How Hard Is Life In Northern Illinois?

Are we leading the good life in Illinois compared to the rest of the U.S.?

Well, the New York Times recently published an interactive map citing the hardest places to live in the U.S. The article ranks U.S. counties on ease of life based on the following factors: median household income, education, unemployment rate, disability rate, life expectancy and obesity rate.

First the good news: a number of local counties ranked in the Top 20 on the list. McHenry county came in at #4, Jo Daviess County was #8, DeKalb County checked in at #11, while Boone County was #19 and Ogle County was #20.

Now the not-so-bad news: Winnebago County came in right in the middle of the list.

Overall rank: 1,685 of 3,135
Median Income: $47,573
College Education: 20.9%
Unemployment: 11.4%
Disability: 1.6%
Life Expectancy: 77.5
Obesity: 37%

Reboot Illinois tells us:

Overall, Illinois fares slightly better than average, with 52 out of 102 counties in the top 50% of all US counties. Seven counties are in the top 10% and only 4 are in the bottom 10%.

However, Alexander county fares the worst of any other Illinois county, ranking in the bottom 1% of all U.S. counties...DuPage, the best-ranked Illinois county is in the top 2% of all U.S. counties.

Check out Reboot Illinois for some handy maps on the best and worst counties across Illinois. Bottom line is while we could be in better shape, we certainly could be worse.