McLean County, IL

County Profile

171,556 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for McLean County, IL.

Several figures AreaProfile publishes are measured by county and nowhere finer — death rates by intent among them. On this page those describe the geography they are printed on, which is not true of the city and ZIP pages that inherit them.

72out of 100
Area Score
Top 16% of 1,225 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 48% of 1,255 counties56
SchoolsTop 22% of 973 counties73
GrowthTop 30% of 1,226 counties61
Housing affordabilityTop 22% of 1,255 counties100
Climate994th of 1,254 counties60
Physical resilienceTop 20% of 1,255 counties81
AccessTop 11% of 1,255 counties97
Economic stabilityTop 35% of 1,255 counties72
The quick read

Unemployment is 4.0% and median household income $79,905, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published profiles.

Natural-hazard exposure is lower than in most comparable published profiles, placing McLean County in the top 20% for physical resilience.

A major airport is 4 miles away, giving the area unusually direct access to the national air network.

At a glance

Population
171,556
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$79,905
Top 18% nationally
Density
145/sq mi
1183.2 sq mi of land
Median age
34.3
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
McLean County
Illinois
Metro area
Bloomington, IL
Nearest major airport
BMI
4 mi · Central Il Rgnl/Bloomington-Normal
Median home value
$208,400
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.0% is lower than 58% of the 1,255 measured US locations.

Employment fell 1.7% over the past year, to 87,025 employed residents.

47% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 96% of measured US locations.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$2,544$79,905Top 18%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,318$43,372Top 16%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate12.9%Bottom 47%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute19.7 minBottom 14%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher47.2%Top 4%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment87,025Top 30%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-2.3%Bottom 19%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-1.7%Bottom 26%June 2026
Labor force90,692Top 30%June 2026
Labor force participation64.8%Top 19%2024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)0.2%Top 40%June 2026
Unemployment rate4.0%Bottom 42%June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/065.23.1
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 4.0% in June 2026. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202480k70k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $79,905 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.
Largest occupations — Bloomington, IL
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Fast Food and Counter Workers2,430$31,200
Registered Nurses1,990$79,970
Cashiers1,980$31,200
Retail Salespersons1,910$31,670
General and Operations Managers1,900$93,250
Software Developers1,570$123,320

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

27% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 30% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 13.8 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
60
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
13.8
across all schools here
Math proficiency
26.9%
Top 22% in Illinois
Reading proficiency
29.5%
Top 32% in Illinois
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Normal Community High SchoolMcLean County USD 52,07915.2
Normal Community West High SchoolMcLean County USD 51,59015.1
Bloomington High SchoolBloomington SD 871,36913.7
Bloomington Jr High SchoolBloomington SD 871,05013.112%22%
Evans Junior High SchoolMcLean County USD 577814.122%22%
Kingsley Jr High SchoolMcLean County USD 573014.027%32%
University High SchoolISU Laboratory Schools62415.2
Benjamin Elem SchoolMcLean County USD 560718.458%44%
Parkside Jr High SchoolMcLean County USD 559812.022%17%
Chiddix Jr High SchoolMcLean County USD 559713.027%32%
Grove Elementary SchoolMcLean County USD 551917.947%45%
Olympia High SchoolOlympia CUSD 1649513.4

39.7% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Illinois’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $1,009 takes 15% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 2.6 times median household income here, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Rent as a share of income
15.2%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.6×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,009
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$208,400
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income2.61Bottom 33%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate65.1%Bottom 15%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±12575,305Top 12%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$30$1,009Top 30%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$3,688$208,400Top 41%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income15.2%Bottom 27%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate6.8%Bottom 13%2024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
61/ 100
Top 30% of 1,226 published city profiles
Permitting is increasing — 2 consecutive years, measured from 2022 to 2025.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has been broadly flat since 2020, at 172,069 in 2024.

68% of recently permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes, so new supply is concentrated in apartments and condominiums rather than detached houses.

At 3.9 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US locations.

Units permitted
667
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
3.9
Top 39% nationally
Year over year
+132%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
68.2%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
20202021202220232024172k171k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.
Housing units permitted per year
2022202320242025374244
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2022 (−28%).

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 86°F and January a low of 16°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 39.4 inches, including 20.1 inches of snow.

Air quality measures a median index of 44, in the Good band, and one day a year passes 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

0°20°40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station NORMAL 4NE, 6.7 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.8"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index61.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation39.4"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall20.1"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low16°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high86°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10012024 calendar year
Median air quality index44.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing50°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
44
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
61
90th percentile index
Days above 100
1
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today. Air quality is measured rather than modelled, by EPA monitors, and published by county only where a monitor sits — roughly half the counties AreaProfile publishes have one, and the rest show nothing rather than an estimate. Air masses are regional, so a county reading describes the air over a place reasonably well, but it is still the county reading.

Physical risk

81 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, tornado and earthquake.

DroughtModerate
TornadoHigh
HailModerate
Heat waveModerate
Inland floodingModerate
EarthquakeModerate
Strong windModerate

Low or minimal exposure: cold wave, winter weather, ice storm, lightning, landslide, hurricane, wildfire.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA National Risk Index county record. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

McLean County records 2.5 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 8.2 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 8.8 per 100,000 residents in McLean County.

Homicide
2.5
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
8.2
per 100,000 residents
Drug overdose
8.8
per 100,000 residents
Suicide
12.9
per 100,000 residents

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for McLean County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around McLean County rather than McLean County itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source for reported offences with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. What is published above under Safety is a different measurement — deaths rather than offences, from death certificates rather than police returns — and it covers no property crime at all.
Taxes
No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Full cost of living
No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings.

Access

3 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 4 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Central Il Rgnl/Bloomington-NormalBMI4 mi8,000 ft
General Downing - Peoria IntlPIA46 mi10,104 ft
Abraham Lincoln CapitalSPI63 mi8,001 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Area Score
72
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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar yearAnnually, once a calendar year is complete

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.