Best PlacesMedill, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Medill, 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.
Medill ranks 45,564th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Medill
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.
Medill's strengths and weaknesses
Where Medill ranks high
- Cheap childcare$408 a month, better than 98% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 83% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 81% of towns
- Short commute22.9 minutes each way, better than 75% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 73% of towns
Where Medill ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 2% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 7% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 9% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 14% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Medill
A household needs to earn about $45,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Medill home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $52,832, 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 Medill's effective rate of 0.71%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Medill
Medill runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Medill.
Who works in Medill, and how
Work in Medill centers on manufacturing and education. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Medill
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Medill.
What the weather is like in Medill, month by month
Medill sees roughly 90 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 26° | 20° |
| April | 64° | 53° | 43° |
| July | 86° | 76° | 67° |
| October | 67° | 56° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Medill
The nearest airport, Southeast Iowa Regional, is about 42 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 138 miles away.
The best schools in and around Medill
Schools across Medill average a C−, better than 22% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Black Hawk Elem.C− · 27% proficient
Top middle schools
- Clark Co. MiddleD · 22% proficient
Top high schools
- Clark Co. HighC · 33% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Medill school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Medill 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 Medill against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Medill
Is Medill a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Medill ranks 45,564th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, cell coverage, and a stable housing market, and lowest on noise and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Medill expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $175,145. The overall cost of living runs about 23% below the national average. Set against a $52,832 median income, cost of living beats 39% of towns.
Is Medill safe?
Medill is safer than 14% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $571 per resident a year.
Compare Medill with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Medill. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Medill 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.
Medill detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Medill: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Medill: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Medill: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Medill: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Medill 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.