Join the MyTownView Community on Reddit
We started a subreddit. Come talk local government with us.
MyTownView has always been about making local government data accessible. But data by itself only goes so far. What makes it useful is the conversation around it: Why did my property tax rate jump? What's going on with that TIF district? Did anyone else notice the spike in building permits?
That's why we created r/MyTownView on Reddit.
What the Subreddit Is For
The subreddit is a place for Illinois residents, municipal staff, journalists, and anyone interested in local government to connect. Here's what you'll find there:
- Town-specific discussions — Ask questions about your town's data, share findings, or flag something that looks off.
- Feature requests — Tell us what you want to see next. New data sources, new visualizations, new towns. We read every post.
- Bug reports — Found something broken? Let us know. Screenshots help.
- Civic trends — Interesting patterns in crime data, school performance, pension funding, municipal budgets. If you spot something worth discussing, post it.
- New town requests — Want your town on the platform? Drop it in the subreddit or use our request form.
Why Reddit?
We wanted a space that's open, searchable, and doesn't require creating yet another account on yet another platform. Reddit threads stick around, get indexed by search engines, and let people find answers to questions that have already been asked.
It also lets us have real conversations. Not one-way announcements, not form submissions that disappear into a queue. Actual back-and-forth about the data, the platform, and the communities we cover.
What We Cover
If you're new to MyTownView, here's the short version: we aggregate public data for 30+ Illinois municipalities across 7 counties (DuPage, Cook, Will, Kane, Kendall, Lake, and McHenry). The platform covers:
- Board meetings with AI-generated summaries and searchable transcripts
- Crime statistics and monthly trend charts
- Municipal finances, property tax breakdowns, and pension fund health
- School district report cards, test scores, and per-pupil spending
- Building permits, business licenses, and liquor licenses
- Community events, demographics, and environmental data
All the core data is free. No account required.
For deeper analysis, the Dashboard adds composite scoring, trend comparisons, rankings, litigation tracking, custom reports, and grant eligibility tools.
Come Say Hi
We're early. The subreddit has a small but growing group of people who care about what's happening in their communities. Whether you want to request a feature, report a data issue, or just talk about what your village board voted on last Tuesday, we want to hear from you.
Join us at r/MyTownView.
And if you haven't explored your town yet, start here: mytownview.com/states.