Illinois is pretty rough financially, I agree. But it's home to one of the three cities you can realistically live in and call a city in the US. As in no car

Illinois is pretty rough financially, I agree. But it's home to one of the three cities you can realistically live in and call a city in the US. As in no car ownership required, walkable neighborhoods that you never need to leave very often as all your needs are met, etc. This is exceedingly rare in the US, almost non-existent. So for now, I'll stick with Chicago. Should I move, I completely agree the IL suburbs are completely pointless - I can get the same quality of life cheaper almost anywhere in the US. A suburb is a suburb after all, so things like tax rates and property value are all you really need to make much of a decision on.