Is East Alton a good place to live?
East Alton gives you more for your money than most places: homes are within reach, about $102K for a typical one, or 1.3 years of the St. Louis metro’s $80K median household income. It grades C+ overall, 535th of 767 graded towns in Illinois. The low prices come with trade-offs. FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 68% of U.S. communities, with inland flooding at the top, and residents are less healthy than 76% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. 21% of residents live below the poverty line in East Alton, above both the Illinois town median (8.4%) and the median of U.S. towns (9.6%). The biggest park or preserve is Kutter Park, at 30 acres. East Alton is more walkable than 72% of U.S. towns.
What makes East Alton stand out
Where East Alton beats most towns.
Typical home value
How East Alton grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Illinois), ordered by how far East Alton is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Cahokia and 53 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around East Alton. Close and well known come first.
Big draw16 mi State parkCahokia
Big draw18 mi Stadium & arenaThe Dome at America's Center
5 mi Ancient sitePiasa
19 mi Stadium & arenaBusch Stadium
18 mi National ParkGateway Arch National Park2.2M visitors a year
16 mi LandmarkMonks MoundPhoto credits
Cahokia: Thank You (24 Millions ) views, CC BY 2.0 · The Dome at America's Center: Paul Sableman, CC BY 2.0 · Piasa: Burfalcy, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Busch Stadium: Lee Ann Ratledge, CC BY 4.0 · Gateway Arch National Park: Daniel Schwen, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Monks Mound: Skubasteve834, CC BY-SA 3.0
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Moving to East Alton: who provides what
Who provides power, water and the rest in East Alton, 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.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in East Alton.
East Alton is healthier than towns with similar incomes and has homes that are cheap against local pay, but it has household incomes well below the Illinois norm.
East Alton earns an A− for cost of living
At 1.3 years of the St. Louis metro’s $80K median household income, the typical home (about $102K) costs less against local pay than in 97% of Illinois towns; that ratio is one input to that grade. The median property tax bill is $2,323, against $5,298 across Illinois, another input to its cost-of-living grade.
The going rate for rent in East Alton is $881 a month. The typical East Alton home is worth about $102,000, about the same as a year ago, 66% below the Illinois typical home. The share of households in East Alton who are owner-occupiers: 57%.
| East Alton | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 57% | 75% | 73% |
| Median rent | $881 a month | $1,129 a month | $1,185 a month |
Typical home value
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
East Alton earns a C− for health
Against the 5,318 U.S. towns with household incomes like East Alton’s, it is healthier than 59%, so that grade isn’t only a matter of income.
Among adults in East Alton, 26% get no exercise outside work. In East Alton, 16% of adults report frequent physical distress, and 18% smoke cigarettes.
| East Alton | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 17% | 17% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 13% | 14% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 13% | 14% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 41% | 37% | 35% |
| What stands out | East Alton | IL |
|---|---|---|
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 16.1% | 10.3% |
| More adults with COPD | 9.2% | 6.3% |
| More smokers | 17.5% | 12.1% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
East Alton reports more crime per resident than 70% of U.S. towns
East Alton’s violent crime rate stands at 3.4 per 1,000 residents. In East Alton, the property crime rate is 13.1 per 1,000 residents.
| East Alton | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 3.4 per 1,000 residents | 1 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 13.1 per 1,000 residents | 7.9 | 9.9 |
Violent crime per 1,000 residents
Property crime per 1,000 residents
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
The biggest natural risk in East Alton is inland flooding, at a high overall level
FEMA puts nearly two fifths of East Alton’s expected hazard losses down to inland flooding, and 19% to earthquakes. Since 1979, East Alton has seen 5 flood insurance claims paid out. Federal disaster aid has reached households in East Alton after 2 declared disasters, most recently in 2019.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Expect four seasons and hot summers in East Alton
East Alton’s midsummer high comes in at 88°F.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
1.5% of the land in East Alton is protected from building
Trails total 1.0 miles in 2 parks and preserves. The concentration of trails for East Alton comes to 0.2 miles per square mile.
| East Alton | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 1.5% | 3.7% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.2 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Van Preter Park | 0.5 mi | 18 |
| 2. Kutter Park | — | 30 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
With 1.5 jobs for every working resident, East Alton draws in 3,209 commuters
The average commute for its 2,335 working residents takes 21.8 minutes, against 27.8 across Illinois.
The top destinations are Alton (11%), Edwardsville (11%) and Wood River (6%). Most people who work leave East Alton to do it: just 8% work in town. Since 2013, East Alton has lost 491 jobs, to 3,389 in 2023. The town’s income of the median household is $49,000.
| East Alton | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $49,000 | $83,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 22 minutes | 26 minutes | 25 minutes |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Everything we know about East Alton
Colleges nearby
3 within 15 miles of the center of East Alton
About 7 of every 100 East Alton residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Illinois.
About East Alton
Village in Illinois, United States
East Alton is a village in Madison County, Illinois, United States. The population was 5,786 at the 2020 census, down from 6,301 in 2010.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 5.6 sq mi
- Elevation
- 440 ft
- ZIP code
- 62024
East Alton’s neighbors
5 towns share a border with East Alton.
| Town | IL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| East Alton | #535 | C+ | A− | C | B | C− |
| Alton · Alton Township | #734 | D | B+ | D | D | D |
| Wood River Township | #355 | B+ | A | — | B | C+ |
| Rosewood Heights | #111 | A | A+ | — | B | B− |
| Wood River | #495 | B− | A | C | C | B− |
Wood River Township and Rosewood Heights report no FBI crime data of their own. Alton Township and Alton are one community, graded once. Compare East Alton with a neighbor →
Questions about East Alton
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is East Alton, IL a good place to live?
East Alton grades C+ overall, better than 40% of U.S. towns and #535 of 767 in Illinois. It grades C− for health, C for safety and B for schools. Hazard risk is its weak spot, with a C−.
Is East Alton, IL expensive?
Not for the 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−.
What is East Alton, IL known for?
East Alton was incorporated in 1893. 2 notable people were born here, including Joe Astroth and Gary Collins.