Best Places To Raise A Family: 2 Illinois Cities Make The List

Having been born and raised here in Illinois, and having repeated the pattern with my own children, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that I tend to think that there might be more than two cities in this entire state that are great places to raise a family.

Is there another place anywhere else in the world that I would choose instead of Illinois? Absolutely, but I simply cannot afford a Tahitian beachfront compound or anything similar in the U.S. Virgin Islands (probably because I'm buying gas and eggs in Illinois).

According To The Numbers, The Best Place In The U.S. To Raise A Family Is Fremont, California

The numbers I'm referring to are courtesy of personal-finance website WalletHub, who put them together for a new piece called "2022’s Best & Worst Places to Raise a Family."

Here's the criteria WalletHub used to come up with their rankings of 180 cities across the country:

WalletHub compared more than 180 U.S. cities based on 46 key metrics that consider essential family dynamics, such as the cost of housing, the quality of local school and health-care systems, and the opportunities for fun and recreation.

Fremont takes the #1 spot with a score of 73.05 out of a possible 100, and overall California lands 4 cities in the top ten, and 6 of the top twenty.

Of The 2 Illinois Cities On The List, Neither One Even Makes The Top 50

The highest rated Illinois city for raising a family is 70 miles southeast of Rockford:

Aurora, Illinois is ranked #62, with an overall score of 54.41. The other Illinois city on the list is Chicago, ranked at #110 with a score of 49.80.

If you're curious as to the bottom 3 on the list, we've got Memphis, Cleveland, and coming in dead last, Detroit.

Click here to read WalletHub's entire list.