Mount ZionIL
A town of 5,880, settled in 1866.
Is Mount Zion a good place to live?
Few places in the country grade higher. Mount Zion earns an A, 99th of 767 graded towns in Illinois. Crime is low: it reports less per resident than 83% of U.S. towns, it is healthier than 80% of U.S. towns, and the median household earns $103K. Its lowest mark, a B, is in cost of living. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 75% of U.S. towns. The biggest park or preserve is Elks park, at 34 acres.
What makes Mount Zion stand out
Where Mount Zion beats most towns.
91% of working residents leave Mount Zion for work
Where Mount Zion’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
How Mount Zion grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Illinois), ordered by how far Mount Zion is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Mount Zion: who provides what
Who provides power, water and the rest in Mount Zion, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Sep 12, 2025.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Mount Zion.
Mount Zion pairs an A overall with homes cheaper than the Illinois norm, has less no health insurance than most of Illinois and has seen reported crime fall by about half.
For safety, Mount Zion earns an A−
Reported crimes fell from 49 to 24 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings. Violent crime is rare: 0 reported in 2025, 0 per 1,000 residents.
Mount Zion’s violent crime rate is 0 per 1,000 residents, below both the Illinois town median (1) and the median of U.S. towns (1.6). The property crime rate in Mount Zion is 4.1 per 1,000 residents.
| Mount Zion | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0 per 1,000 residents | 1 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 4.1 per 1,000 residents | 7.9 | 9.9 |
Violent crime per 1,000 residents
Property crime per 1,000 residents
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
For health, Mount Zion earns an A−
Its widest gap with Illinois is no health insurance: 5.5% of those 18–64 have no health insurance, against 9.9% statewide. Its A− for health tops all 4 graded neighbors; Long Creek (B) comes closest.
19% of Mount Zion adults binge drink, against 18% in Illinois’ towns and 16% across U.S. towns. 15% of Mount Zion adults say their health is fair or poor. Mount Zion beats the Illinois average on 8 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 1.
| Mount Zion | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 18% | 16% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 23% | 25% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 18% | 19% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 13% | 14% |
| What stands out | Mount Zion | IL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 5.5% | 9.9% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 8.9% | 15.9% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 9.2% | 7.6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
| Mount Zion | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 2.4% | 3.7% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.4 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Fletcher Park | 1 mi | 24 |
| 2. Central Park | 0.3 mi | 11 |
| 3. Elks park | — | 34 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
About half of Mount Zion’s working residents commute to Decatur
The average commute for its 2,532 working residents takes 21.6 minutes, against 27.8 across Illinois.
Most working residents leave Mount Zion for work: only 9% work in town. Mount Zion’s average trip to work is 22 minutes. The top destinations are Decatur (48%), Springfield (4%) and Chicago (2%).
| Mount Zion | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 22 minutes | 26 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 4% | 8.4% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $103,000 | $83,000 | $80,000 |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
A typical Mount Zion home is worth about $199K
Mount Zion grades A overall with a typical home of about $199K, below the Illinois typical value; only 48 of the 183 Illinois towns graded A− or better can say that.
The typical Mount Zion home is worth about $199,000, up 4.4% in a year, 33% below the Illinois typical home. 81% of households own their home in Mount Zion.
| Mount Zion | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $744 a month | $1,129 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 81% | 75% | 73% |
Typical home value
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Fewer young adults than Illinois overall
Adults 18 to 34 are 10% of residents (23% statewide); children under 18 are 30% of residents (22% statewide). Mount Zion has lost 2.2% of its people since 2020, down to 5,880 in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. 35% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 38% across Illinois.
| Mount Zion | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 18 | 30% | 22% | 22% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 35% | 29% | 29% |
| Aged 65 or older | 20% | 19% | 18% |
Ages · share of residents
Education · adults 25 and older
Women and men · all residents
53% women, 47% men
About 89 men for every 100 women (the survey’s margin: ±2.7 points). Across Illinois, 50.6% of residents are women.
| Mount Zion | IL | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 15.1% | 11.5% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 14.9% | 10.4% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 3.3% | 9.1% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 6.6% | 13.6% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 19.6% | 13.3% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 12% | 12.4% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 8.9% | 12.8% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 13.9% | 10% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 5.7% | 7% | 7% |
| No diploma | 1.8% | 9.5% | 10.4% |
| High school | 32.1% | 25.1% | 26% |
| Some college | 18.9% | 19.2% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 11.8% | 8.3% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 23% | 22.6% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 12.4% | 15.3% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
In Mount Zion, expect four seasons and pleasant summers
Mount Zion has chilly winters and warm summers. July afternoons reach 86°, January nights drop to 19° and about 14 inches of snow falls in a winter.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
High risk in Mount Zion, with inland flooding at the top
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 60% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Everything we know about Mount Zion
Colleges nearby
2 within 15 miles of the center of Mount Zion
About 3 of every 100 Mount Zion residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Illinois.
About Mount Zion
Village in Illinois, United States
Mount Zion is a village in Macon County, Illinois, United States. The population was 6,019 at the 2020 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Established
- 1881
- Area
- 4.2 sq mi
- Elevation
- 690 ft
- ZIP code
- 62549
Mount Zion’s neighbors
4 towns share a border with Mount Zion.
It grades higher overall than all 3 graded towns on its borders; Long Creek Township (B) comes closest.
| Town | IL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount Zion | #99 | A | B | A− | A− | A− |
| Decatur | #758 | D− | B+ | D | D− | C− |
| Long Creek Township | #399 | B | B− | — | B+ | B− |
| South Wheatland Township | #420 | B | B | — | B+ | B− |
| Long Creek | — | — | B | — | A− | B |
Long Creek has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Long Creek Township, South Wheatland Township and Long Creek report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Mount Zion with a neighbor →
Questions about Mount Zion
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Mount Zion, IL a good place to live?
Yes, by almost any measure. Mount Zion grades A overall, better than 92% of U.S. towns and #99 of 767 in Illinois. It grades A− for health, A− for safety and A− for schools. Walkability is its weak spot, with a C−.
Is Mount Zion, IL expensive?
That is 3.2 years of the area's median household income ($62,666 across the Decatur, IL metro area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B.
What is Mount Zion, IL known for?
2 notable people were born here, including Drew Blickensderfer and Paul Smith.