Best PlacesMcCook, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around McCook, 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.
McCook ranks 37,482nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cell coverage by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in McCook
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.
McCook's strengths and weaknesses
Where McCook ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 99% of towns
- TransitBetter than 99% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of towns
- BikingBetter than 96% of towns
- Short commute16.7 minutes each way, better than 95% of towns
Where McCook ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 1% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 2% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
Who lives in McCook
McCook runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for McCook.
Who works in McCook, and how
Work in McCook centers on transportation & warehousing and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in McCook
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across McCook.
What the weather is like in McCook, month by month
McCook sees roughly 76 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 28° | 22° |
| April | 61° | 50° | 43° |
| July | 86° | 77° | 70° |
| October | 66° | 57° | 49° |
Flying in and out of McCook
Chicago Midway International sits about 4 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 9.4 million passengers in 2025, with 113 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around McCook
Schools across McCook average a C, better than 37% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Hodgkins Elem SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Costello SchoolF · 8% proficient
Top middle schools
- Wm F Gurrie Middle SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Washington Middle SchoolF · 10% proficient
Top high schools
- Lyons Twp High SchB+ · 51% proficient
- Argo Community High SchoolD · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every McCook school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
McCook 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 McCook against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in McCook
Is McCook a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, McCook ranks 37,482nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cell coverage, transit, and big-city access, and lowest on noise and education levels. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is McCook safe?
McCook is safer than 4% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $546 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in McCook?
July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 34 with lows near 22. That works out to about 76 pleasant days a year, more than 39% of towns.
Compare McCook with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to McCook. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in McCook 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.
McCook detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for McCook: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in McCook: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of McCook: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in McCook: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
McCook 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.
- 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.