Best PlacesSweet Water, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Sweet Water, 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.
Sweet Water ranks 32,377th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Sweet Water
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.
Sweet Water's strengths and weaknesses
Where Sweet Water ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 97% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 92% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 85% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 78% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 77% of towns
Where Sweet Water ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 2% 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 6% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 62 pleasant days a year, better than only 12% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Sweet Water
A household needs to earn about $49,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sweet Water home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $85,954, 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 Sweet Water's effective rate of 1.73%, 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 Sweet Water
Sweet Water runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Sweet Water.
Who works in Sweet Water, and how
Work in Sweet Water centers on health care & social and public administration. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 2%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Sweet Water
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Sweet Water.
What the weather is like in Sweet Water, month by month
Sweet Water sees roughly 62 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37° | 29° | 22° |
| April | 66° | 54° | 44° |
| July | 87° | 77° | 68° |
| October | 69° | 57° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Sweet Water
The nearest airport, Abraham Lincoln Capital, is about 14 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 97 miles away.
The best schools in and around Sweet Water
Schools across Sweet Water average a C−, better than 23% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Cantrall Elem SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Greenview Elementary SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- New Holland-middletown Elem SchD− · 13% proficient
Top middle schools
- Cantrall Intermediate SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
- Athens Junior High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Williamsville High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Athens Sr High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Porta High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sweet Water school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sweet Water 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 Sweet Water against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Sweet Water
Is Sweet Water a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sweet Water ranks 32,377th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, civic engagement, and few empty homes, and lowest on internet speeds and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Sweet Water expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $165,497. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $85,954 median income, cost of living beats 76% of towns.
Is Sweet Water safe?
Sweet Water is safer than 20% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $354 per resident a year.
Compare Sweet Water with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sweet Water. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sweet Water 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.
Sweet Water detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sweet Water: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sweet Water: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sweet Water: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sweet Water: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sweet Water 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.