172,069 people (2024 Census estimate, +0.5% since 2020)
1,183 square miles of land · 145 people per square mile
“Highest” and “lowest” are just order, not grades: a high rank for poverty or hazard losses means more of it. Each figure's source is in its section below.
36 active community water systems list McLean County in the area they serve, reporting 165,782 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| BLOOMINGTON surface water · local government · IL1130200 | 79,000 served |
| NORMAL groundwater · local government · IL1130900 | 52,736 served |
| ILLINOIS STATE UNIVERSITY-NORMAL buys groundwater · state · IL1135510 | 6,600 served |
| LE ROY groundwater · local government · IL1130750 | 3,498 served |
| HEYWORTH groundwater · local government · IL1130650 | 2,853 served |
| LEXINGTON groundwater · local government · IL1130800 | 1,930 served |
| HUDSON buys surface water · local government · IL1130700 | 1,847 served |
| BLOOMINGTON TOWNSHIP PWD WEST PHASE buys surface water · local government · IL1130040 | 1,800 served |
Source: U.S. EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS), active community systems, . Look up any system's violations and test results with EPA's search using its ID.
About 197 people were held in McLean County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2024), or 170 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2019 it was about 227.
Source: Vera Institute of Justice, Incarceration Trends (built from federal Bureau of Justice Statistics jail surveys). Counties without their own jail, or that share one, may show no figure.
8 school districts have their office in McLean County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $215.2 million — $206.2 million to run schools, about $16,620 per student, plus $4.2 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $139.6 million local (mostly property tax), $88 million state, $14.7 million federal. Long-term debt: $124.2 million.
Spent $93.3 million — $87.8 million to run schools, about $17,685 per student, plus $2.8 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $48.9 million local (mostly property tax), $46.2 million state, $13.6 million federal. Long-term debt: $52.1 million.
Spent $27.6 million — $22.4 million to run schools, about $12,729 per student, plus $3.6 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $21.4 million local (mostly property tax), $6.5 million state, $3.1 million federal. Long-term debt: $26 million.
Spent $17 million — $15.5 million to run schools, about $14,200 per student, plus $650,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $11.8 million local (mostly property tax), $6.5 million state, $529,000 federal. Long-term debt: $17.8 million.
Spent $15.4 million — $13.6 million to run schools, about $15,158 per student, plus $421,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $7.9 million local (mostly property tax), $7.7 million state, $1 million federal. Long-term debt: $11.6 million.
Spent $14.6 million — $11.8 million to run schools, about $15,113 per student, plus $1.8 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $7.4 million local (mostly property tax), $5.4 million state, $1.1 million federal. Long-term debt: $13.5 million.
Spent $11.6 million — $9.5 million to run schools, about $17,919 per student, plus $1.4 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $8.8 million local (mostly property tax), $4 million state, $1.6 million federal. Long-term debt: $5.1 million.
Spent $9.6 million — $7.6 million to run schools, about $15,468 per student, plus $1.4 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $7 million local (mostly property tax), $3.6 million state, $470,000 federal. Long-term debt: $5.6 million.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2023 Annual Survey of School System Finances. Districts are listed by the county of their main office; some serve neighboring counties too.
Source: County Health Rankings & Roadmaps 2025 (University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute), which gathers federal data (CDC, Census, and others); measures cover different recent years. Blank lines aren't reported for small counties.
Overall risk: Relatively Moderate compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost McLean County about $81.3 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Very High; social vulnerability: Very Low.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
625 bridges in McLean County: 379 in good condition, 230 fair, and 16 poor (2.6%). “Poor” means a main part — the deck, the beams, or the supports — is rated 4 or lower on the federal 0–9 scale. It doesn't mean unsafe to drive; unsafe bridges are closed.
| I-55 BUSN LOOP over Norfolk Southern Railway · built 1940 | 25,000 vehicles a day |
| VERNON AVENUE over SUGAR CREEK N BRANCH · built 1968 | 10,400 vehicles a day |
| BROWN ST FAU 6387 over BNSD OUTFALL SEWER · built 1925 | 4,100 vehicles a day |
| FAU 6431 CH 29 over I-74/SE OF BLOOMNGTN · built 1968 | 3,050 vehicles a day |
| US 24/FAP 317 over INTERMIT STREAM · built 1959 | 2,650 vehicles a day |
| TOWANDA AVE(FAU641 over I-55/N OF NORMAL · built 1962 | 2,650 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $87 million of work in McLean County in fiscal 2025, about $509 per resident — to the county, cities, schools, hospitals, nonprofits and others.
Source: USAspending.gov, grants by place of performance, fiscal 2025 (Oct. 2024 to Sept. 2025). Search it by county to see each award.
From Grants.gov: posted grants listing county governments as eligible, soonest deadline first; research-only and overseas programs left out; list updated 2026-10-13, refreshed weekly. 62 are open in all. Cities, towns, school districts and nonprofits have their own lists there.
Registration deadlines, early voting and polling places for Illinois are on the federal site vote.gov, which links to the state's official election office.
The budget, property tax rates, audits, local officials and offices for McLean County come from the county's own records, which we haven't gathered — not gathered, never hidden. See what a full county site looks like, or ask to have McLean County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Illinois: the state government and every county in Illinois.
Nearby counties: De Witt County (22 mi) · Woodford County (28 mi) · Livingston County (32 mi) · Ford County (33 mi) · Tazewell County (35 mi) · Piatt County (36 mi).