Best PlacesMenard County, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Menard County, 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.
Menard County ranks 1,595th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and state finances rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Menard 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.
Menard County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Menard County ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 95% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 94% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than 87% of counties
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 84% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than 81% of counties
Where Menard County ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 2% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 5% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 61 pleasant days a year, better than only 8% of counties
- School gradeC−, better than only 20% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Menard County
A household needs to earn about $55,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Menard County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $82,483, 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 Menard County's effective rate of 1.66%, 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 Menard County
Menard County runs older than the country, 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 Menard County.
Who works in Menard County, and how
Work in Menard County centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Menard County
Menard County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and more parkland per resident than 77% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Menard County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Menard County growing, and who is moving in?
Menard County has lost about 4% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Springfield, IL metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Menard County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Menard County, month by month
Menard County sees roughly 61 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37° | 29° | 22° |
| April | 66° | 54° | 44° |
| July | 87° | 77° | 68° |
| October | 69° | 57° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Menard County
The nearest airport, Abraham Lincoln Capital, is about 12 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 92 miles away.
The best schools in and around Menard County
Schools across Menard County average a C−, better than 20% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Sherman Elem SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
- Cantrall Elem SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Farmingdale Elem SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Top middle schools
- Cantrall Intermediate SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
- Williamsville Jr High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Athens Junior High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Pleasant Plains High SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Mount Pulaski High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Williamsville High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Menard County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Menard 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 Menard County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Menard County
Is Menard County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Menard County ranks 1,595th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on civic engagement, a stable housing market, and few empty homes, 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 Menard County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $189,556. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $82,483 median income, cost of living beats 84% of counties.
Is Menard County safe?
Menard County is safer than 51% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $267 per resident a year.
Compare Menard County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Menard County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Menard 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.
Menard County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Menard County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Menard County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Menard County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Menard County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Menard 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.