Best PlacesSt. James, IN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around St. James, 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.
St. James ranks 11,883rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in St. James
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.
St. James' strengths and weaknesses
Where St. James ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 97% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 97% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 92% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 91% of towns
- Household income$106,636 median, better than 88% of towns
Where St. James ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 1% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 52 pleasant days a year, better than only 1% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 8% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 21% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 24% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in St. James
A household needs to earn about $87,000 a year to comfortably buy the median St. James home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $106,636, 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 St. James' effective rate of 0.73%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in St. James
St. James runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for St. James.
Who works in St. James, and how
Work in St. James centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 94%
- Work from home 2%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in St. James
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across St. James.
What the weather is like in St. James, month by month
St. James sees roughly 52 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 34° | 25° |
| April | 71° | 57° | 45° |
| July | 91° | 79° | 69° |
| October | 75° | 60° | 48° |
Flying in and out of St. James
The nearest airport, Evansville Regional, is about 10 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Indianapolis International, about 127 miles away.
The best schools in and around St. James
Schools across St. James average a B+, better than 79% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Haubstadt Community SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
Top high schools
- Gibson Southern High SchoolA− · 62% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every St. James school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
St. James 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 St. James against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in St. James
Is St. James a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, St. James ranks 11,883rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, cell coverage, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on noise and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is St. James expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $338,000. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $106,636 median income, cost of living beats 91% of towns.
Is St. James safe?
Yes, St. James is safer than 82% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $180 per resident a year.
Compare St. James with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to St. James. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in St. James 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.
St. James detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for St. James: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in St. James: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of St. James: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in St. James: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
St. James 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.