Best PlacesGillespie, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Gillespie, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Gillespie ranks 27,816th 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 Gillespie
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.
Gillespie's strengths and weaknesses
Where Gillespie ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 96% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 94% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 91% of towns
- BikingBetter than 89% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 85% of towns
Where Gillespie ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- School gradeD, better than only 7% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 61 pleasant days a year, better than only 9% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 17% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Gillespie
A household needs to earn about $32,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Gillespie home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $82,904, 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 Gillespie'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 Gillespie
Gillespie runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Gillespie.
Who works in Gillespie, and how
Work in Gillespie centers on retail trade and public administration. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Gillespie
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Gillespie.
What the weather is like in Gillespie, month by month
Gillespie sees roughly 61 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37° | 29° | 23° |
| April | 65° | 53° | 44° |
| July | 85° | 75° | 67° |
| October | 69° | 56° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Gillespie
St Louis Lambert International sits about 39 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 7.5 million passengers in 2025, with 114 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Gillespie
Schools across Gillespie average a D, better than 7% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Carlinville Primary SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Carlinville Intermediate SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Ben-gil Elementary SchoolD− · 11% proficient
Top middle schools
- Gillespie Middle SchoolD− · 18% proficient
Top high schools
- Carlinville High SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Gillespie High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Gillespie school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Gillespie 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 Gillespie against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Gillespie
Is Gillespie a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Gillespie ranks 27,816th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, a stable housing market, and fast internet, 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 Gillespie expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $118,409. The overall cost of living runs about 24% below the national average. Set against a $82,904 median income, cost of living beats 85% of towns.
Is Gillespie safe?
Gillespie is safer than 17% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $372 per resident a year.
Compare Gillespie with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Gillespie. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Gillespie 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.
Gillespie detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Gillespie: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Gillespie: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Gillespie: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Gillespie: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Gillespie 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.