Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Carlyle gives you more for your money than most places: homes are within reach, about $169K for a typical one, or 2.1 years of the St. Louis metro’s $80K median household income. It grades B+ overall, 359th of 767 graded towns in Illinois. The low prices come with trade-offs. FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 73% of U.S. communities, with inland flooding at the top. General Dean Suspension Bridge is on the National Register of Historic Places. 18% of residents are under 18 in Carlyle, below both Illinois’ towns (22%) and U.S. towns (22%). Carlyle's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) is stronger than in 83% of U.S. towns.
Where Carlyle beats most towns.
General Dean Suspension BridgeEach subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Illinois), ordered by how far Carlyle is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Its founding year, 1818, comes before those of 96% of the Illinois towns we grade with a known year.
Census counts: 289 in 1850, 3,253 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1988 and 2 maps from 1910 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Carlyle, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Sep 12, 2025.
Ordered by what stands out in Carlyle.
Carlyle has homes that are cheap against local pay and is safe by national standards but not by Illinois’s.
At 2.1 years of the St. Louis metro’s $80K median household income, the typical home (about $169K) costs less against local pay than in 75% of Illinois towns; that ratio is one input to its A− for cost of living.
Typical home values rose 7.4% in the year to September 2026. Carlyle’s median rent is $983 a month.
| Carlyle | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $983 a month | $1,129 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 75% | 75% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Since 2000, 3 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Carlyle.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Carlyle has chilly winters and warm summers. The July high in Carlyle is 88°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
At 13.5 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 50% of Illinois’s graded towns. Violent crime is rare: 2 reported in 2025, 0.6 per 1,000 residents.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Most working residents leave Carlyle for work: only 16% work in town. Jobs based in Carlyle grew to 1,640 in 2023, 98 more than in 2013. The top destinations are Breese (9%), Centralia (5%) and Belleville (4%).
| Carlyle | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 16% | 8.3% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 22 minutes | 26 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 7.9% | 8.4% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Carlyle beats the Illinois average on 6 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 4. 40% of adults have obesity in Carlyle.
| Carlyle | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 40% | 37% | 35% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 38% | 35% | 35% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 80% | 78% | 79% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 11% | 12% |
| What stands out | Carlyle | IL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 7.2% | 9.9% |
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 9.8% | 13.2% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 10.2% | 7.6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
0.6 miles of trail in 1 park or preserve.
| Carlyle | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.2 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 2.8% | 3.7% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Carlyle Parks and Recreation | 0.6 mi | 19 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
1 within 15 miles of the center of Carlyle
About 5 of every 100 Carlyle residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Illinois.
7 notable people were born in Carlyle.
City in Illinois, United States
Carlyle is a city in and the county seat of Clinton County, Illinois, United States. The population was 3,253 at the 2020 census. Carlyle is located approximately 50 miles (80 km) east of St. Louis, Missouri, and is home to Illinois' largest man-made lake, Carlyle Lake, and to the General Dean Suspension Bridge, a suspension bridge that is the only one of its kind in Illinois and crosses the Kaskaskia River.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Carlyle grades B+ overall, better than 66% of U.S. towns and #359 of 767 in Illinois. It grades B for health, B for safety and C+ for schools. Hazard risk is its weak spot, with a C−.
Not for the area. Louis, MO-IL metro area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades A−.
7 notable people were born here, including William F. Dean and James Donnewald.