Best PlacesAlexander County, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Alexander County, 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.
Alexander County ranks 3,084th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and the schools rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Alexander County
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.
Alexander County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Alexander County ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 97% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 83% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than 72% of counties
- BikingBetter than 67% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than 65% of counties
Where Alexander County ranks low
- School gradeF, better than only 1% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 2% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than only 4% of counties
- Local economyBetter than only 6% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Alexander County
A household needs to earn about $20,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Alexander County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $51,456, 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 Alexander County's effective rate of 1.19%, 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 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Alexander County
Alexander County runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Alexander County.
Who works in Alexander County, and how
Work in Alexander County centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Alexander County
Alexander County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 98% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Alexander County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Alexander County growing, and who is moving in?
Alexander County has lost about 35% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Cape Girardeau, MO metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Alexander County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Alexander County, month by month
Alexander County sees roughly 59 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 29. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44° | 36° | 29° |
| April | 70° | 59° | 49° |
| July | 89° | 79° | 71° |
| October | 73° | 60° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Alexander County
The nearest airport, Cape Girardeau Regional, is about 16 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 125 miles away.
The best schools in and around Alexander County
Schools across Alexander County average an F, better than 1% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Century Elementary SchoolD− · 11% proficient
- Shawnee Elementary SchoolF · 8% proficient
- Cairo Elementary SchoolF · 5% proficient
Top middle schools
- Shawnee Jr High SchoolF · 11% proficient
- Dongola Jr High SchoolF · 5% proficient
- Egyptian Jr High SchoolF · 4% proficient
Top high schools
- Egyptian Sr High SchoolD− · 16% proficient
- Shawnee High SchoolF · 10% proficient
- Meridian High SchoolF · 5% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Alexander County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Alexander County 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 Alexander County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Alexander County
Is Alexander County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Alexander County ranks 3,084th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on fast internet, a stable housing market, and state infrastructure, and lowest on the schools and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Alexander County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $71,072. The overall cost of living runs about 24% below the national average. Set against a $51,456 median income, cost of living beats 23% of counties.
Is Alexander County safe?
Alexander County is safer than 4% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $615 per resident a year.
Compare Alexander County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Alexander County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Alexander County 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.
Alexander County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Alexander County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Alexander County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Alexander County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Alexander County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Alexander County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.