Best PlacesNew Athens, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around New Athens, 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.
New Athens ranks 32,040th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cell coverage by a wide margin, and the weather ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in New Athens
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.
New Athens' strengths and weaknesses
Where New Athens ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 92% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 90% of towns
- BikingBetter than 81% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 79% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 78% of towns
Where New Athens ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 49 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
- Low property taxBetter than only 4% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 24% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in New Athens
A household needs to earn about $47,000 a year to comfortably buy the median New Athens home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $67,712, 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 New Athens' effective rate of 1.86%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in New Athens
New Athens 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 New Athens.
Who works in New Athens, and how
Work in New Athens centers on manufacturing and construction. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 93%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in New Athens
New Athens has more parkland per resident than 98% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of New Athens and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in New Athens, month by month
New Athens sees roughly 49 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 33° | 25° |
| April | 69° | 56° | 45° |
| July | 89° | 78° | 69° |
| October | 73° | 59° | 48° |
Flying in and out of New Athens
The nearest airport, Scott AFB/Midamerica St Louis, is about 16 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 40 miles away.
The best schools in and around New Athens
Schools across New Athens average a C, better than 40% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Smithton Elem SchoolB · 46% proficient
- New Athens ElemB · 45% proficient
- Red Bud Elem SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top middle schools
- New Athens Jr HighB+ · 48% proficient
- Freeburg Elem SchoolB · 45% proficient
Top high schools
- Freeburg Community High SchC− · 30% proficient
- Red Bud High SchoolD · 23% proficient
- New Athens High SchoolD− · 13% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every New Athens school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
New Athens 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 New Athens against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in New Athens
Is New Athens a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, New Athens ranks 32,040th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cell coverage, walkability, and biking, 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 New Athens expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $158,700. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $67,712 median income, cost of living beats 59% of towns.
Is New Athens safe?
New Athens is safer than 32% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $286 per resident a year.
Compare New Athens with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to New Athens. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in New Athens 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.
New Athens detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for New Athens: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in New Athens: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of New Athens: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in New Athens: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
New Athens 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.