Best PlacesAtwater, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Atwater, 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.
Atwater ranks 35,661st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Taxes pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on a stable housing market.
The best neighborhoods in Atwater
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.
Atwater's strengths and weaknesses
Where Atwater ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 88% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 80% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 79% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 77% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 76% of towns
Where Atwater ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 60 pleasant days a year, better than only 8% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 10% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 11% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Atwater
A household needs to earn about $49,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Atwater home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $72,156, 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 Atwater's effective rate of 1.51%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Atwater
Atwater runs older than the country, 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 Atwater.
Who works in Atwater, and how
Work in Atwater centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Atwater
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Atwater.
What the weather is like in Atwater, month by month
Atwater sees roughly 60 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37° | 29° | 23° |
| April | 65° | 53° | 44° |
| July | 85° | 75° | 67° |
| October | 69° | 56° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Atwater
The nearest airport, Abraham Lincoln Capital, is about 35 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 52 miles away.
The best schools in and around Atwater
Schools across Atwater average a C−, better than 21% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Carlinville Primary SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Carlinville Intermediate SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Raymond Grade SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lincolnwood Jr High SchoolD− · 15% proficient
- North Mac Middle SchoolD− · 15% proficient
Top high schools
- Carlinville High SchoolC · 33% proficient
- North Mac High SchoolD · 20% proficient
- Lincolnwood High SchoolD · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Atwater school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Atwater 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 Atwater against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Atwater
Is Atwater a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Atwater ranks 35,661st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, civic engagement, and population health, 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 Atwater expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $170,433. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $72,156 median income, cost of living beats 70% of towns.
Is Atwater safe?
Atwater is safer than 50% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $233 per resident a year.
Compare Atwater with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Atwater. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Atwater 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.
Atwater detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Atwater: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Atwater: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Atwater: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Atwater: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Atwater 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.