Best PlacesRoaches, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Roaches, 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.
Roaches ranks 36,366th 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 Roaches
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.
Roaches' strengths and weaknesses
Where Roaches ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 87% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 84% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 77% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 71% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 63% of towns
Where Roaches 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 10% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 63 pleasant days a year, better than only 13% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Roaches
A household needs to earn about $47,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Roaches home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $69,562, 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 Roaches' effective rate of 1.36%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Roaches
Roaches's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Roaches.
Who works in Roaches, and how
Work in Roaches centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Roaches
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Roaches.
What the weather is like in Roaches, month by month
Roaches sees roughly 63 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 40, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 40° | 32° | 25° |
| April | 68° | 56° | 47° |
| July | 88° | 78° | 69° |
| October | 71° | 59° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Roaches
The nearest airport, Veterans Airport of Southern Illinois, is about 40 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 75 miles away.
The best schools in and around Roaches
Schools across Roaches average a D+, better than 10% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Woodlawn Grade SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Ashley Com Consolidated SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Waltonville Grade SchoolD+ · 23% proficient
Top high schools
- Nashville Comm High SchoolD · 20% proficient
- Centralia High SchoolD− · 18% proficient
- Woodlawn High SchoolD− · 16% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Roaches school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Roaches 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 Roaches against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Roaches
Is Roaches a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Roaches ranks 36,366th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on fast internet, a stable housing market, 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 Roaches expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $167,095. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $69,562 median income, cost of living beats 42% of towns.
Is Roaches safe?
Yes, Roaches is safer than 71% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $194 per resident a year.
Compare Roaches with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Roaches. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Roaches 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.
Roaches detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Roaches: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Roaches: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Roaches: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Roaches: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Roaches 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.