Best PlacesSmithton, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Smithton, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Smithton ranks 7,000th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on what local pay buys by a wide margin, and the weather ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Smithton
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.
Smithton's strengths and weaknesses
Where Smithton ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 98% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 96% of towns
- Household income$129,688 median, better than 95% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 91% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 91% of towns
Where Smithton 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
- Low property taxBetter than only 4% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 20% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Smithton
A household needs to earn about $83,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Smithton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $129,688, 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 Smithton's effective rate of 1.85%, 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 Smithton
Smithton runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Smithton.
Who works in Smithton, and how
Work in Smithton centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Smithton
Smithton has more restaurants and bars per resident than 75% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Smithton and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Smithton, month by month
Smithton sees roughly 50 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 42, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 42° | 32° | 25° |
| April | 69° | 56° | 46° |
| July | 89° | 79° | 70° |
| October | 71° | 59° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Smithton
The nearest airport, Scott AFB/Midamerica St Louis, is about 13 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 32 miles away.
The best schools in and around Smithton
Schools across Smithton average a B−, better than 54% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Smithton Elem SchoolB · 46% proficient
- New Athens ElemB · 45% proficient
- Westhaven ElementaryD+ · 22% proficient
Top middle schools
- New Athens Jr HighB+ · 48% proficient
- Freeburg Elem SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Central Jr High SchoolD · 21% proficient
Top high schools
- Freeburg Community High SchC− · 30% proficient
- New Athens High SchoolD− · 13% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Smithton school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Smithton 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 Smithton against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Smithton
Is Smithton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Smithton ranks 7,000th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on what local pay buys, civic engagement, and high incomes, 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 Smithton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $277,554. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $129,688 median income, cost of living beats 98% of towns.
Is Smithton safe?
Smithton is safer than 51% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $235 per resident a year.
Compare Smithton with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Smithton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Smithton 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.
Smithton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Smithton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Smithton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Smithton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Smithton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Smithton 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.