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

By Chris Kolmar
Mar. 21, 2016

Find a Job You Really Want In

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We’re on a mission at Zippia to criss-cross the country looking for the best and worst places for jobs.

Today, we set our sites on the worst cities to find a job in Illinois after looking at the best places in Illinois a short while ago.

These cities did not have the grit needed to make it to the big leagues and get that big promotion we all hope to get.

After looking at the data for the 100 biggest cities in Illinois, the ten worst cities to find a job in the Prairie State are:

  1. Cicero
  2. Joliet Township
  3. Chicago
  4. Joliet
  5. Oak Lawn
  6. Elgin
  7. Thornton Township
  8. Berwyn
  9. Lockport Township
  10. Decatur

Read on to see how we did it.

How We Determined The Worst Places For Jobs In The Prairie State

After getting the data for every place in Illinois, we ultimately decided to limit our analysis to the biggest places with over 5,000 people.

That left us with 100 cities.

We then ranked each place across a number of criteria from one to 100, with 1 being the worst in any given category.

Finally, we took the average rank across all criteria, with the place posting the lowest overall score gaining the title “Worst City In Illinois To Find A Job”.

The criteria we looked at were:

1. Cicero

Population: 83,756Recent Job Growth: 0.85%
Future Job Growth: 32.30%

2. Joliet Township

Population: 88,335 Recent Job Growth: 0.85%
Future Job Growth: 33.90%

3. Chicago

Population: 2,702,471Recent Job Growth: 0.85%
Future Job Growth: 33.30%

4. Joliet

Population: 147,098Recent Job Growth: 0.85%
Future Job Growth: 31.40%

5. Oak Lawn

Population: 56,524Recent Job Growth: 0.84%
Future Job Growth: 33.90%

6. Elgin

Population: 109,513Recent Job Growth: 0.85%
Future Job Growth: 32.80%

7. Thornton Township

Population: 169,592 Recent Job Growth: 0.85%
Future Job Growth: 34.00%

8. Berwyn

Population: 56,376Recent Job Growth: 0.84%
Future Job Growth: 34.00%

9. Lockport Township

Population: 59,785 Recent Job Growth: 0.85%
Future Job Growth: 33.90%

10. Decatur

Population: 76,091Recent Job Growth: 1.43%
Future Job Growth: 32.70%

Wrapping It Up With Friday Night Drinks

After crunching all the numbers, Cicero took the “top” spot as the worst city in Illinois for a job.

So while the economy continues to improve and jobs become available across the state of Illinois, these cities lag behind.

Hopefully they can catch up before they miss their next bonus.

Detailed List Of Worst Places In Illinois To Get A Job

City Rank Population Recent Job Growth Future Job Growth
cicero 1 83,756 0.85% 32.30%
joliet township 2 88,335 0.85% 33.90%
chicago 3 2,702,471 0.85% 33.30%
joliet 4 147,098 0.85% 31.40%
oak lawn 5 56,524 0.84% 33.90%
elgin 6 109,513 0.85% 32.80%
thornton township 7 169,592 0.85% 34.00%
berwyn 8 56,376 0.84% 34.00%
lockport township 9 59,785 0.85% 33.90%
decatur 10 76,091 1.43% 32.70%
decatur township 11 52,937 1.43% 33.80%
worth township cook 12 152,394 0.85% 34.00%
proviso township 13 151,557 0.85% 34.00%
du page township 14 88,155 0.85% 33.90%
maine township cook 15 135,617 0.85% 34.00%
bremen township 16 109,957 0.85% 34.00%
cicero township 17 83,756 0.85% 34.00%
wheeling township 18 153,608 0.85% 34.00%
leyden township 19 92,803 0.85% 34.00%
troy township 20 45,860 0.85% 33.90%
plainfield township 21 79,632 0.85% 33.90%
bloom township 22 90,956 0.85% 34.00%
elk grove township 23 92,869 0.85% 34.00%
lyons township 24 111,590 0.85% 34.00%
bloomington 25 76,527 -0.22% 34.00%
schaumburg township 26 131,290 0.85% 34.00%
wheatland township will 27 80,744 0.85% 33.90%
niles township 28 105,518 0.85% 34.00%
berwyn township 29 56,376 0.85% 34.00%
frankfort township will 30 57,069 0.85% 33.90%
palatine township 31 112,855 0.85% 34.00%
des plaines 32 58,302 0.84% 34.70%
peoria 33 114,754 1.27% 34.70%
hanover township cook 34 98,722 0.85% 34.00%
aurora township 35 145,900 0.85% 34.30%
rich township 36 76,182 0.85% 34.00%
rockford 37 152,948 2.94% 35.70%
normal 38 52,986 -0.22% 34.10%
palos township 39 54,479 0.85% 34.00%
normal township 40 52,673 -0.22% 34.10%
bloomington city township 41 76,527 -0.22% 34.10%
evanston township 42 74,619 0.85% 34.00%
orland township 43 97,242 0.85% 34.00%
dekalb township 44 46,781 0.85% 34.90%
elgin township 45 101,452 0.85% 34.30%
rockford township 46 178,427 2.94% 36.80%
dekalb 47 44,340 0.85% 35.00%
peoria city township 48 104,806 1.27% 34.90%
aurora 49 196,569 0.85% 34.40%
dundee township 50 64,279 0.85% 34.30%
oak park township 51 51,781 0.85% 34.00%
oswego township 52 50,923 0.84% 34.80%
waukegan 53 88,982 5.10% 40.60%
northfield township 54 84,940 0.85% 34.00%
tinley park 55 56,340 0.84% 35.10%
mchenry township 56 47,615 0.85% 34.80%
new trier township 57 55,464 0.85% 34.00%
bolingbrook 58 73,383 0.85% 34.50%
st. charles township 59 50,866 0.85% 34.30%
schaumburg 60 74,276 0.84% 36.20%
skokie 61 64,588 0.85% 35.50%
algonquin township 62 88,699 0.85% 34.80%
arlington heights 63 75,221 0.84% 36.20%
mount prospect 64 54,144 0.84% 36.40%
grafton township 65 52,306 0.85% 34.80%
belleville 66 44,118 4.06% 41.20%
lombard 67 43,180 0.85% 35.50%
belleville township 68 44,118 4.06% 41.20%
cunningham township 69 41,299 3.49% 41.20%
waukegan township 70 91,091 5.10% 43.50%
hoffman estates 71 52,066 0.84% 36.20%
addison township 72 88,843 0.85% 35.70%
orland park 73 56,607 0.85% 35.50%
champaign city township 74 81,083 3.49% 41.20%
bloomingdale township 75 112,083 0.85% 35.70%
york township dupage 76 123,891 0.85% 35.70%
downers grove 77 48,621 0.84% 36.30%
moline 78 43,390 2.49% 39.00%
wheaton 79 53,155 0.84% 36.30%
downers grove township 80 147,211 0.85% 35.70%
champaign 81 81,083 3.49% 41.40%
winfield township 82 46,335 0.85% 35.70%
milton township 83 117,379 0.85% 35.70%
springfield 84 115,982 4.34% 42.80%
lisle township 85 116,640 0.85% 35.70%
palatine 86 68,338 0.85% 35.90%
naperville township 87 99,614 0.85% 35.70%
capital township 88 115,929 4.34% 43.10%
evanston 89 74,619 0.85% 36.20%
avon township 90 64,674 5.10% 43.50%
wayne township 91 66,612 0.85% 35.70%
oak park 92 51,781 0.85% 36.50%
warren township lake 93 64,702 5.10% 43.50%
naperville 94 142,143 0.85% 36.00%
elmhurst 95 44,385 0.85% 36.40%
libertyville township 96 53,157 5.10% 43.50%
vernon township 97 67,363 5.10% 43.50%
glenview 98 44,478 0.85% 37.10%
ela township 99 42,680 5.10% 43.50%
buffalo grove 100 41,667 3.65% 41.90%
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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