Best PlacesMilmine, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Milmine, 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.
Milmine ranks 33,569th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and biking ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Milmine
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.
Milmine's strengths and weaknesses
Where Milmine ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 92% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 92% of towns
- Short commute21.9 minutes each way, better than 80% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 77% of towns
Where Milmine ranks low
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Milmine
A household needs to earn about $55,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Milmine home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $82,465, 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 Milmine'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 Milmine
Milmine runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Milmine.
Who works in Milmine, and how
Work in Milmine centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 93%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Milmine
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Milmine.
What the weather is like in Milmine, month by month
Milmine sees roughly 75 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37° | 29° | 22° |
| April | 65° | 53° | 43° |
| July | 87° | 77° | 67° |
| October | 69° | 57° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Milmine
The nearest airport, Decatur, is about 13 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 122 miles away.
The best schools in and around Milmine
Schools across Milmine average a C+, better than 46% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- White Heath Elem SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Cerro Gordo Elem SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Bement Elementary SchoolF · 5% proficient
Top middle schools
- Monticello Middle SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Bement Middle SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- Monticello High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
- Cerro Gordo Jr And Sr High SchC+ · 35% proficient
- Bement High SchoolD− · 16% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Milmine school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Milmine 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 Milmine against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Milmine
Is Milmine a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Milmine ranks 33,569th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, an educated workforce, and civic engagement, and lowest on biking and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Milmine expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $190,171. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $82,465 median income, cost of living beats 71% of towns.
Is Milmine safe?
Milmine is safer than 9% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $468 per resident a year.
Compare Milmine with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Milmine. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Milmine 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.
Milmine detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Milmine: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Milmine: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Milmine: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Milmine: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Milmine 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.