Best PlacesSwansea, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Swansea, 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.
Swansea ranks 19,305th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and the weather ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Swansea
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.
Swansea's strengths and weaknesses
Where Swansea ranks high
- BikingBetter than 97% of towns
- TransitBetter than 96% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 91% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 90% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 89% of towns
Where Swansea ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 52 pleasant days a year, better than only 1% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 12% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Swansea
A household needs to earn about $68,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Swansea home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $94,521, 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 Swansea's effective rate of 1.97%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Swansea
Swansea's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Swansea.
Who works in Swansea, and how
Work in Swansea centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Swansea
Swansea has more parkland per resident than 85% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Swansea and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Swansea, month by month
Swansea sees roughly 52 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 Swansea
The nearest airport, Scott AFB/Midamerica St Louis, is about 8 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 25 miles away.
The best schools in and around Swansea
Schools across Swansea average a C−, better than 19% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Wolf Branch Elem SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Union Elem SchoolC− · 27% proficient
- Jefferson Elem SchoolD+ · 23% proficient
Top middle schools
- Wolf Branch Middle SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Pontiac Jr High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Central Jr High SchoolD · 21% proficient
Top high schools
- O Fallon High SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
- Belleville High School-eastC− · 27% proficient
- Belleville High School-westD · 23% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Swansea school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Swansea 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 Swansea against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Swansea
Is Swansea a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Swansea ranks 19,305th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on biking, transit, and an educated workforce, and lowest on the weather and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Swansea expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $225,611. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $94,521 median income, cost of living beats 90% of towns.
Is Swansea safe?
Swansea is safer than 19% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $355 per resident a year.
Compare Swansea with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Swansea. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Swansea 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.
Swansea detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Swansea: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Swansea: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Swansea: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Swansea: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Swansea 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.