Best PlacesWakefield, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Wakefield, 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.
Wakefield ranks 25,453rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Taxes pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on what local pay buys.
The best neighborhoods in Wakefield
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.
Wakefield's strengths and weaknesses
Where Wakefield ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 89% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 86% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 83% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 82% of towns
- Household income$95,552 median, better than 82% of towns
Where Wakefield ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 57 pleasant days a year, better than only 4% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Wakefield
A household needs to earn about $52,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wakefield home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $95,552, 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 Wakefield's effective rate of 1.50%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Wakefield
Wakefield runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Wakefield.
Who works in Wakefield, and how
Work in Wakefield centers on retail trade and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Wakefield
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Wakefield.
What the weather is like in Wakefield, month by month
Wakefield sees roughly 57 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 39, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 39° | 31° | 25° |
| April | 67° | 55° | 46° |
| July | 87° | 77° | 68° |
| October | 71° | 58° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Wakefield
The nearest airport, Evansville Regional, is about 68 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 115 miles away.
The best schools in and around Wakefield
Schools across Wakefield average a C−, better than 22% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Richland County Elementary SchoolC− · 29% proficient
- Clay City Elem SchoolD · 20% proficient
Top middle schools
- Jasper Co Jr HighB− · 43% proficient
- Richland County Middle SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
- Clay City Jr High SchoolF · 4% proficient
Top high schools
- Clay City High SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Newton Comm High SchoolD · 20% proficient
- Richland County High SchoolD− · 18% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wakefield school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wakefield 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 Wakefield against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Wakefield
Is Wakefield a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wakefield ranks 25,453rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on what local pay buys, a stable housing market, and civic engagement, and lowest on taxes and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Wakefield expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $182,614. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $95,552 median income, cost of living beats 89% of towns.
Is Wakefield safe?
Wakefield is safer than 50% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $243 per resident a year.
Compare Wakefield with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wakefield. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wakefield 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.
Wakefield detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wakefield: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wakefield: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wakefield: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wakefield: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wakefield 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.