Best PlacesMount Vernon, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Mount Vernon, 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.
Mount Vernon ranks 38,765th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and the schools rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Mount Vernon
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.
Mount Vernon's strengths and weaknesses
Where Mount Vernon ranks high
- Short commute15.8 minutes each way, better than 96% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 96% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 88% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 85% of towns
- BikingBetter than 81% of towns
Where Mount Vernon ranks low
- School gradeD−, better than only 3% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 5% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 6% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Mount Vernon
A household needs to earn about $38,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mount Vernon home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $59,191, 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 Mount Vernon's effective rate of 1.73%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Mount Vernon
Mount Vernon'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 Mount Vernon.
Who works in Mount Vernon, and how
Work in Mount Vernon centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 93%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Mount Vernon
Mount Vernon has more restaurants and bars per resident than 84% of towns and more parkland per resident than 94% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Mount Vernon and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Mount Vernon, month by month
Mount Vernon sees roughly 75 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 42, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 42° | 32° | 24° |
| April | 69° | 56° | 44° |
| July | 90° | 78° | 67° |
| October | 72° | 58° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Mount Vernon
The nearest airport, Veterans Airport of Southern Illinois, is about 40 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 84 miles away.
The best schools in and around Mount Vernon
Schools across Mount Vernon average a D−, better than 3% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Summersville Grade SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Mcclellan Elementary SchoolC · 31% proficient
- Farrington Elem SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Spring Garden Middle SchoolD− · 18% proficient
- Zadok Casey Middle SchoolF · 8% proficient
Top high schools
- Centralia High SchoolD− · 18% proficient
- Woodlawn High SchoolD− · 16% proficient
- Waltonville High SchoolD− · 16% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Mount Vernon school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Mount Vernon 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 Mount Vernon against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Mount Vernon suits
Families
Schools land around the 3rd percentile and crime safety beats 56%.
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 5% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Mount Vernon
Is Mount Vernon a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mount Vernon ranks 38,765th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, fast internet, and walkability, and lowest on the schools and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Mount Vernon expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $129,228. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $59,191 median income, cost of living beats 26% of towns.
Is Mount Vernon safe?
Yes, Mount Vernon is safer than 56% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $240 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Mount Vernon?
July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 42 with lows near 24. That works out to about 75 pleasant days a year, more than 37% of towns.
Is Mount Vernon good for families?
Schools beat 3% of towns, crime safety beats 56%, and childcare runs $1,009 a month.
Compare Mount Vernon with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mount Vernon. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mount Vernon 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.
Mount Vernon detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mount Vernon: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mount Vernon: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mount Vernon: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mount Vernon: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mount Vernon 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.