Jan. 13--Remember that report that said Chicago is a lousy, expensive place to be single?
It's not so hot for families either.
Out of 162 Illinois cities, Chicago ranks No. 154 for family life, according to WalletHub, the same personal finance site that gave us low marks as a singles hub.
In the new report, analysts considered four categories: family life and fun (number of playgrounds, zoos, museums and other attractions per 100,000 residents); education, health and safety (school quality, air quality, number of pediatricians, crime statistics); affordability (housing prices and general cost of living); and socioeconomic environment (unemployment rate, wealth gap, percentage of two-parent households, percentage of families living in poverty).
We didn't fare as poorly as East St. Louis, which came in dead last. Harvey, Dolton, Maywood, Blue Island, Bridgeview, Calumet City and Kankakee also fell below Chicago.
Meanwhile, Morton, a city of roughly 17,000 people situated between Peoria and Bloomington-Normal, was ranked No. 1, with Deerfield in second place. Naperville, which frequently finds itself on best-of lists, came in 10th place, aced out by Hinsdale, Lake in the Hills and Cary, among others.
But about that Chicago score.
We ranked first in the state for number of attractions (woo hoo!) and, surprisingly, didn't make it into the top five most violent spots. (Those are Danville, Rockford, Mount Vernon, Harvey and East St. Louis, according to the report.)
But our world-class museums and not-as-bad-as-Danville violence didn't do enough to pull us out of the bottom 10.
In the education, health and safety category, Chicago ranked 143rd in the state. In affordability we were 160th -- the third worst in the state. And our socioeconomic environment was 140th from the top.
So much for Chi-Town Rising.
Convention bookings and tourism advertising are both down for 2016, according to this report from the Tribune's Robert Channick. Our elite high schools, some of the best in the state and a point of pride for Chicagoans, are reportedly filled with kids whose families can't be bothered to live in the city.
Chicago, I love you, and I'm here for the long haul. But I worry.
If we lose the tourists and we lose the conventioneers and we can't convince families that we're more appealing than 153 other cities in the state, Maggie Daley Park, Lincoln Park Zoo, Crown Fountain and all of our other attractions will become window dressing on a place where people visit for work and play, but never put down the kind of roots that foster a community.
hstevens@tribpub.com
