Best PlacesCarthage, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Carthage, 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.
Carthage ranks 14,066th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Carthage
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.
Carthage's strengths and weaknesses
Where Carthage ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 98% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 94% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 91% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 88% of towns
- BikingBetter than 87% of towns
Where Carthage ranks low
- 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
- School gradeD+, better than only 12% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 28% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Carthage
A household needs to earn about $43,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Carthage home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $80,670, 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 Carthage's effective rate of 1.72%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Carthage
Carthage 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 Carthage.
Who works in Carthage, and how
Work in Carthage centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 93%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Carthage
Carthage has more restaurants and bars per resident than 88% of towns and more parkland per resident than 99% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Carthage and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Carthage, month by month
Carthage sees roughly 87 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 26° | 20° |
| April | 64° | 53° | 43° |
| July | 86° | 76° | 67° |
| October | 67° | 56° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Carthage
The nearest airport, Southeast Iowa Regional, is about 26 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 122 miles away.
The best schools in and around Carthage
Schools across Carthage average a D+, better than 12% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- West Prairie South Elementary SchB+ · 55% proficient
- Hamilton Elementary SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Southeastern Elementary SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Carthage Middle SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- West Prairie Junior High SchoolF · 11% proficient
Top high schools
- Warsaw Sr High SchoolD · 21% proficient
- Illini West High SchoolD · 20% proficient
- Hamilton High SchoolD · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Carthage school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Carthage 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 Carthage against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Carthage
Is Carthage a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Carthage ranks 14,066th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, a stable housing market, and a strong job 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 Carthage expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $144,529. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $80,670 median income, cost of living beats 80% of towns.
Is Carthage safe?
Carthage is safer than 46% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $245 per resident a year.
Compare Carthage with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Carthage. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Carthage 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.
Carthage detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Carthage: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Carthage: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Carthage: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Carthage: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Carthage 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.