Best PlacesMinier, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Minier, 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.
Minier ranks 17,636th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Minier
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.
Minier's strengths and weaknesses
Where Minier ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 95% of towns
- BikingBetter than 92% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 86% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 86% of towns
- Short commute20.9 minutes each way, better than 84% of towns
Where Minier ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 5% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 61 pleasant days a year, better than only 10% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,088 a month, better than only 18% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Minier
A household needs to earn about $48,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Minier home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $92,961, 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 Minier's effective rate of 1.79%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Minier
Minier runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Minier.
Who works in Minier, and how
Work in Minier centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Minier
Minier has more parkland per resident than 99% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Minier and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Minier, month by month
Minier 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 | 65° | 53° | 43° |
| July | 87° | 76° | 67° |
| October | 69° | 57° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Minier
The nearest airport, Central Il Regional/Bloomington- Normal, is about 21 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago Midway International, about 124 miles away.
The best schools in and around Minier
Schools across Minier average a C−, better than 27% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Olympia North Elem SchC · 35% proficient
- Olympia West Elem SchC · 33% proficient
- Dee-mack Primary/jr HighC− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Olympia Middle SchoolD+ · 26% proficient
- Dee-mack Intermediate SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
Top high schools
- Olympia High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Dee-mack High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Minier school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Minier 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 Minier against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Minier
Is Minier a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Minier ranks 17,636th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, biking, and cell coverage, 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 Minier expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $161,711. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $92,961 median income, cost of living beats 78% of towns.
Is Minier safe?
Minier is safer than 30% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $296 per resident a year.
Compare Minier with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Minier. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Minier 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.
Minier detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Minier: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Minier: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Minier: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Minier: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Minier 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.