Best PlacesLong Branch, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Long Branch, 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.
Long Branch ranks 38,637th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and the weather ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Long Branch
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.
Long Branch's strengths and weaknesses
Where Long Branch ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 96% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 96% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 79% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 77% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 73% of towns
Where Long Branch ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 50 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 4% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 13% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Long Branch
A household needs to earn about $39,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Long Branch home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $72,301, 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 Long Branch's effective rate of 1.38%, 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 3 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Long Branch
Long Branch 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 Long Branch.
Who works in Long Branch, and how
Work in Long Branch 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 95%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Long Branch
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Long Branch.
What the weather is like in Long Branch, month by month
Long Branch sees roughly 50 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, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 34° | 27° |
| April | 69° | 56° | 46° |
| July | 88° | 78° | 69° |
| October | 72° | 59° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Long Branch
The nearest airport, Veterans Airport of Southern Illinois, is about 26 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 115 miles away.
The best schools in and around Long Branch
Schools across Long Branch average a D−, better than 4% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- East Side Elementary SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Galatia Elem SchoolD · 18% proficient
- Eldorado Elem SchoolF · 8% proficient
Top middle schools
- Galatia Jr HighD+ · 25% proficient
- Eldorado Middle SchoolD · 23% proficient
Top high schools
- Hamilton County Jr/sr High SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
- Eldorado High SchoolF · 11% proficient
- Galatia High SchoolF · 10% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Long Branch school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Long Branch 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 Long Branch against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Long Branch
Is Long Branch a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Long Branch ranks 38,637th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on fast internet, a stable housing market, and an educated workforce, 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 Long Branch expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $139,057. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $72,301 median income, cost of living beats 67% of towns.
Is Long Branch safe?
Long Branch is safer than 20% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $365 per resident a year.
Compare Long Branch with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Long Branch. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Long Branch 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.
Long Branch detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Long Branch: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Long Branch: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Long Branch: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Long Branch: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Long Branch 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.