Best PlacesBoles, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Boles, 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.
Boles ranks 34,544th 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 Boles
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.
Boles' strengths and weaknesses
Where Boles ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 93% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 91% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 90% of towns
- BikingBetter than 78% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 77% of towns
Where Boles ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 57 pleasant days a year, better than only 5% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 14% of towns
- School gradeD+, better than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Boles
A household needs to earn about $58,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Boles home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $71,922, 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 Boles' effective rate of 1.35%, 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 Boles
Boles'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 Boles.
Who works in Boles, and how
Work in Boles centers on hospitality & food and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 97%
- Work from home 1%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Boles
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Boles.
What the weather is like in Boles, month by month
Boles sees roughly 57 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 36° | 28° |
| April | 71° | 58° | 48° |
| July | 89° | 78° | 70° |
| October | 73° | 60° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Boles
The nearest airport, Veterans Airport of Southern Illinois, is about 22 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 120 miles away.
The best schools in and around Boles
Schools across Boles average a D+, better than 16% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Vienna Elem School Dist 55C+ · 36% proficient
Top high schools
- Vienna High SchoolD− · 18% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Boles school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Boles 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 Boles against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Boles
Is Boles a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Boles ranks 34,544th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on fast internet, low crime, and a stable housing market, 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 Boles expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $206,212. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $71,922 median income, cost of living beats 44% of towns.
Is Boles safe?
Yes, Boles is safer than 91% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $137 per resident a year.
Compare Boles with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Boles. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Boles 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.
Boles detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Boles: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Boles: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Boles: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Boles: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Boles 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.