Hello y'all -
Results of a great little study were released this past week:
MOST EXCITING PLACES IN ILLINOIS
Read all about it here:
They used this set of criteria:
- Nightlife per capita (bars, clubs, comedy, etc.)
- Live music venues per capita
- Active life options per capita (parks, outdoor activities, etc.)
- Fast Food restaurants per capita (the fewer the better)
- Percentage of restaurants that are not fast food (the higher the better)
- Percentage of young residents ages 18 to 34 (the higher the better)
Here's some of my observations, impressions, and opinions:
- Decatur is #34!! Really?? Really!! That's higher than Alton, Normal, and Naperville! GO US!!
- where are the young adults concentrated? the top 5 in the 18-34 category: Carbondale, North Chicago, Urbana, Dekalb, Normal (the university towns... duh)
- more interesting.... where are the young adults NOT located? the bottom 5: Glenview, Huntley, Highland Park, Northbrook, Wilmette (lots of canes, walkers, and wheelchairs in these places)
- East St. Louis, with its terrible reputation, ranked #1 in the 2 food categories; ESTL was #63 overall
- Rock Island (1 of the quartet of Quad-Cities) was the only non-Chicagoland, non-university town to crack the top 10
- Charleston, Mattoon, Paris, Effingham: were not ranked, because of populations under 10,000
- Springfield ranked #17, killed by its fast-food score (plus worthless politicians just aren't real exciting)
- 2 Mississippi River towns that I really, REALLY enjoy visiting are in the upper half of the list: Quincy at #15 and Alton at #39
- We have good friends in Orland Park; we love visiting them and we think O.P. is a great place, but it only ranked #82, pulled downward by its young adult and fast food scores
Such interesting stats; stuff that I could pour over and study for an extended period.
Illinois is exciting!
Out for now.....
Matt