Best PlacesEmma, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Emma, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Costs and crime both read low, and the nearest big city is a drive away. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Emma ranks 23,911th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and the weather ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Emma
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.
Emma's strengths and weaknesses
Where Emma ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 94% of towns
- Household income$103,750 median, better than 87% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 84% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 83% of towns
Where Emma 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
- School gradeD, better than only 6% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Emma
A household needs to earn about $48,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Emma home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $103,750, 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 Emma's effective rate of 0.97%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Emma
Emma runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Emma.
Who works in Emma, and how
Work in Emma centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 95%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Emma
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Emma.
What the weather is like in Emma, month by month
Emma sees roughly 51 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 Emma
The nearest airport, Evansville Regional, is about 35 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 131 miles away.
The best schools in and around Emma
Schools across Emma average a D, better than 6% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Norris City-omaha Elem SchoolD− · 14% proficient
Top middle schools
- 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 Emma school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Emma 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 Emma against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Emma
Is Emma a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Emma ranks 23,911th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, what local pay buys, and high incomes, 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 Emma expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $180,100. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $103,750 median income, cost of living beats 94% of towns.
Is Emma safe?
Yes, Emma is safer than 84% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $159 per resident a year.
Compare Emma with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Emma. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Emma 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.
Emma detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Emma: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Emma: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Emma: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Emma: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Emma 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.