Wilmette Named Best Place to Live in Illinois

An internet research site gave lots of love to the North Shore in its recent list of the 10 best places to live in Illinois.

In fact, the North Shore accounted for half of Homesnacks.net’s entire list, including the village of Wilmette - which was listed as the number one place to live in the state.

Two other municipalities bordering North Shore towns also made the Top 10, leaving only three desireable places outside of the region (all were in the Chicagoland area).

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Criteria that went into determining the best places to live included population density, low unemployment rates, low housing vacancy rates and low crime.

Wilmette was number one. “According to science, it’s by far the best place to live in the state of Illinois,” according to the report.

Highland Park was the next North Shore town to be ranked, coming in at No. 3. “People here simply have a good life. Many of the houses here are along the North Shore, which means super summers (but lousy winters!) But I’m pretty sure they can afford to keep their homes heated during the nasty months.”

Coming in at No. 4 was neighbor Deerfield. “Deerfield High School is always atop the state rankings when it comes to academics, and Deerfield is home to several leading technology and medical companies.”

After diverting from the region for Nos. 5-6, Northbrook was No. 7. “Several school districts serve the area, and, combined, the student-teacher ratio is the 8th-lowest in Illinois,” the study noted.

“There isn’t a city in the state with more employed people than the Village of Glenview,” the writer of the study said about the No. 9 town.

See the full list here.