Best PlacesMeadows, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Meadows, 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.
Meadows ranks 16,618th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Meadows
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.
Meadows' strengths and weaknesses
Where Meadows ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 92% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 88% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 84% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 84% of towns
- Household income$97,628 median, better than 83% of towns
Where Meadows ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 2% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 63 pleasant days a year, better than only 13% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Meadows
A household needs to earn about $63,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Meadows home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $97,628, 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 Meadows' effective rate of 2.13%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Meadows
Meadows's age mix sits close to the national median, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Meadows.
Who works in Meadows, and how
Work in Meadows centers on manufacturing and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Meadows
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Meadows.
What the weather is like in Meadows, month by month
Meadows sees roughly 63 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 26° | 20° |
| April | 63° | 51° | 41° |
| July | 85° | 74° | 65° |
| October | 67° | 55° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Meadows
The nearest airport, Central Il Regional/Bloomington- Normal, is about 20 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago Midway International, about 90 miles away.
The best schools in and around Meadows
Schools across Meadows average a D+, better than 14% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Lexington Elem SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Graymont Elem SchoolD+ · 21% proficient
- Flanagan Elem SchoolD · 18% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lexington Jr High SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Epg Middle SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Lexington High SchoolD · 20% proficient
- Flanagan-cornell High SchoolF · 8% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Meadows school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Meadows 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 Meadows against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Meadows
Is Meadows a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Meadows ranks 16,618th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, what local pay buys, and cell coverage, and lowest on property taxes and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Meadows expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $202,820. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $97,628 median income, cost of living beats 88% of towns.
Is Meadows safe?
Yes, Meadows is safer than 74% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $187 per resident a year.
Compare Meadows with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Meadows. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Meadows 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.
Meadows detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Meadows: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Meadows: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Meadows: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Meadows: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Meadows 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.