Best PlacesSt. Peter, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around St. Peter, 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.
St. Peter ranks 39,015th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. The weather pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on a stable housing market.
The best neighborhoods in St. Peter
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. Peter's strengths and weaknesses
Where St. Peter ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 81% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 80% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 77% of towns
- Cheap childcare$688 a month, better than 67% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 65% of towns
Where St. Peter ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 55 pleasant days a year, better than only 3% 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 4% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 11% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in St. Peter
A household needs to earn about $43,000 a year to comfortably buy the median St. Peter home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $65,391, 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. Peter's effective rate of 1.43%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in St. Peter
St. Peter 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 St. Peter.
Who works in St. Peter, and how
Work in St. Peter centers on manufacturing and finance & insurance. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in St. Peter
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across St. Peter.
What the weather is like in St. Peter, month by month
St. Peter sees roughly 55 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 41, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41° | 32° | 26° |
| April | 68° | 57° | 48° |
| July | 88° | 78° | 70° |
| October | 72° | 60° | 50° |
Flying in and out of St. Peter
The nearest airport, Scott AFB/Midamerica St Louis, is about 57 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 81 miles away.
The best schools in and around St. Peter
Schools across St. Peter average a D−, better than 4% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Vandalia Elementary SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Brownstown Elem SchoolD · 18% proficient
- St Elmo Elem SchoolD− · 13% proficient
Top middle schools
- Brownstown Jr High SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
- Vandalia Junior High SchoolD · 19% proficient
- South Central Middle SchoolD− · 15% proficient
Top high schools
- South Central High SchoolD− · 18% proficient
- Vandalia Community High SchoolD− · 18% proficient
- St Elmo Sr High SchoolF · 10% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every St. Peter school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
St. Peter 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. Peter against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in St. Peter
Is St. Peter a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, St. Peter ranks 39,015th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, walkability, and state infrastructure, 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 St. Peter expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $149,987. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $65,391 median income, cost of living beats 51% of towns.
Is St. Peter safe?
Yes, St. Peter is safer than 65% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $200 per resident a year.
Compare St. Peter with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to St. Peter. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in St. Peter 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. Peter detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for St. Peter: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in St. Peter: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of St. Peter: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in St. Peter: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
St. Peter 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.