Best PlacesPleasant Mound, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Pleasant Mound, 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.
Pleasant Mound ranks 27,219th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and the weather ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Pleasant Mound
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.
Pleasant Mound's strengths and weaknesses
Where Pleasant Mound ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 90% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 90% of towns
- Short commute20.8 minutes each way, better than 85% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 84% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 77% of towns
Where Pleasant Mound ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 55 pleasant days a year, better than only 3% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 9% of towns
- School gradeD, better than only 9% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Pleasant Mound
A household needs to earn about $60,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Pleasant Mound home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $79,312, 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 Pleasant Mound's effective rate of 1.48%, 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 Pleasant Mound
Pleasant Mound 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 Pleasant Mound.
Who works in Pleasant Mound, and how
Work in Pleasant Mound centers on agriculture & forestry and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Pleasant Mound
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Pleasant Mound.
What the weather is like in Pleasant Mound, month by month
Pleasant Mound sees roughly 55 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 41, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41° | 32° | 26° |
| April | 68° | 57° | 48° |
| July | 88° | 78° | 70° |
| October | 72° | 60° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Pleasant Mound
The nearest airport, Scott AFB/Midamerica St Louis, is about 38 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 60 miles away.
The best schools in and around Pleasant Mound
Schools across Pleasant Mound average a D, better than 9% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Vandalia Elementary SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Mulberry Grove Elem SchoolD · 20% proficient
Top middle schools
- Vandalia Junior High SchoolD · 19% proficient
- Mulberry Grove Jr High SchoolD− · 13% proficient
Top high schools
- Vandalia Community High SchoolD− · 18% proficient
- Mulberry Grove Sr High SchoolF · 10% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Pleasant Mound school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Pleasant Mound 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 Pleasant Mound against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Pleasant Mound
Is Pleasant Mound a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Pleasant Mound ranks 27,219th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on fast internet, a stable housing market, and short commutes, 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 Pleasant Mound expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $209,568. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $79,312 median income, cost of living beats 84% of towns.
Is Pleasant Mound safe?
Pleasant Mound is safer than 44% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $263 per resident a year.
Compare Pleasant Mound with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Pleasant Mound. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Pleasant Mound 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.
Pleasant Mound detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Pleasant Mound: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Pleasant Mound: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Pleasant Mound: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Pleasant Mound: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Pleasant Mound 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.