Best PlacesPaulton, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Paulton, 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.
Paulton ranks 37,906th 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 Paulton
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.
Paulton's strengths and weaknesses
Where Paulton ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 89% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 88% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 84% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 80% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 77% of towns
Where Paulton ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 56 pleasant days a year, better than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- School gradeD, better than only 6% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 11% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Paulton
A household needs to earn about $48,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Paulton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $88,542, 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 Paulton's effective rate of 1.48%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Paulton
Paulton 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 Paulton.
Who works in Paulton, and how
Work in Paulton centers on health care & social and public administration. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 98%
- Work from home 1%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Paulton
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Paulton.
What the weather is like in Paulton, month by month
Paulton sees roughly 56 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 34° | 27° |
| April | 68° | 57° | 47° |
| July | 88° | 78° | 70° |
| October | 71° | 59° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Paulton
The nearest airport, Veterans Airport of Southern Illinois, is about 11 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 109 miles away.
The best schools in and around Paulton
Schools across Paulton average a D, better than 6% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Crab Orchard Elementary SchoolD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Crab Orchard High SchoolD− · 16% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Paulton school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Paulton 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 Paulton against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Paulton
Is Paulton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Paulton ranks 37,906th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, a strong job market, and what local pay buys, and lowest on taxes and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Paulton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $167,400. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $88,542 median income, cost of living beats 84% of towns.
Is Paulton safe?
Paulton is safer than 23% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $326 per resident a year.
Compare Paulton with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Paulton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Paulton 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.
Paulton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Paulton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Paulton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Paulton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Paulton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Paulton 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.