Best PlacesSparta, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Sparta, 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.
Sparta ranks 43,404th 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 Sparta
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.
Sparta's strengths and weaknesses
Where Sparta ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 94% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 89% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 87% of towns
- Short commute20.7 minutes each way, better than 85% of towns
- BikingBetter than 80% of towns
Where Sparta ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 48 pleasant days a year, better than only 1% of towns
- School gradeF, 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 7% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Sparta
A household needs to earn about $36,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sparta home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $61,769, 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 Sparta's effective rate of 1.65%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Sparta
Sparta 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 Sparta.
Who works in Sparta, and how
Work in Sparta centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Sparta
Sparta has more restaurants and bars per resident than 86% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Sparta and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Sparta, month by month
Sparta sees roughly 48 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 43, 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 | 43° | 33° | 25° |
| April | 69° | 56° | 45° |
| July | 89° | 78° | 69° |
| October | 73° | 59° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Sparta
The nearest airport, Scott AFB/Midamerica St Louis, is about 30 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 56 miles away.
The best schools in and around Sparta
Schools across Sparta average an F, better than 1% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Steeleville Elem SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Sparta Lincoln SchoolD− · 14% proficient
- Evansville Attendance CenterF · 10% proficient
Top high schools
- Steeleville High SchoolF · 11% proficient
- Sparta High SchoolF · 8% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sparta school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sparta 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 Sparta against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Sparta
Is Sparta a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sparta ranks 43,404th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on fast internet, cell coverage, and walkability, and lowest on the weather and the schools. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Sparta expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $123,187. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $61,769 median income, cost of living beats 40% of towns.
Is Sparta safe?
Sparta is safer than 14% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $398 per resident a year.
Compare Sparta with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sparta. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sparta 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.
Sparta detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sparta: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sparta: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sparta: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sparta: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sparta 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.