Best PlacesSailor Springs, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Sailor Springs, 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.
Sailor Springs ranks 29,582nd 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 Sailor Springs
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.
Sailor Springs' strengths and weaknesses
Where Sailor Springs ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 96% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 94% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 93% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 80% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 77% of towns
Where Sailor Springs ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 50 pleasant days a year, better than only 1% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- School gradeD+, better than only 9% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 12% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Sailor Springs
A household needs to earn about $30,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sailor Springs home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $65,115, 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 Sailor Springs' effective rate of 1.12%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Sailor Springs
Sailor Springs 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 Sailor Springs.
Who works in Sailor Springs, and how
Work in Sailor Springs centers on health care & social and agriculture & forestry. 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 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Sailor Springs
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Sailor Springs.
What the weather is like in Sailor Springs, month by month
Sailor Springs sees roughly 50 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 40, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 40° | 32° | 26° |
| April | 67° | 56° | 46° |
| July | 88° | 78° | 69° |
| October | 71° | 59° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Sailor Springs
The nearest airport, Evansville Regional, is about 68 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 108 miles away.
The best schools in and around Sailor Springs
Schools across Sailor Springs average a D+, better than 9% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Richland County Elementary SchoolC− · 29% proficient
- Clay City Elem SchoolD · 20% proficient
- North Clay Elem/jr High SchD− · 11% proficient
Top middle schools
- Richland County Middle SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
- Clay City Jr High SchoolF · 4% proficient
Top high schools
- Clay City High SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Richland County High SchoolD− · 18% proficient
- North Clay Community High SchoolD− · 16% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sailor Springs school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sailor Springs 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 Sailor Springs against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Sailor Springs
Is Sailor Springs a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sailor Springs ranks 29,582nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on fast internet, a stable housing market, and low crime, 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 Sailor Springs expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $110,034. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $65,115 median income, cost of living beats 47% of towns.
Is Sailor Springs safe?
Yes, Sailor Springs is safer than 93% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $134 per resident a year.
Compare Sailor Springs with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sailor Springs. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sailor Springs 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.
Sailor Springs detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sailor Springs: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sailor Springs: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sailor Springs: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sailor Springs: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sailor Springs 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.