Best PlacesMacoupin County, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Macoupin County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Macoupin County ranks 1,948th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. State finances pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on what local pay buys.
The best neighborhoods in Macoupin County
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.
The best areas in Macoupin County
The parts of Macoupin County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Bunker Hill & Brighton
Incomes run higher, local pay stretches further, and it is quieter.
Carlinville & Gillespie
More households have young kids and fewer homes sit empty.
Mount Olive
Homes cost less, though prices have run up more.
Staunton
Scores close to Mount Olive, except that more residents vote here.
Virden
Advertised internet is faster and commutes are shorter.
Scores across Macoupin County run from about the 4th to the 73rd percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Macoupin County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Macoupin County ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 89% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 88% of counties
- TransitBetter than 82% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than 79% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than 73% of counties
Where Macoupin County ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 2% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 62 pleasant days a year, better than only 9% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 10% of counties
- School gradeD+, better than only 12% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Macoupin County
A household needs to earn about $42,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Macoupin County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $78,011, 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 Macoupin County's effective rate of 1.42%, 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 Macoupin County
Macoupin County runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Macoupin County.
Who works in Macoupin County, and how
Work in Macoupin County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Macoupin County
Macoupin County has more parkland per resident than 67% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Macoupin County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Macoupin County growing, and who is moving in?
Macoupin County has lost about 5% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the St Louis, MO metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Macoupin County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Macoupin County, month by month
Macoupin County sees roughly 62 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37° | 29° | 23° |
| April | 65° | 53° | 44° |
| July | 85° | 75° | 67° |
| October | 69° | 56° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Macoupin County
St Louis Lambert International sits about 40 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 7.5 million passengers in 2025, with 114 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Macoupin County
Schools across Macoupin County average a D+, better than 12% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Carlinville Primary SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Carlinville Intermediate SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Worden Elementary SchoolC · 34% proficient
Top middle schools
- Liberty Middle SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Carlinville Middle SchoolC− · 31% proficient
- Southwestern Middle SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Edwardsville High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Carlinville High SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Gillespie High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Macoupin County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Macoupin County 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 Macoupin County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Macoupin County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 89% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 11% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Macoupin County
Is Macoupin County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Macoupin County ranks 1,948th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on what local pay buys, a stable housing market, and transit, and lowest on state finances and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Macoupin County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $148,077. The overall cost of living runs about 23% below the national average. Set against a $78,011 median income, cost of living beats 89% of counties.
Is Macoupin County safe?
Macoupin County is safer than 41% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $285 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Macoupin County?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 37 with lows near 23. That works out to about 62 pleasant days a year, more than 9% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Macoupin County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Bunker Hill & Brighton, Carlinville & Gillespie, and Mount Olive. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Macoupin County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Macoupin County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Macoupin County 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.
Macoupin County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Macoupin County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Macoupin County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Macoupin County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Macoupin County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Macoupin County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.