Yates City ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 4% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 59 pleasant days a year, better than only 7% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,309 a month, better than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Yates City
A household needs to earn about $32,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Yates City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $70,310, 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 Yates City's effective rate of 1.89%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Yates City
Yates City 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 Yates City.
Who works in Yates City, and how
Work in Yates City centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Yates City
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Yates City.
What the weather is like in Yates City, month by month
Yates City sees roughly 59 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 36, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36° | 27° | 18° |
| April | 66° | 52° | 40° |
| July | 88° | 77° | 66° |
| October | 70° | 56° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Yates City
The nearest airport, General Downing - Peoria International, is about 19 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago Midway International, about 137 miles away.
The best schools in and around Yates City
Schools across Yates City average a D+, better than 14% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Elmwood Elem SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Spoon River Valley Elem SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Williamsfield Elem SchoolC · 31% proficient
Top middle schools
- Farmington Central Jr High SchC− · 30% proficient
- Spoon River Valley Jr High SchC− · 30% proficient
- Elmwood Junior High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Elmwood High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Spoon River Valley Sr High SchD · 21% proficient
- Williamsfield High SchoolD− · 16% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Yates City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Yates City 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 Yates City against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Yates City
Is Yates City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Yates City ranks 34,446th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, a stable housing market, and state infrastructure, 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 Yates City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $106,396. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $70,310 median income, cost of living beats 53% of towns.
Is Yates City safe?
Yates City is safer than 44% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $256 per resident a year.
Compare Yates City with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Yates City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Yates City 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.
Yates City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Yates City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Yates City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Yates City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Yates City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Yates City 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.