Best PlacesBrubaker, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Brubaker, 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.
Brubaker ranks 22,314th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low crime by a wide margin, and the weather ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Brubaker
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.
Brubaker's strengths and weaknesses
Where Brubaker ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 91% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 88% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 81% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 77% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 71% of towns
Where Brubaker ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 55 pleasant days a year, better than only 3% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- School gradeD+, better than only 13% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Brubaker
A household needs to earn about $36,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Brubaker home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $81,833, 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 Brubaker's effective rate of 1.21%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Brubaker
Brubaker 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 Brubaker.
Who works in Brubaker, and how
Work in Brubaker centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Brubaker
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Brubaker.
What the weather is like in Brubaker, month by month
Brubaker sees roughly 55 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 41, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41° | 32° | 26° |
| April | 68° | 57° | 48° |
| July | 88° | 78° | 70° |
| October | 72° | 60° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Brubaker
The nearest airport, Scott AFB/Midamerica St Louis, is about 53 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 81 miles away.
The best schools in and around Brubaker
Schools across Brubaker average a D+, better than 13% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Iuka Comm Cons SchoolB · 48% proficient
- Hawthorn Elem SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- South Central Elementary-kinmundyF · 10% proficient
Top middle schools
- Franklin Park Middle SchoolC · 35% proficient
- South Central Middle SchoolD− · 15% proficient
Top high schools
- South Central High SchoolD− · 18% proficient
- Salem Community High SchoolD− · 18% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Brubaker school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Brubaker 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 Brubaker against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Brubaker
Is Brubaker a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Brubaker ranks 22,314th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low crime, few empty homes, and what local pay buys, 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 Brubaker expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $131,600. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $81,833 median income, cost of living beats 81% of towns.
Is Brubaker safe?
Yes, Brubaker is safer than 91% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $153 per resident a year.
Compare Brubaker with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Brubaker. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Brubaker 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.
Brubaker detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Brubaker: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Brubaker: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Brubaker: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Brubaker: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Brubaker 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.