Best PlacesLerna, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lerna, 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.
Lerna ranks 17,463rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on what local pay buys by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Lerna
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.
Lerna's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lerna ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 90% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 82% of towns
- Household income$95,898 median, better than 82% of towns
- Short commute21.7 minutes each way, better than 81% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 77% of towns
Where Lerna 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 9% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 10% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 27% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Lerna
A household needs to earn about $62,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lerna home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $95,898, 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 Lerna's effective rate of 1.51%, 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 Lerna
Lerna 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 Lerna.
Who works in Lerna, and how
Work in Lerna centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Lerna
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Lerna.
What the weather is like in Lerna, month by month
Lerna sees roughly 80 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37° | 29° | 23° |
| April | 65° | 53° | 44° |
| July | 86° | 76° | 67° |
| October | 68° | 57° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Lerna
The nearest airport, Decatur, is about 43 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Indianapolis International, about 107 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lerna
Schools across Lerna average a D, better than 9% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Arland D Williams Jr Elem SchD · 19% proficient
- Cumberland Elem SchoolD · 18% proficient
- Neoga Elementary SchoolF · 10% proficient
Top middle schools
- Mattoon Middle SchoolD · 21% proficient
- Cumberland Middle SchoolD− · 18% proficient
- Jefferson Elem SchoolD− · 17% proficient
Top high schools
- Cumberland High SchoolD · 23% proficient
- Charleston High SchoolD · 22% proficient
- Mattoon High SchoolD · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lerna school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lerna 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 Lerna against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lerna
Is Lerna a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lerna ranks 17,463rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on what local pay buys, an educated workforce, and high incomes, 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 Lerna expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $215,894. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $95,898 median income, cost of living beats 90% of towns.
Is Lerna safe?
Yes, Lerna is safer than 75% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $194 per resident a year.
Compare Lerna with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lerna. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lerna 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.
Lerna detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lerna: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lerna: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lerna: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lerna: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lerna 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.