Best PlacesAlexander, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Alexander, 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.
Alexander ranks 23,419th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Alexander
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's strengths and weaknesses
Where Alexander ranks high
- Short commute19.1 minutes each way, better than 90% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 90% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 87% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 86% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 77% of towns
Where Alexander ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 58 pleasant days a year, better than only 6% of towns
- School gradeD, better than only 7% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 9% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Alexander
A household needs to earn about $43,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Alexander home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $88,807, 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's effective rate of 1.34%, 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 6 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
Alexander runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Alexander.
Who works in Alexander, and how
Work in Alexander centers on retail trade and transportation & warehousing. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Alexander
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Alexander.
What the weather is like in Alexander, month by month
Alexander sees roughly 58 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37° | 28° | 21° |
| April | 65° | 53° | 43° |
| July | 85° | 75° | 66° |
| October | 67° | 56° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Alexander
The nearest airport, Abraham Lincoln Capital, is about 21 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 71 miles away.
The best schools in and around Alexander
Schools across Alexander average a D, better than 7% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Farmingdale Elem SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- North Jacksonville SchoolD+ · 23% proficient
- Lincoln Elem SchoolD · 20% proficient
Top middle schools
- Pleasant Plains Middle SchoolD · 22% proficient
- Jacksonville Middle SchoolD− · 18% proficient
- New Berlin Jr High SchoolD− · 18% proficient
Top high schools
- Pleasant Plains High SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- New Berlin High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Jacksonville High SchoolD · 23% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Alexander school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Alexander 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 against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Alexander
Is Alexander a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Alexander ranks 23,419th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, a stable housing market, and what local pay buys, 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 Alexander expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $154,136. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $88,807 median income, cost of living beats 87% of towns.
Is Alexander safe?
Yes, Alexander is safer than 86% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $157 per resident a year.
Compare Alexander with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Alexander. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Alexander 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 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Alexander: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Alexander: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Alexander: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Alexander: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Alexander 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.