Living in Mount Vernon, IL
Jefferson County
Mount Vernon is Jefferson County's seat, in southern Illinois at the interchange of Interstate 64 and Interstate 57. Its real, distinct economic identity centers on a substantial manufacturing anchor -- Continental Tire the Americas, the city's largest employer at roughly 3,500 employees -- alongside a Walgreens regional distribution center (~2,100 employees) and a genuinely current, substantial healthcare investment in SSM Health's new five-story, 142-bed, approximately $237 million Good Samaritan Regional Health Center. Rend Lake College sits roughly 12 miles south in Ina. This record discloses a real, genuinely wide cross-source spread in Mount Vernon's housing figures this pass -- from approximately $124,800 to $212,000 depending on source, date, and methodology -- with even the highest figure running meaningfully below Illinois's statewide median sale price ($345,000). Mount Vernon's property tax rate (~2.25%) runs above both the Jefferson County average and Illinois's own already-high statewide average, and the city's population carries a real, disclosed, ongoing decline (14,600 at the 2020 Census, down to an estimated ~13,958 by 2026). Illinois's statewide flat 4.95% income tax applies, alongside the state's real, no-threshold exemption of Social Security, pension, and 401(k)/IRA income for retirees.
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Learn moreHousing
Taxes
Not independently sourced at the Jefferson County level this session. Illinois's top state income tax rate is 4.95%. See the Illinois hub page for the statewide property tax context -- do not treat that figure as Mount Vernon-specific.
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Get local guidanceThe tradeoffs
Pros
Genuinely affordable housing by every cited measure, well below the Illinois statewide median even at the high end of a real, disclosed cross-source spread; a real, substantial manufacturing employment anchor in Continental Tire the Americas; a real, current, substantial local healthcare investment (SSM Health's new $237 million regional health center); a real highway-crossroads position at I-64/I-57; and Illinois's real, no-threshold retirement-income tax exemption.
Cons
A real, disclosed, above-county-average property tax rate; a real, disclosed, ongoing population decline; a real, genuinely wide and unresolved cross-source spread in local housing figures worth researching directly for any specific property; and real, current, escalating southern-Illinois tornado risk as part of the broader Midwest tornado corridor.
Who this fits
Best for: Best fits affordability-minded movers connected to or interested in Continental Tire, the Walgreens distribution center, or SSM Health's Good Samaritan Regional Health Center specifically, and retirees prioritizing Illinois's real retirement-income tax exemption alongside genuinely low housing costs.
Maybe not for you if: Probably not the right fit for anyone requiring precise, tightly corroborated local housing-market data going in -- Mount Vernon's cited figures carried a real, wide, disclosed spread this pass -- or anyone seeking a growing rather than gradually declining population base.
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