These Are The 10 Best Places Places In Illinois To Get A Job

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If you’re starting to look for a job in Illinois, you’ve come to the right place.

You might think off the top of your head that Chicago would be the best place to find a job because it is Illinois’ largest city. However, the capital city, Springfield, is the best in the state according to the data.

Here at Zippia, we aim to answer questions like this using cold hard facts and analysis. So we set our sights on determining the best place in Illinois to find a job.

After analyzing all 27 plus places in Illinois, we came up with this list as the best places for jobs in the Prairie State:

So listen up Joliet as we explain how we created this ranking, you could learn some things from the rest of the state.

How We Determined The Best Places For Jobs In Prairie State

We first researched detailed data on all places in Illinois. However, in order to properly compare places in an apples-to-apples manner, we set a minimum population threshold of 5,000 people.

This left us with 27 places in Illinois to analyze.

We then ranked each place across a number of criteria from one to 27, with one being the best.

We took the average rank across all criteria, with the place posting the lowest overall score being crowned the winner of the title “Best Place For Jobs In Illinois”.

The criteria we looked at were:

Unemployment rate
Recent job growth
Future job growth
Median household income

Sources of criteria include the the BLS and Sperling’s Best Places.

If your city or town isn’t among the top 10, jump down to the bottom of the post to see a detailed chart and a downloadable file of all the data.

Otherwise, learn how these cities moved up the career ladder.

1. Springfield

Population: 115,982Unemployment Rate: 5.90%
Recent Job Growth: 4.34%
Future Job Growth: 42.80%

2. Champaign

Population: 81,083Unemployment Rate: 5.60%
Recent Job Growth: 3.49%
Future Job Growth: 41.40%

3. Glenview

Population: 44,478Unemployment Rate: 4.60%
Recent Job Growth: 0.85%
Future Job Growth: 37.10%

4. Belleville

Population: 44,118Unemployment Rate: 6.90%
Recent Job Growth: 4.06%
Future Job Growth: 41.20%

5. Elmhurst

Population: 44,385Unemployment Rate: 5.30%
Recent Job Growth: 0.85%
Future Job Growth: 36.40%

6. Moline

Population: 43,390Unemployment Rate: 6.00%
Recent Job Growth: 2.49%
Future Job Growth: 39.00%

7. Waukegan

Population: 88,982Unemployment Rate: 9.60%
Recent Job Growth: 5.10%
Future Job Growth: 40.60%

8. Evanston

Population: 74,619Unemployment Rate: 5.50%
Recent Job Growth: 0.85%
Future Job Growth: 36.20%

9. Wheaton

Population: 53,155Unemployment Rate: 5.40%
Recent Job Growth: 0.84%
Future Job Growth: 36.30%

10. Naperville

Source: Wikipedia

Population: 142,143Unemployment Rate: 5.70%
Recent Job Growth: 0.85%
Future Job Growth: 36.00%

Detailed List Of The Best Places In Illinois For Jobs

City	Rank	Population	Unemployment Rate	Recent Job Growth	Future Job Growth
Springfield	1	115,982	5.90%	4.34%	42.80%
Champaign	2	81,083	5.60%	3.49%	41.40%
Glenview	3	44,478	4.60%	0.85%	37.10%
Belleville	4	44,118	6.90%	4.06%	41.20%
Elmhurst	5	44,385	5.30%	0.85%	36.40%
Moline	6	43,390	6.00%	2.49%	39.00%
Waukegan	7	88,982	9.60%	5.10%	40.60%
Evanston	8	74,619	5.50%	0.85%	36.20%
Wheaton	9	53,155	5.40%	0.84%	36.30%
Naperville	10	142,143	5.70%	0.85%	36.00%
Palatine	11	68,338	5.80%	0.85%	35.90%
Schaumburg	12	74,276	5.50%	0.84%	36.20%
Lombard	13	43,180	6.20%	0.85%	35.50%
Rockford	14	152,948	10.20%	2.94%	35.70%
Skokie	15	64,588	6.20%	0.85%	35.50%
Peoria	16	114,754	7.80%	1.27%	34.70%
DeKalb	17	44,340	6.70%	0.85%	35.00%
Bolingbrook	18	73,383	7.20%	0.85%	34.50%
Normal	19	52,986	5.50%	-0.22%	34.10%
Aurora	20	196,569	7.30%	0.85%	34.40%
Bloomington	21	76,527	5.60%	-0.22%	34.00%
Decatur	22	76,091	10.20%	1.43%	32.70%
Berwyn	23	56,376	7.70%	0.84%	34.00%
Chicago	24	2,702,471	8.40%	0.85%	33.30%
Elgin	25	109,513	8.90%	0.85%	32.80%
Cicero	26	83,756	9.40%	0.85%	32.30%
Joliet	27	147,098	10.30%	0.85%	31.40%

Never miss an opportunity that’s right for you.

Author

Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar is a co-founder of Zippia and the editor-in-chief of the Zippia career advice blog. He has hired over 50 people in his career, been hired five times, and wants to help you land your next job. His research has been featured on the New York Times, Thrillist, VOX, The Atlantic, and a host of local news. More recently, he's been quoted on USA Today, BusinessInsider, and CNBC.

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