3 Illinois Places Plunge to Bottom of Worst American Small Cities

I am not a hater and I don't enjoy sharing bad news which makes what I've just come across somewhat challenging. It's a new ranking that portrays 3 Illinois places as having plunged to nearly the bottom of the worst American small cities list, but is it fair? Let's find out.

I know how it is when you're reading things on the internet. It's hard to discern whether you're reading the opinion of a writer or something based on data. This is definitely NOT my list. I cannot emphasize that enough. This is a list just recently shared by Wallet Hub which is meant to be a good thing. It features the best small cities in America. It's when you look at the bottom of their list that trouble begins for 3 Illinois places. Here they are in descending order of worseness I suppose.

Danville, Illinois

Danville lands in the bottom 3rd percentile of all American cities ranked in this survey. They have company though from other Land of Lincoln places.

Kankakee, Illinois

Kankakee is nearly tied with Danville for having almost the exact same scores as both are in the bottom 3% of all American cities, but there's one Illinois place below even them.

East St. Louis, Illinois

This is really no surprise at all as East St. Louis is frequently at the bottom of all "best of" lists. In this case, it's in the bottom 2 percentile and crime is the big reason and the least surprising thing you'll likely see today.

I never cease to be surprised at how Kankakee and Danville frequently get dogged by lists like this. As with any place in Illinois, you avoid the bad parts of town and you'll have a fine life there. As for East St. Louis, I don't even travel through it unless it's unavoidable.