Best PlacesMerrimac, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Merrimac, 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.
Merrimac ranks 30,234th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. A weak job market pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on population health.
The best neighborhoods in Merrimac
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.
Merrimac's strengths and weaknesses
Where Merrimac ranks high
- Health outlookBetter than 85% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 84% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 84% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 83% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 79% of towns
Where Merrimac ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 3% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- 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
What it costs to buy a home in Merrimac
A household needs to earn about $62,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Merrimac home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $90,000, 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 Merrimac's effective rate of 1.65%, 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 Merrimac
Merrimac runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Merrimac.
Who works in Merrimac, and how
Work in Merrimac centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Merrimac
Merrimac has more restaurants and bars per resident than 99% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Merrimac and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Merrimac, month by month
Merrimac sees roughly 64 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 42, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 42° | 33° | 26° |
| April | 70° | 57° | 46° |
| July | 90° | 80° | 70° |
| October | 72° | 59° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Merrimac
St Louis Lambert International sits about 26 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 7.5 million passengers in 2025, with 114 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Merrimac
Schools across Merrimac average a D, better than 6% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Valmeyer Elementary SchoolD · 20% proficient
Top middle schools
- Columbia Middle SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
- Valmeyer Jr HighD− · 18% proficient
Top high schools
- Columbia High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Valmeyer High SchoolD− · 16% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Merrimac school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Merrimac 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 Merrimac against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Merrimac
Is Merrimac a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Merrimac ranks 30,234th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on population health, what local pay buys, and low crime, and lowest on a weak job market and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Merrimac expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $213,000. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $90,000 median income, cost of living beats 84% of towns.
Is Merrimac safe?
Yes, Merrimac is safer than 84% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $158 per resident a year.
Compare Merrimac with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Merrimac. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Merrimac 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.
Merrimac detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Merrimac: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Merrimac: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Merrimac: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Merrimac: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Merrimac 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.