Chicago Magazine Lists Its Best Places To Live In Chicago, Backs It Up With Hard Data

By Chuck Sudo in News on Mar 19, 2014 4:00PM

Chuck Sudo/Chicagoist

Chicago magazine analyzed a host of data to determine its list of the 12 best neighborhoods to live in Chicago. Whether you wish to agree with it is another matter entirely.

Writer Ian Spula and Chicago’s editors reviewed data including Census statistics, housing sales, crime numbers and educational records for every official community area in Chicago, eliminated those with high crime rates, ease of access to public transit downtown and with public schools scoring below average in standardized tests. Spula then walked the neighborhoods to find those hard-to-define variables that eventually resulted in the neighborhoods on his list.

The results should not surprise many but the wealth of empirical data justifies their inclusion. Lincoln Park, Logan Square, Lincoln Square, North Center and Edgewater (long desirable neighborhoods for renters and prospective home buyers) made the cut. So did northwest side neighborhoods like Portage Park and Edison Park.

The South Side neighborhoods include Beverly, Hyde Park, Bridgeport and the Near South Side. I’ve only been touting the merits of living in Bridgeport for nearly 15 years; it’s nice to see data backing that up.

Spula also listed the 12 best suburbs to live in the area with familiar towns like Highland Park, Orland Park and Barrington making the cut along with some far flung burbs like Frankfort and Geneva.

Check out the full article here.