Best PlacesZion, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Zion, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Zion ranks 34,444th 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 Zion
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.
Zion's strengths and weaknesses
Where Zion ranks high
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
- TransitBetter than 97% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 96% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 96% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 95% of towns
Where Zion ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- School gradeF, better than only 1% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Zion
A household needs to earn about $64,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Zion home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $70,777, 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 Zion's effective rate of 2.84%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Zion
Zion runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Zion.
Who works in Zion, and how
Work in Zion centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Zion
Zion has more restaurants and bars per resident than 90% of towns and more parkland per resident than 93% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Zion and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Zion, month by month
Zion sees roughly 93 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 32, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 32° | 25° | 19° |
| April | 56° | 46° | 37° |
| July | 83° | 73° | 65° |
| October | 63° | 54° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Zion
Chicago O'Hare International sits about 33 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 40.8 million passengers in 2025, with 305 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Zion
Schools across Zion average an F, better than 1% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- A F Ames Elem SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
- Westfield SchoolD+ · 23% proficient
- Oak Crest SchoolD · 18% proficient
Top middle schools
- L J Hauser Jr High SchoolB · 47% proficient
- North Prairie Jr HighD− · 15% proficient
- Beach Park Middle SchoolF · 12% proficient
Top high schools
- Warren Township High SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
- Zion-benton Twnshp Hi SchD− · 13% proficient
- New Tech High - Zion-benton EastF · 8% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Zion school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Zion 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 Zion against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Zion suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 8% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Zion
Is Zion a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Zion ranks 34,444th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on biking, transit, and walkability, and lowest on property taxes and the schools. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Zion expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $192,578. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $70,777 median income, cost of living beats 36% of towns.
Is Zion safe?
Zion is safer than 28% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $311 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Zion?
July highs average about 83 degrees, and January highs near 32 with lows near 19. That works out to about 93 pleasant days a year, more than 63% of towns.
Is Zion good for families?
Schools beat 1% of towns, crime safety beats 28%, and childcare runs $1,267 a month.
Compare Zion with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Zion. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Zion 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.
Zion detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Zion: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Zion: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Zion: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Zion: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Zion 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.