Best PlacesBalcom, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Balcom, 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.
Balcom ranks 32,827th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Balcom
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.
Balcom's strengths and weaknesses
Where Balcom ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 97% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 93% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 87% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 77% of towns
- Short commute23.6 minutes each way, better than 71% of towns
Where Balcom ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- School gradeD, better than only 5% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 60 pleasant days a year, better than only 8% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Balcom
A household needs to earn about $38,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Balcom home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $80,330, 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 Balcom's effective rate of 1.18%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Balcom
Balcom's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Balcom.
Who works in Balcom, and how
Work in Balcom centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Balcom
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Balcom.
What the weather is like in Balcom, month by month
Balcom sees roughly 60 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 Balcom
The nearest airport, Cape Girardeau Regional, is about 25 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 112 miles away.
The best schools in and around Balcom
Schools across Balcom average a D, better than 5% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Dongola Elementary SchoolF · 5% proficient
Top middle schools
- Anna Junior High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Dongola Jr High SchoolF · 5% proficient
Top high schools
- Anna-jonesboro High SchoolD− · 15% proficient
- Dongola High SchoolF · 10% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Balcom school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Balcom 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 Balcom against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Balcom
Is Balcom a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Balcom ranks 32,827th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on fast internet, a stable housing market, and low crime, 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 Balcom expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $139,312. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $80,330 median income, cost of living beats 67% of towns.
Is Balcom safe?
Yes, Balcom is safer than 87% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $156 per resident a year.
Compare Balcom with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Balcom. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Balcom 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.
Balcom detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Balcom: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Balcom: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Balcom: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Balcom: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Balcom 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.