Families searching for the perfect place to settle down face a difficult task — finding the city with the best school system, low crime rates, quality health care and community support can leave prospective homebuyers feeling flustered.
Enter Fortune researchers, 215,000 data points, and 2,000 cities and towns across the U.S. and you get the 25 Best Places to Live for Families. Only one Illinois municipality made the list. Coming in at #9 is West Chicago.
The article cites the city’s outdoor amenities, art scene and overall healthy habits as some of the main reasons it ranks so high. It specifically notes:
“The city features vast green spaces and multiple connections to the Illinois Prairie Path, a 61-mile recreational nature trail network. The West Chicago Prairie Forest Preserve spans 358 acres and is home to more than 600 species of native plants and animals. There’s also the West Chicago Park District, which includes 125-acre Reed-Keppler Park. The family-friendly park features a 25-acre nature sanctuary; aquatic center; skate park; dog park; two playgrounds, and several athletic fields.”
Photo courtesy of West Chicago City Hall 
Photo courtesy of West Chicago City Hall 
Photo courtesy of West Chicago City Hall 
Photo courtesy of West Chicago City Hall 
Photo courtesy of West Chicago City Hall 
Photo courtesy of West Chicago City Hall 
Photo courtesy of West Chicago City Hall 
Photo courtesy of West Chicago City Hall 
Photo courtesy of West Chicago City Hall 
Photo courtesy of West Chicago City Hall
The list was created by analyzing data points gleaned from ten different sources, including the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Education, and broken down into five categories:
- Education
- Aging resources
- General wellness
- Financial health
- Livability
Researchers specifically focused on the needs of the “Sandwich Generation,” those who are saddled with “simultaneous responsibilities of raising their children while regularly caring for their own parents.”
Fortune estimates around 45% of Americans are a part of this generation today.
To ensure the winning places were cities where residents could afford to buy homes, Fortune eliminated locations with home sale prices “more than twice as high as the state median and/or more than 2.75 times higher than the national median.”
Diversity was also prioritized. The study eliminated any town where “more than 90% of the population is white, non-Hispanic.”
Also, no more than two cities per state and no more than one city per county/metro area were chosen.
The 25 Best Cities to Live in according to Fortune are:
- Ann Arbor, Michigan
- Wylie, Texas
- Olathe, Kansas
- Mason, Ohio
- Morrisville, North Carolina
- Clearfield, Utah
- Gaithersburg, Maryland
- Leesburg, Virginia
- West Chicago, Illinois
- Novi, Michigan
- West Windsor, New Jersey
- Tustin, California
- South Portland, Maine
- Woodbury, Minnesota
- Parsippany-Troy Hills, New Jersey
- Brookline, Massachusetts
- Sugar Land, Texas
- Iowa City, Iowa
- Maryland Heights, Missouri
- San Marcos, California
- Walla Walla, Washington
- Sarasota, Florida
- Fountain, Colorado
- Statesville, North Carolina
- Maudlin, South Carolina