Best PlacesCarlyle, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Carlyle, 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.
Carlyle ranks 14,437th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and the weather ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Carlyle
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.
Carlyle's strengths and weaknesses
Where Carlyle ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 98% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 97% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 89% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 89% of towns
- BikingBetter than 86% of towns
Where Carlyle ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 51 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
- Air qualityBetter than only 12% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Carlyle
A household needs to earn about $45,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Carlyle home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $87,632, 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 Carlyle's effective rate of 1.36%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Carlyle
Carlyle'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 Carlyle.
Who works in Carlyle, and how
Work in Carlyle centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Carlyle
Carlyle has more restaurants and bars per resident than 88% of towns and more parkland per resident than 93% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Carlyle and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Carlyle, month by month
Carlyle sees roughly 51 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 40, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 40° | 32° | 25° |
| April | 68° | 56° | 47° |
| July | 88° | 78° | 69° |
| October | 71° | 59° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Carlyle
The nearest airport, Scott AFB/Midamerica St Louis, is about 26 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 55 miles away.
The best schools in and around Carlyle
Schools across Carlyle average a D+, better than 16% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Bartelso Elem SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- St Rose Elem SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Damiansville Elem SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- Breese Elem SchoolC · 34% proficient
- Carlyle Junior High SchoolD · 21% proficient
- Sandoval Jr High SchoolF · 10% proficient
Top high schools
- Central Comm High SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Patoka Sr High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Carlyle High SchoolD · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Carlyle school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Carlyle 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 Carlyle against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Carlyle
Is Carlyle a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Carlyle ranks 14,437th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, fast internet, and cell coverage, 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 Carlyle expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $159,798. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $87,632 median income, cost of living beats 89% of towns.
Is Carlyle safe?
Carlyle is safer than 53% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $237 per resident a year.
Compare Carlyle with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Carlyle. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Carlyle 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.
Carlyle detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Carlyle: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Carlyle: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Carlyle: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Carlyle: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Carlyle 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.