Best PlacesHerrin, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Herrin, 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.
Herrin ranks 27,090th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Herrin
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.
Herrin's strengths and weaknesses
Where Herrin ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 95% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 95% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 93% of towns
- BikingBetter than 87% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 84% of towns
Where Herrin ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 7% of towns
- School gradeD+, better than only 16% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Herrin
A household needs to earn about $38,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Herrin home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $63,466, 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 Herrin's effective rate of 1.64%, 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 Herrin
Herrin's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Herrin.
Who works in Herrin, and how
Work in Herrin 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 88%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Herrin
Herrin has more restaurants and bars per resident than 78% of towns and more parkland per resident than 89% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Herrin and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Herrin, month by month
Herrin sees roughly 71 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 34° | 27° |
| April | 68° | 57° | 47° |
| July | 88° | 78° | 70° |
| October | 71° | 59° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Herrin
The nearest airport, Veterans Airport of Southern Illinois, is about 3 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 Herrin
Schools across Herrin average a D+, better than 16% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Tri-c Elementary SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Herrin C U S D 4 Elem SchoolD+ · 23% proficient
- Zeigler-royalton Elem SchoolD− · 13% proficient
Top middle schools
- Carterville Intermediate SchC · 35% proficient
- Herrin Middle SchoolD+ · 26% proficient
- Zeigler-royalton Jr High SchoolF · 13% proficient
Top high schools
- Carterville High SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Herrin High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Zeigler-royalton High SchoolD− · 16% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Herrin school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Herrin 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 Herrin against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Herrin
Is Herrin a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Herrin ranks 27,090th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on fast internet, walkability, and a stable housing market, 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 Herrin expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $129,663. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $63,466 median income, cost of living beats 53% of towns.
Is Herrin safe?
Yes, Herrin is safer than 68% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $209 per resident a year.
Compare Herrin with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Herrin. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Herrin 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.
Herrin detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Herrin: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Herrin: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Herrin: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Herrin: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Herrin 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.