Kids & Family
Naperville Tops List For Best Place To Raise A Family In Illinois
Naperville schools, air quality, wealth gap and more were taken under consideration for the rankings.
NAPERVILLE, IL — No surprise here. Naperville was listed at the No. 1 place to raise a family in Illinois by Wallethub. The consumer finance site ranked 222 cities across 21 key indicators of family-friendliness. Data sets include median family income, housing affordability and share of families with young children.
Naperville ranked No. 11 in the "family life & fun" category, and No. 9 in "socioeconomic." Its worst category was affordability, coming in at No. 37. Naperville beat out Libertyville by less than a point, and Springfield beats all the others when it comes to family life & fun.
Illinois's bottom five cities are Markham, Riverdale, East St. Louis, Dolton and Harvey in last place. Chicago was in the bottom ten.
Find out what's happening in Napervillefor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Find out what's happening in Napervillefor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Here are the top 10 places to raise a family in Illinois:
- Naperville
- Libertyville
- Troy
- Washington
- Columbia
- Chatham
- Normal
- Crystal Lake
- Plainfield
- Lindenhurst
Other nearby cities include Yorkville at No. 11, Warrenville at No. 17 and Glen Ellyn taking the 19th place.
Sure, the "Land of Lincoln" owes billions and we have a little trouble passing budgets, but there are still some noteworthy attributes the state offers. For example, did you know that Frankfort has the most playgrounds per capita? Joliet has the least. Naperville came in third behind Chicago and Springfield for most attractions.
Each of those family-friendly metrics were given a weighted score, which contributed in the overall score used in the ranking process.
Image: CDC/Amanda Mills
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.