Best PlacesBreese, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Breese, 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.
Breese ranks 9,143rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cell coverage by a wide margin, and the weather ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Breese
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.
Breese's strengths and weaknesses
Where Breese ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 98% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 96% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 95% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 91% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 90% of towns
Where Breese ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 49 pleasant days a year, better than only 1% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 6% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 7% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Breese
A household needs to earn about $64,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Breese home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $87,128, 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 Breese's effective rate of 1.76%, 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 Breese
Breese'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 Breese.
Who works in Breese, and how
Work in Breese centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Breese
Breese has more restaurants and bars per resident than 80% of towns and more parkland per resident than 95% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Breese and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Breese, month by month
Breese sees roughly 49 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 42, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 42° | 32° | 25° |
| April | 69° | 56° | 46° |
| July | 89° | 79° | 70° |
| October | 71° | 59° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Breese
The nearest airport, Scott AFB/Midamerica St Louis, is about 17 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 46 miles away.
The best schools in and around Breese
Schools across Breese average a C, better than 38% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Aviston Elem SchoolA · 69% proficient
- Germantown Elem SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- St Rose Elem SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Top middle schools
- Breese Elem SchoolC · 34% proficient
Top high schools
- Central Comm High SchoolC · 33% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Breese school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Breese 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 Breese against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Breese
Is Breese a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Breese ranks 9,143rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cell coverage, fast internet, and walkability, and lowest on the weather and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Breese expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $217,023. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $87,128 median income, cost of living beats 91% of towns.
Is Breese safe?
Yes, Breese is safer than 88% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $147 per resident a year.
Compare Breese with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Breese. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Breese 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.
Breese detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Breese: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Breese: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Breese: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Breese: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Breese 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.