Best PlacesSand Ridge, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Sand Ridge, 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.
Sand Ridge ranks 50,016th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. The schools pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on state infrastructure.
The best neighborhoods in Sand Ridge
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.
Sand Ridge's strengths and weaknesses
Where Sand Ridge ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 77% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 58% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 55% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 44% of towns
- TransitBetter than 44% of towns
Where Sand Ridge ranks low
- School gradeF, better than only 1% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$40,700 median, better than only 3% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Sand Ridge
A household needs to earn about $17,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sand Ridge home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $40,700, 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 Sand Ridge's effective rate of 1.12%, 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 3 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Sand Ridge
Sand Ridge runs younger 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 Sand Ridge.
Who works in Sand Ridge, and how
Work in Sand Ridge centers on health care & social and construction. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Sand Ridge
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Sand Ridge.
What the weather is like in Sand Ridge, month by month
Sand Ridge sees roughly 68 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 34° | 27° |
| April | 69° | 57° | 47° |
| July | 89° | 78° | 70° |
| October | 72° | 59° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Sand Ridge
The nearest airport, Veterans Airport of Southern Illinois, is about 23 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 87 miles away.
The best schools in and around Sand Ridge
Schools across Sand Ridge average an F, better than 1% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Carruthers Elementary SchoolD− · 11% proficient
- Shawnee Elementary SchoolF · 8% proficient
Top middle schools
- Shawnee Jr High SchoolF · 11% proficient
- Murphysboro Middle SchoolF · 5% proficient
Top high schools
- Murphysboro High SchoolD− · 15% proficient
- Shawnee High SchoolF · 10% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sand Ridge school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sand Ridge 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 Sand Ridge against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Sand Ridge
Is Sand Ridge a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sand Ridge ranks 50,016th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, cell coverage, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on the schools and the cost of living against local pay. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Sand Ridge expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $62,629. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $40,700 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Sand Ridge safe?
Sand Ridge is safer than 23% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $337 per resident a year.
Compare Sand Ridge with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sand Ridge. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sand Ridge 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.
Sand Ridge detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sand Ridge: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sand Ridge: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sand Ridge: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sand Ridge: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sand Ridge 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.