A website that ranks the best schools and places to live in the country has ranked the top counties to live in Illinois.
Niche ranks counties by using a variety of factors including schools, cost of living, job opportunities and home values.
The most livable county is DuPage County just outside Chicago. DuPage County also showed up in the national rankings at #9. Niche lists Clarendon Hills, Naperville and Hinsdale as the best places to live in DuPage County.
Lake County was ranked second followed by McLean County in third.
Charlie Moore, president and CEO of the McLean County Chamber of Commerce, says housing affordability helped put McLean County near the top of the list.
“The cost of a home in Bloomington-Normal or in McLean County compared to that of Cook County or DuPage County really is amazing on what you can buy per square foot in McLean County than you can in large major metro markets,” Moore said.
The median home value in McLean County is $167,000 compared with $308,500 in DuPage County.
The rest of the county rankings:
4. Champaign
5. Sangamon
6. Cook
7. Kane
8. Peoria
9. Will
10. St. Clair
11. Kendall
12. Monroe
13. Jackson
14. McHenry
15. Madison
16. Woodford
17. Piatt
18. Rock Island
19. DeKalb
20. Macon
21. Winnebago
22. Effingham
23. Brown
24. Tazewell
25. McDonough
Nationally, Los Alamos County in New Mexico was ranked as the most livable county in America, receiving an A+ grade from Niche. Johnson County in Kansas was second, followed by Hamilton County in Indiana.
{This story is from Illinois Radio Network News.}
