Only 2 Illinois Cities Make “Best Places To Raise A Family” 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 in another state that I would choose instead of Illinois? Absolutely, but I simply cannot afford a Hawaiian beachfront compound on the island of Maui (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.