Best PlacesWaynesville, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Waynesville, 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.
Waynesville ranks 27,521st 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 Waynesville
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.
Waynesville's strengths and weaknesses
Where Waynesville ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 92% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 82% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 81% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 80% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 79% of towns
Where Waynesville ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 58 pleasant days a year, better than only 6% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 10% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 12% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Waynesville
A household needs to earn about $43,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Waynesville home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $68,222, 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 Waynesville's effective rate of 1.51%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Waynesville
Waynesville 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 Waynesville.
Who works in Waynesville, and how
Work in Waynesville centers on health care & social and finance & insurance. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Waynesville
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Waynesville.
What the weather is like in Waynesville, month by month
Waynesville sees roughly 58 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 | 65° | 53° | 43° |
| July | 87° | 76° | 67° |
| October | 69° | 57° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Waynesville
The nearest airport, Central Il Regional/Bloomington- Normal, is about 20 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 123 miles away.
The best schools in and around Waynesville
Schools across Waynesville average a C−, better than 20% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Heyworth Elem SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Chester-east Lincoln Elem SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Olympia South Elem SchC− · 28% proficient
Top middle schools
- Olympia Middle SchoolD+ · 26% proficient
- Clinton Jr High SchoolD− · 17% proficient
Top high schools
- Olympia High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Heyworth Jr-sr High SchoolC− · 26% proficient
- Lincoln Comm High SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Waynesville school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Waynesville 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 Waynesville against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Waynesville
Is Waynesville a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Waynesville ranks 27,521st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, few empty homes, and an educated workforce, 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 Waynesville expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $148,488. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $68,222 median income, cost of living beats 53% of towns.
Is Waynesville safe?
Yes, Waynesville is safer than 73% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $186 per resident a year.
Compare Waynesville with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Waynesville. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Waynesville 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.
Waynesville detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Waynesville: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Waynesville: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Waynesville: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Waynesville: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Waynesville 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.