Best PlacesNilwood, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Nilwood, 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.
Nilwood ranks 37,181st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Taxes pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on a stable housing market.
The best neighborhoods in Nilwood
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.
Nilwood's strengths and weaknesses
Where Nilwood ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 85% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 85% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 79% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 77% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 77% of towns
Where Nilwood ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 61 pleasant days a year, better than only 10% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 11% of towns
- School gradeD+, better than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Nilwood
A household needs to earn about $48,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Nilwood home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $66,167, 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 Nilwood's effective rate of 1.47%, 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 Nilwood
Nilwood 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 Nilwood.
Who works in Nilwood, and how
Work in Nilwood centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Nilwood
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Nilwood.
What the weather is like in Nilwood, month by month
Nilwood sees roughly 61 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 Nilwood
The nearest airport, Abraham Lincoln Capital, is about 32 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 54 miles away.
The best schools in and around Nilwood
Schools across Nilwood average a D+, better than 19% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Carlinville Primary SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Carlinville Intermediate SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Worden Elementary SchoolC · 34% proficient
Top middle schools
- Liberty Middle SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Lincolnwood Jr High SchoolD− · 15% proficient
- North Mac Middle SchoolD− · 15% proficient
Top high schools
- Edwardsville High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Carlinville High SchoolC · 33% proficient
- North Mac High SchoolD · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Nilwood school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Nilwood 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 Nilwood against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Nilwood
Is Nilwood a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Nilwood ranks 37,181st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, civic engagement, and population health, 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 Nilwood expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $169,600. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $66,167 median income, cost of living beats 60% of towns.
Is Nilwood safe?
Nilwood is safer than 51% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $230 per resident a year.
Compare Nilwood with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Nilwood. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Nilwood 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.
Nilwood detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Nilwood: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Nilwood: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Nilwood: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Nilwood: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Nilwood 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.