Best PlacesMill Shoals, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Mill Shoals, 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.
Mill Shoals ranks 41,335th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Mill Shoals
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.
Mill Shoals' strengths and weaknesses
Where Mill Shoals ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 97% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 77% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 75% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 74% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 70% of towns
Where Mill Shoals ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- Household income$45,460 median, better than only 8% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 11% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 62 pleasant days a year, better than only 12% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Mill Shoals
A household needs to earn about $26,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mill Shoals home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $45,460, 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 Mill Shoals' effective rate of 1.15%, 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 Mill Shoals
Mill Shoals 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 Mill Shoals.
Who works in Mill Shoals, and how
Work in Mill Shoals 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 94%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Mill Shoals
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Mill Shoals.
What the weather is like in Mill Shoals, month by month
Mill Shoals sees roughly 62 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 41, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41° | 33° | 26° |
| April | 68° | 56° | 46° |
| July | 87° | 77° | 68° |
| October | 71° | 58° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Mill Shoals
The nearest airport, Evansville Regional, is about 46 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 116 miles away.
The best schools in and around Mill Shoals
Schools across Mill Shoals average a C−, better than 20% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- New Hope Elem SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- East Side Elementary SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Booth Elementary SchoolD− · 11% proficient
Top middle schools
- Washington Attendance CenterC− · 29% proficient
Top high schools
- Hamilton County Jr/sr High SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
- Carmi-white County High SchoolD− · 18% proficient
- Fairfield Comm High SchoolD− · 15% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Mill Shoals school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Mill Shoals 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 Mill Shoals against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Mill Shoals
Is Mill Shoals a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mill Shoals ranks 41,335th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, state infrastructure, and few empty homes, 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 Mill Shoals expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $96,005. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $45,460 median income, cost of living beats 11% of towns.
Is Mill Shoals safe?
Yes, Mill Shoals is safer than 74% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $183 per resident a year.
Compare Mill Shoals with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mill Shoals. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mill Shoals 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.
Mill Shoals detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mill Shoals: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mill Shoals: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mill Shoals: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mill Shoals: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mill Shoals 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.