Best Affordable Place in Illinois: Woodford County

Population: 38,676
Median family income: $73,460
Households spending more than 30 percent income on housing: 22.7 percent
Unemployment: 8.1 percent
Adult population with bachelor's degrees: 25.1 percent
Major cities: Eureka, Germantown Hills

Woodford County is a sparsely populated area in rural central Illinois. It has a low crime rate, and ratings on greatschools.org show that Eureka and Germantown Hills have highly ranked schools. The nearest big city is Peoria, located in an adjacent county with a population of more than 115,000. Among the businesses based in Peoria, is the world headquarters of tractormaker Caterpillar (CAT).