Best PlacesGorham, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Gorham, 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.
Gorham ranks 43,978th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. The schools pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on low crime.
The best neighborhoods in Gorham
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.
Gorham's strengths and weaknesses
Where Gorham ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 77% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 77% of towns
- BikingBetter than 70% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 62% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 51% of towns
Where Gorham ranks low
- School gradeD−, better than only 3% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 5% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Gorham
A household needs to earn about $30,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Gorham home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $70,441, 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 Gorham's effective rate of 1.20%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Gorham
Gorham runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Gorham.
Who works in Gorham, and how
Work in Gorham centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Gorham
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Gorham.
What the weather is like in Gorham, month by month
Gorham sees roughly 68 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 34° | 27° |
| April | 69° | 57° | 47° |
| July | 89° | 78° | 70° |
| October | 72° | 59° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Gorham
The nearest airport, Veterans Airport of Southern Illinois, is about 25 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 85 miles away.
The best schools in and around Gorham
Schools across Gorham average a D−, better than 3% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Trico Elementary SchoolD− · 13% proficient
- Carruthers Elementary SchoolD− · 11% proficient
Top middle schools
- Trico Jr High SchoolD− · 18% proficient
- Murphysboro Middle SchoolF · 5% proficient
Top high schools
- Trico Senior High SchoolD · 20% proficient
- Murphysboro High SchoolD− · 15% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Gorham school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Gorham 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 Gorham against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Gorham
Is Gorham a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Gorham ranks 43,978th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low crime, state infrastructure, and biking, and lowest on the schools and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Gorham expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $107,885. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $70,441 median income, cost of living beats 42% of towns.
Is Gorham safe?
Yes, Gorham is safer than 77% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $178 per resident a year.
Compare Gorham with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Gorham. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Gorham 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.
Gorham detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Gorham: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Gorham: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Gorham: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Gorham: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Gorham 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.