One Chicago suburb landed at the top of the ranking in U.S. News and World Report's newest list of "Best Places to Live in Illinois in 2025-26" -- and the village may even soon be home a new Chicago Bears stadium.
According to the report, the northwest Chicago suburb of Arlington Heights earned the No. 1 spot on the list for Illinois, out of 22 villages and cities in the state. On U.S. News & World Report's national ranking of "Best Places to Live for 2025-26," it came in at No. 56.
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WATCH HEREThe report evaluated 250 major U.S. cities across indexes including metrics like quality of education, availability of health care, housing affordability, crime rates, commuter indexes and more, using private and public sources, including the U.S. Census. Editors then used the data to form a scale, with a 10.0 rating.
According to the report, Arlington Heights earned a total score of 6.4.
The suburb could become the new home of the Chicago Bears, with the team recently saying it had made "significant progress" with local leaders on transforming and redeveloping the former Arlington Racetrack, which the Bears purchased in 2023 for nearly $200 million.
Prior to their most recent statement, the Bears said they were focusing on a new lakefront stadium next to Soldier Field.
Several other Chicago suburbs also ranked on the list for Illinois, including Buffalo Grove at No. 2, Naperville at No. 3, Palatine at No. 4, Elgin at No. 5 and Schaumburg at No. 6.
Bolingbrook, Skokie, Joliet and Kankakee also ranked on the list. The full ranking of the 22 Best Places to Live in Illinois, according to the report, is below:
- Arlington Heights
- Buffalo Grove
- Naperville
- Palatine
- Elgin
- Schaumburg
- Bloomington
- Bolingbrook
- Skokie
- Des Plaines
- Aurora
- Evanston
- Springfield
- Cicero
- Decatur
- Peoria
- Joliet
- Rockford
- Champaign
- Waukegan
- Chicago
- Kankakee
The full report from U.S. News & World Report can be found here.
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