Best PlacesWayne City, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Wayne City, 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.
Wayne City ranks 35,351st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Wayne City
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.
Wayne City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Wayne City ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 93% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 80% of towns
- BikingBetter than 78% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 77% of towns
Where Wayne City ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 62 pleasant days a year, better than only 12% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 16% of towns
- Household income$56,197 median, better than only 21% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Wayne City
A household needs to earn about $37,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wayne City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $56,197, 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 Wayne City's effective rate of 1.28%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Wayne City
Wayne City 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 Wayne City.
Who works in Wayne City, and how
Work in Wayne City centers on retail trade and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Wayne City
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Wayne City.
What the weather is like in Wayne City, month by month
Wayne City sees roughly 62 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 41, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41° | 33° | 26° |
| April | 68° | 56° | 46° |
| July | 87° | 77° | 68° |
| October | 71° | 58° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Wayne City
The nearest airport, Veterans Airport of Southern Illinois, is about 47 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 101 miles away.
The best schools in and around Wayne City
Schools across Wayne City average a C, better than 29% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- New Hope Elem SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Wayne City Attendance CenterB− · 41% proficient
- East Side Elementary SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Center Street Elem SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Hamilton County Jr/sr High SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
- Fairfield Comm High SchoolD− · 15% proficient
- Wayne City High SchoolF · 10% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wayne City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wayne City 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 Wayne City against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Wayne City
Is Wayne City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wayne City ranks 35,351st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, walkability, and few empty homes, 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 Wayne City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $134,570. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $56,197 median income, cost of living beats 32% of towns.
Is Wayne City safe?
Wayne City is safer than 43% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $255 per resident a year.
Compare Wayne City with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wayne City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wayne City 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.
Wayne City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wayne City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wayne City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wayne City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wayne City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wayne City 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.