Best PlacesCarmi, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Carmi, 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.
Carmi ranks 37,617th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and the weather ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Carmi
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.
Carmi's strengths and weaknesses
Where Carmi ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 94% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 93% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 89% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 88% of towns
- BikingBetter than 85% of towns
Where Carmi 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
- School gradeD+, better than only 14% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 23% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Carmi
A household needs to earn about $32,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Carmi home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $59,669, 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 Carmi's effective rate of 1.13%, 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 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Carmi
Carmi 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 Carmi.
Who works in Carmi, and how
Work in Carmi centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Carmi
Carmi has more restaurants and bars per resident than 72% of towns and more parkland per resident than 95% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Carmi and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Carmi, month by month
Carmi sees roughly 49 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 34° | 28° |
| April | 69° | 56° | 46° |
| July | 87° | 77° | 68° |
| October | 71° | 58° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Carmi
The nearest airport, Evansville Regional, is about 36 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 127 miles away.
The best schools in and around Carmi
Schools across Carmi average a D+, better than 14% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Jefferson Attendance CenterB− · 43% proficient
- Norris City-omaha Elem SchoolD− · 14% proficient
- Booth Elementary SchoolD− · 11% proficient
Top middle schools
- Carmi White Cnty Jr High SchC− · 29% proficient
- Washington Attendance CenterC− · 29% proficient
Top high schools
- Carmi-white County High SchoolD− · 18% proficient
- Norris City-omaha-enfield H SF · 5% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Carmi school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Carmi 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 Carmi against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Carmi
Is Carmi a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Carmi ranks 37,617th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on fast internet, walkability, 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 Carmi expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $115,481. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $59,669 median income, cost of living beats 33% of towns.
Is Carmi safe?
Carmi is safer than 48% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $247 per resident a year.
Compare Carmi with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Carmi. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Carmi 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.
Carmi detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Carmi: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Carmi: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Carmi: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Carmi: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Carmi 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.