Best PlacesMcVey, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around McVey, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
McVey ranks 37,063rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in McVey
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.
McVey's strengths and weaknesses
Where McVey ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 91% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 83% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 81% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 79% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 77% of towns
Where McVey ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- School gradeD, better than only 6% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 7% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 61 pleasant days a year, better than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in McVey
A household needs to earn about $54,000 a year to comfortably buy the median McVey home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $80,573, 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 McVey's effective rate of 1.44%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in McVey
McVey's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for McVey.
Who works in McVey, and how
Work in McVey centers on health care & social and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in McVey
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across McVey.
What the weather is like in McVey, month by month
McVey sees roughly 61 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 McVey
The nearest airport, Abraham Lincoln Capital, is about 28 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 57 miles away.
The best schools in and around McVey
Schools across McVey average a D, better than 6% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Worden Elementary SchoolC · 34% proficient
- North Mac IntermediateD · 18% proficient
Top middle schools
- Liberty Middle SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Lincolnwood Jr High SchoolD− · 15% proficient
- North Mac Middle SchoolD− · 15% proficient
Top high schools
- Edwardsville High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- North Mac High SchoolD · 20% proficient
- Lincolnwood High SchoolD · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every McVey school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
McVey 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 McVey against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in McVey
Is McVey a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, McVey ranks 37,063rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, fast internet, and what local pay buys, and lowest on taxes and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is McVey expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $189,871. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $80,573 median income, cost of living beats 81% of towns.
Is McVey safe?
McVey is safer than 30% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $308 per resident a year.
Compare McVey with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to McVey. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in McVey 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.
McVey detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for McVey: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in McVey: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of McVey: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in McVey: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
McVey 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.
- 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.