Best PlacesAlton, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Alton, 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.
Alton ranks 1,948th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. The schools pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on transit.
The best neighborhoods in Alton
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.
Alton's strengths and weaknesses
Where Alton ranks high
- TransitBetter than 88% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 84% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than 78% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than 73% of cities
- Short commute22.8 minutes each way, better than 72% of cities
Where Alton ranks low
- School gradeD−, better than only 2% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than only 5% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 5% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than only 6% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 6% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Alton
A household needs to earn about $35,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Alton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $61,809, 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 Alton's effective rate of 1.83%, 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 Alton
Alton's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Alton.
Who works in Alton, and how
Work in Alton centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Alton
Alton has more restaurants and bars per resident than 88% of cities and more parkland per resident than 94% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Alton and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Alton, month by month
Alton sees roughly 84 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 39, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 39° | 31° | 24° |
| April | 66° | 55° | 45° |
| July | 87° | 77° | 68° |
| October | 69° | 57° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Alton
St Louis Lambert International sits about 16 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 7.5 million passengers in 2025, with 114 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Alton
Schools across Alton average a D−, better than 2% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Shipman Elem SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Parkside Primary SchoolD+ · 23% proficient
- Wolf Ridge Education CenterD− · 13% proficient
Top middle schools
- Southwestern Middle SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Wilbur Trimpe Middle SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- East Alton Middle SchoolD− · 17% proficient
Top high schools
- Alton High SchoolD · 23% proficient
- Southwestern High SchoolD · 23% proficient
- Civic Memorial High SchoolD− · 18% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Alton school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Alton 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 Alton against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Alton suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 11% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Alton
Is Alton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Alton ranks 1,948th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on transit, a stable housing market, and state infrastructure, and lowest on the schools and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Alton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $117,656. The overall cost of living runs about 23% below the national average. Set against a $61,809 median income, cost of living beats 30% of cities.
Is Alton safe?
Alton is safer than 5% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $463 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Alton?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 39 with lows near 24. That works out to about 84 pleasant days a year, more than 48% of cities.
Is Alton good for families?
Schools beat 2% of cities, crime safety beats 5%, and childcare runs $1,173 a month.
Compare Alton with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Alton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Alton 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.
Alton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Alton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Alton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Alton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Alton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Alton 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.