Best PlacesPruett, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Pruett, 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.
Pruett ranks 39,854th 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 Pruett
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.
Pruett's strengths and weaknesses
Where Pruett ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 79% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 79% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 77% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 71% of towns
- Cheap childcare$682 a month, better than 68% of towns
Where Pruett ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- School gradeD, better than only 5% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 60 pleasant days a year, better than only 8% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 17% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Pruett
A household needs to earn about $40,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Pruett home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $62,381, 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 Pruett's effective rate of 1.26%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Pruett
Pruett runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Pruett.
Who works in Pruett, and how
Work in Pruett centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Pruett
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Pruett.
What the weather is like in Pruett, month by month
Pruett sees roughly 60 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 39, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 39° | 31° | 25° |
| April | 66° | 55° | 45° |
| July | 87° | 77° | 68° |
| October | 69° | 57° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Pruett
The nearest airport, Decatur, is about 56 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 86 miles away.
The best schools in and around Pruett
Schools across Pruett average a D, better than 5% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Altamont Grade SchoolC− · 29% proficient
- St Elmo Elem SchoolD− · 13% proficient
Top middle schools
- St Elmo Jr High SchoolF · 11% proficient
Top high schools
- Altamont High SchoolD · 20% proficient
- St Elmo Sr High SchoolF · 10% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Pruett school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Pruett 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 Pruett against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Pruett
Is Pruett a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Pruett ranks 39,854th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, cell coverage, and state infrastructure, 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 Pruett expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $144,504. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $62,381 median income, cost of living beats 39% of towns.
Is Pruett safe?
Yes, Pruett is safer than 59% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $217 per resident a year.
Compare Pruett with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Pruett. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Pruett 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.
Pruett detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Pruett: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Pruett: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Pruett: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Pruett: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Pruett 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.