Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 7,469, founded in 1815.
Greenville gives you more for your money than most places: homes are within reach, about $173K for a typical one, or 2.2 years of the St. Louis metro’s $80K median household income. It grades A− overall, 249th of 767 graded towns in Illinois. On the plus side, it is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 87% of U.S. towns. 32% of working residents work locally in Greenville, against 8.3% in Illinois’ towns and 8% across U.S. towns. Greenville is home to Greenville University. Greenville's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) is stronger than in 82% of U.S. towns.
Where Greenville beats most towns.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Illinois), ordered by how far Greenville is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Its founding year, 1815, comes before those of 98% of the Illinois towns we grade with a known year.
Census counts: 1,886 in 1880, 7,083 in 2020. The archive holds 8 old photos and papers going back to 1902 and 3 maps from 1932 on.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Greenville, 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 Greenville.
Greenville pairs an A− overall with homes cheaper than the Illinois norm, is healthier than towns with similar incomes and is safe by national standards but not by Illinois’s.
Greenville grades A− overall with a typical home of about $173K, below the Illinois typical value; only 48 of the 183 Illinois towns graded A− or better can say that. Homes are within reach (about $173K for the typical one, A for cost of living), but half of working residents commute more than 29 miles.
The median rent in Greenville is $783 a month. Typical home values rose 8.9% in the year to September 2026. 61% of Greenville households own their home.
| Greenville | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 61% | 75% | 73% |
| Median rent | $783 a month | $1,129 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Greenville has chilly winters and warm summers. Greenville’s July high is 87°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
At 13.1 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 51% of Illinois’s graded towns. Violent crime is rare: 6 reported in 2025, 0.8 per 1,000 residents.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
The average commute for its 2,274 working residents takes 21.6 minutes, against 27.8 across Illinois.
About one in 3 of Greenville’s working residents works in town. The top destinations are Springfield (4%), Highland (3%) and Vandalia (3%). 11% of residents live below the poverty line in Greenville.
| Greenville | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 22 minutes | 26 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $62,000 | $83,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 11% | 8.4% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Against the 9,433 U.S. towns with household incomes like Greenville’s, it is healthier than 66%, so its C+ isn’t only a matter of income.
Greenville beats the Illinois average on 0 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 7.
| Greenville | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 18% | 16% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 37% | 33% | 33% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 17% | 17% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 75% | 78% | 79% |
| What stands out | Greenville | IL |
|---|---|---|
| More smokers | 15.5% | 12.1% |
| More adults without reliable transportation | 10.2% | 8% |
| More adults facing a utility shut-off | 9.7% | 7.8% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 52% of U.S. communities. One flood insurance claim has been paid in Greenville since 1979.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
| Greenville | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 0.5% | 3.7% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.1 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Jaycee Park | — | 7 |
| 2. William S. Wait Park | — | 6 |
| 3. St. Lawrence Family Field | — | 2 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
1 within 15 miles of the center of Greenville
About 14 of every 100 Greenville residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Illinois.
2 places in Greenville on the National Register of Historic Places.
9 notable people were born in Greenville.
City in Illinois, United States
Greenville is a city in Bond County, Illinois, United States, 51 miles (82 km) east of St. Louis. The population as of the 2020 census was 7,083, up from 7,000 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Bond County. Greenville is part of the St. Louis Metropolitan Statistical Area. It is also considered part of the Metro East region of Illinois. Greenville celebrated its Bicentennial in 2015 as one of the oldest communities in Illinois. It is home to Greenville University, the Richard Bock Museum, the American Farm Heritage Museum, the Armed Forces Museum and the Demoulin Museum and a federal prison, Federal Correctional Institution, Greenville (FCI Greenville). It is also home to interna…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
One town shares a border with Greenville.
| Town | IL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greenville | #249 | A− | A | B+ | B | C+ |
| Smithboro | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Smithboro isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Greenville with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Greenville grades A− overall, better than 78% of U.S. towns and #249 of 767 in Illinois. It grades C+ for health, B+ for safety and B for schools.
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.
9 notable people were born here, including Alfred Harrison Joy and Job Adams Cooper.
