Best PlacesNew Douglas, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around New Douglas, 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 Douglas ranks 20,508th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Taxes pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on fast internet.
The best neighborhoods in New Douglas
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 Douglas' strengths and weaknesses
Where New Douglas ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 87% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 83% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 80% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 77% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 76% of towns
Where New Douglas ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 60 pleasant days a year, better than only 8% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 10% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 11% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in New Douglas
A household needs to earn about $59,000 a year to comfortably buy the median New Douglas home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $85,403, 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 Douglas' effective rate of 1.53%, 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 New Douglas
New Douglas runs older than the country, though fewer residents are over 65 than the national share.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for New Douglas.
Who works in New Douglas, and how
Work in New Douglas centers on construction and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in New Douglas
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across New Douglas.
What the weather is like in New Douglas, month by month
New Douglas sees roughly 60 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37° | 29° | 23° |
| April | 65° | 53° | 44° |
| July | 85° | 75° | 67° |
| October | 69° | 56° | 46° |
Flying in and out of New Douglas
The nearest airport, Scott AFB/Midamerica St Louis, is about 30 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 Douglas
Schools across New Douglas average a C, better than 40% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Alhambra Primary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Staunton Elem SchoolC− · 26% proficient
- Mt Olive Elementary SchoolD− · 15% proficient
Top middle schools
- Highland Middle SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Staunton Jr High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Greenville Jr High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Highland High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
- Bond Cty Comm Unit 2 High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Mt Olive High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every New Douglas school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
New Douglas 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 Douglas against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in New Douglas
Is New Douglas a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, New Douglas ranks 20,508th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on fast internet, what local pay buys, 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 New Douglas expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $204,495. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $85,403 median income, cost of living beats 83% of towns.
Is New Douglas safe?
Yes, New Douglas is safer than 74% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $184 per resident a year.
Compare New Douglas with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to New Douglas. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in New Douglas 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 Douglas detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for New Douglas: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in New Douglas: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of New Douglas: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in New Douglas: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
New Douglas 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.