Best PlacesEffingham, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Effingham, 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.
Effingham ranks 21,337th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Effingham
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.
Effingham's strengths and weaknesses
Where Effingham ranks high
- Short commute15.4 minutes each way, better than 97% of towns
- TransitBetter than 93% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 93% of towns
- BikingBetter than 90% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 87% of towns
Where Effingham ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 5% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 10% of towns
- School gradeD+, better than only 17% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Effingham
A household needs to earn about $57,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Effingham home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $81,647, 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 Effingham's effective rate of 1.50%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Effingham
Effingham 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 Effingham.
Who works in Effingham, and how
Work in Effingham centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Effingham
Effingham has more restaurants and bars per resident than 88% of towns and more parkland per resident than 91% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Effingham and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Effingham, month by month
Effingham sees roughly 77 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 39, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 39° | 31° | 25° |
| April | 66° | 55° | 45° |
| July | 87° | 77° | 68° |
| October | 69° | 57° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Effingham
The nearest airport, Decatur, is about 52 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 101 miles away.
The best schools in and around Effingham
Schools across Effingham average a D+, better than 17% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Teutopolis Grade SchoolA · 64% proficient
- Dieterich Elem SchoolB · 48% proficient
- Beecher City Grade SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Teutopolis Junior High SchoolA− · 55% proficient
- Effingham Junior High SchoolD · 21% proficient
Top high schools
- Teutopolis High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
- Dieterich Jr/sr High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Effingham High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Effingham school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Effingham 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 Effingham against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Effingham
Is Effingham a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Effingham ranks 21,337th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, transit, and walkability, 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 Effingham expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $199,307. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $81,647 median income, cost of living beats 70% of towns.
Is Effingham safe?
Yes, Effingham is safer than 63% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $222 per resident a year.
Compare Effingham with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Effingham. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Effingham 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.
Effingham detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Effingham: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Effingham: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Effingham: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Effingham: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Effingham 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.