How Chicago and Illinois Ranked for 2014

The year 2014 was filled with a lot of lists. From food to entertainment to safety to booze, Chicago and Illinois took the cake, or at least the cupcake, in several categories.

Here’s a look at how Illinois and Chicago fared this year:

In one of the hoppier titles of the year, Chicago was named the “Best Drinking City in America” by GQ Magazine, which called the city’s booze scene a “full-on drinkable renaissance.”

Chicagoans may be boozy, and even cheesy when it comes to their love of pizza, but don’t call them festive, hip, snobby, romantic, wild, passionate or good drivers, according to this list of America's favorite cities.

We may not be one of the fittest cities in the nation, but Chicago is the second-best U.S. city for cycling!

And it’s home to one of the largest running markets!

The Second City is apparently also the Witty City. Chicago was named at the top of a list of America’s funniest cities.

Don’t question a Chicagoans love of sports. One of the city’s biggest sports teams, The Chicago Bears, were named among the top 50 valuable sports teams in the world.

Not to mention the city is home to one of the nation’s best ballparks.

With all that sports love (ahem, Bears fans) -- and work and traffic and other things-- comes a lot of stress. Chicago was also named one of the most stressed-out cities in the nation.

But what better way to get rid of stress then to indulge yourself in some delicious Chicago-style food? The city is home to the best hot dog in America, according to the Daily Meal.

And it also has some of the nation’s best burgers.

The Daily Meal even named this Chicago burger the best in the country!

Why stop at burgers? We’ve also got some delicious tacos, according to this list of the nation’s top tacos.

And while Chicago didn’t take the cake (we’re not sure if there even was a cake list) it certainly snagged some sweet spots on a list of the nation’s best cupcakes.

Speaking of sweet spots, don’t try to find any sweet parking spots in the city. Apparently, Chicago parking is the worst in the nation.

But Chicagoans don’t let bad parking get in their way at work. The city ranked at no. 7 on a list of the “hardest working U.S. cities.”

And with all that hard work, comes some bragging rights. Apparently, Illinoisans are among the biggest braggers on social media.

But that doesn’t mean those social media posts are selfies! In fact, the Windy City ranked low on a list of top selfie cities this year.

Speaking of a low rankings, Illinois also hit a low note when it comes to politics. The Land of Lincoln was dubbed the worst-run state in the U.S.

But at least there are some cheap places to live. Several Chicago suburbs made a list of the most affordable housing markets.

Chicago is even home to the best museum in world, according to TripAdvisor.

And one of the best gay neighborhoods.

And apparently, city dwellers may have let these number one rankings get in their heads. Chicagoans were also among the snobbiest big-city dwellers in the country… but, hey, we weren’t as bad as last year.

Overall, it was a good year for the city. Will the Second City maintain some of these titles in 2015? We'll have to wait and see.
 

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