Best PlacesCrisp, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Crisp, 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.
Crisp ranks 35,659th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Crisp
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.
Crisp's strengths and weaknesses
Where Crisp ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- QuietBetter than 80% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 77% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 73% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 62% of towns
Where Crisp ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 7% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 8% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 11% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Crisp
A household needs to earn about $35,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Crisp home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $71,806, 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 Crisp's effective rate of 1.17%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Crisp
Crisp runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Crisp.
Who works in Crisp, and how
Work in Crisp centers on education and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Crisp
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Crisp.
What the weather is like in Crisp, month by month
Crisp sees roughly 63 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 41, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41° | 33° | 26° |
| April | 68° | 56° | 46° |
| July | 87° | 77° | 68° |
| October | 71° | 58° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Crisp
The nearest airport, Veterans Airport of Southern Illinois, is about 52 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 98 miles away.
The best schools in and around Crisp
Schools across Crisp average a C−, better than 27% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Wayne City Attendance CenterB− · 41% proficient
Top high schools
- Wayne City High SchoolF · 10% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Crisp school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Crisp 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 Crisp against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Crisp
Is Crisp a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Crisp ranks 35,659th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, quiet, and state infrastructure, 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 Crisp expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $125,700. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $71,806 median income, cost of living beats 48% of towns.
Is Crisp safe?
Yes, Crisp is safer than 73% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $183 per resident a year.
Compare Crisp with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Crisp. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Crisp 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.
Crisp detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Crisp: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Crisp: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Crisp: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Crisp: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Crisp 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.