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There’s no denying it: there are plenty of places in Illinois that are downright beautiful and full of excitement.
Unfortunately, not all towns and cities in IL are so lucky.
Just like in all U.S. States, there are definitely some boring places within Illinois’s borders. You know the places: the ones where everyone has an AARP card and the most exciting thing they do all day is post a picture of their grandchild on Facebook.
Like Lake Forest, for instance. In our latest analysis, we found that this city was the most boring city in all of Illinois. But don’t feel bad if you’re a resident of Lake Forest. There are plenty of other boring, lackluster places in Illinois as well.
Here they are. Try not to jump out of your seat with excitement:
- Lake Forest
- Hawthorn Woods
- Inverness
- Spring Grove
- Oak Brook
- Lake Bluff
- Homer Glen
- Long Grove
- Campton Hills
- Glencoe
Before you get all upset if your city’s name is on the list, rest assured that we didn’t use personal opinion when it comes to what classifies a city or town as “boring” or “exciting”. We crunched actual numbers to figure out which towns are statistically more boring.
And by the way, these are the most exciting cities in Illinois: Urbana, Champaign, Charleston, DeKalb, Normal, Carbondale and Chicago. That seems about right.
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How we determined the boring cities in the Prairie State
To figure out how boring a place is, we rely on a complex algorithm that factors in things we generally think make people exciting, and then we figure out which cities have the least number of those exciting people. Here are some of the things people tend to think of as making a city’s population boring:
- % of Population Over 35 (higher is more boring)
- % of Married Household (higher is more boring)
- Average Age (higher is more boring)
- % of Households With Kids (higher is more boring)
- % of Households with People Over 65 (higher is more boring)
- Population density (lower is more boring)
Then, our algorithm generates several lists of the cities that have plenty of residents with high rankings in all of these categories. After a crunching of the numbers, a list of all of the cities magically appears listing them from most boring to most exciting.
For this list, we used every Illinois city that qualified for our rankings based on having a population of at least 2,000 residents. This keeps us from prejudicing our rankings by including very small pockets of retired people.
Grab your rocker and hold on.
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1. Lake Forest
Population: 19,044
Average Age: 46.6
Married Households: 63.9%
Households With Kids: 35.2%
Lake Forest? Boring.
2. Hawthorn Woods
Population: 7,937
Average Age: 43.3
Married Households: 71.4%
Households With Kids: 42.3%
This Chicago suburb is bor-ing.
3. Inverness
Population: 7,245
Average Age: 52.2
Married Households: 76.7%
Households With Kids: 27.0%
Another Boring Chicago suburb with a capital B.
4. Spring Grove
Population: 5,331
Average Age: 44.3
Married Households: 67.9%
Households With Kids: 48.2%
More than 2 in 3 people is married, and half have kids. They most likely go to bed really early. BORING.
5. Oak Brook
Population: 7,956
Average Age: 53.5
Married Households: 66.1%
Households With Kids: 24.0%
All of the wealthy Chicago ‘burbs are boring, it seems.
6. Lake Bluff
Population: 5,932
Average Age: 45.2
Married Households: 65.7%
Households With Kids: 37.5%
Boring.
7. Homer Glen
Population: 24,309
Average Age: 43.2
Married Households: 64.5%
Households With Kids: 36.9%
Homer Glen? Boring.
8. Long Grove
Population: 8,015
Average Age: 44.0
Married Households: 65.4%
Households With Kids: 46.3%
More like Boring Grove.
9. Campton Hills
Population: 10,857
Average Age: 43.0
Married Households: 67.1%
Households With Kids: 42.7%
BORING.
10. Glencoe
Population: 8,766
Average Age: 43.6
Married Households: 73.1%
Households With Kids: 41.9%
B-o-r-i-n-g.
Now That You’re Asleep
On a list like this, there are usually no winners, but since Illinois isn’t necessarily the most boring state in the United States, the cities on this list can at least take solace that there are, in fact, more boring cities in the country.
Just not in these cities.
Detailed List Of Boring to Exciting Cities In Illinois
City | Rank |
---|---|
Lake Forest | 1 |
Hawthorn Woods | 2 |
Inverness | 3 |
Spring Grove | 4 |
Oak Brook | 5 |
Lake Bluff | 6 |
Homer Glen | 7 |
Long Grove | 8 |
Campton Hills | 9 |
Glencoe | 10 |
Northbrook | 11 |
Burr Ridge | 12 |
Huntley | 13 |
Frankfort | 14 |
Lincolnshire | 15 |
Northfield | 16 |
Highland Park | 17 |
Godfrey | 18 |
Deerfield | 19 |
Wilmette | 20 |
Winthrop Harbor | 21 |
Glenview | 22 |
Maryville | 23 |
Willow Springs | 24 |
Mahomet | 25 |
Johnsburg | 26 |
Barrington | 27 |
Monticello | 28 |
Winnetka | 29 |
Libertyville | 30 |
Monee | 31 |
Shelbyville | 32 |
Geneseo | 33 |
Sugar Grove | 34 |
Western Springs | 35 |
Crete | 36 |
Lemont | 37 |
Flossmoor | 38 |
Mount Zion | 39 |
Rockton | 40 |
Hinsdale | 41 |
Lincolnwood | 42 |
Milan | 43 |
Peru | 44 |
Orland Park | 45 |
Waterloo | 46 |
Bartonville | 47 |
Darien | 48 |
Morton | 49 |
Litchfield | 50 |
Winfield | 51 |
Morton Grove | 52 |
Riverside | 53 |
Shorewood | 54 |
Palos Heights | 55 |
Columbia | 56 |
Park Ridge | 57 |
Poplar Grove | 58 |
Fairfield | 59 |
Geneva | 60 |
Itasca | 61 |
Channahon | 62 |
Princeton | 63 |
Hoopeston | 64 |
Carmi | 65 |
Paris | 66 |
Spring Valley | 67 |
Elburn | 68 |
Taylorville | 69 |
Hampshire | 70 |
Salem | 71 |
Carterville | 72 |
Buffalo Grove | 73 |
Algonquin | 74 |
Highland | 75 |
New Lenox | 76 |
East Peoria | 77 |
River Forest | 78 |
La Grange | 79 |
Chillicothe | 80 |
Watseka | 81 |
Lake Villa | 82 |
Roscoe | 83 |
St. Charles | 84 |
Westchester | 85 |
Washington | 86 |
Round Lake Park | 87 |
Skokie | 88 |
Clarendon Hills | 89 |
Arlington Heights | 90 |
Elmhurst | 91 |
Marengo | 92 |
Braidwood | 93 |
Olney | 94 |
Downers Grove | 95 |
Marion | 96 |
Batavia | 97 |
Mascoutah | 98 |
Fox Lake | 99 |
Mount Carmel | 100 |
Wood Dale | 101 |
East Alton | 102 |
Sandwich | 103 |
Wilmington | 104 |
Niles | 105 |
Mokena | 106 |
Glen Ellyn | 107 |
Shiloh | 108 |
Willowbrook | 109 |
Antioch | 110 |
Eureka | 111 |
Bethalto | 112 |
Fairview Heights | 113 |
Chatham | 114 |
Lake Zurich | 115 |
Gilberts | 116 |
Morris | 117 |
Pana | 118 |
Carlinville | 119 |
Yorkville | 120 |
Beach Park | 121 |
Countryside | 122 |
Centralia | 123 |
Herrin | 124 |
Ottawa | 125 |
Cary | 126 |
Elk Grove Village | 127 |
Des Plaines | 128 |
South Holland | 129 |
Bartlett | 130 |
Pontoon Beach | 131 |
Minooka | 132 |
Lindenhurst | 133 |
Metropolis | 134 |
West Dundee | 135 |
Matteson | 136 |
Country Club Hills | 137 |
Machesney Park | 138 |
Bloomingdale | 139 |
McHenry | 140 |
Robbins | 141 |
Coal City | 142 |
Vernon Hills | 143 |
Manteno | 144 |
Oswego | 145 |
Mount Prospect | 146 |
Harwood Heights | 147 |
Naperville | 148 |
Plainfield | 149 |
West Frankfort | 150 |
Norridge | 151 |
Swansea | 152 |
Flora | 153 |
Grayslake | 154 |
Manhattan | 155 |
Jerseyville | 156 |
Tinley Park | 157 |
Prospect Heights | 158 |
Homewood | 159 |
Glen Carbon | 160 |
Mendota | 161 |
Benton | 162 |
Gurnee | 163 |
Berkeley | 164 |
East Moline | 165 |
Palos Hills | 166 |
Silvis | 167 |
Effingham | 168 |
Clinton | 169 |
Creve Coeur | 170 |
Rochelle | 171 |
Hoffman Estates | 172 |
Harvard | 173 |
Colona | 174 |
Mundelein | 175 |
Robinson | 176 |
Hickory Hills | 177 |
Freeport | 178 |
La Grange Park | 179 |
Burbank | 180 |
Loves Park | 181 |
South Beloit | 182 |
O’Fallon | 183 |
Pontiac | 184 |
Harrisburg | 185 |
Du Quoin | 186 |
Crystal Lake | 187 |
Mount Vernon | 188 |
Oak Lawn | 189 |
LaSalle | 190 |
North Aurora | 191 |
Hillsboro | 192 |
Markham | 193 |
Glenwood | 194 |
Chester | 195 |
Crestwood | 196 |
Hillside | 197 |
Streator | 198 |
Lake in the Hills | 199 |
Granite City | 200 |
Moline | 201 |
Montgomery | 202 |
Troy | 203 |
Belvidere | 204 |
Northlake | 205 |
Canton | 206 |
Greenville | 207 |
West Chicago | 208 |
Wood River | 209 |
Franklin Park | 210 |
Murphysboro | 211 |
Vandalia | 212 |
Oak Forest | 213 |
Brookfield | 214 |
South Elgin | 215 |
Lincoln | 216 |
Hazel Crest | 217 |
Galesburg | 218 |
North Riverside | 219 |
Stickney | 220 |
Addison | 221 |
Wauconda | 222 |
Broadview | 223 |
Plano | 224 |
Lockport | 225 |
University Park | 226 |
Kewanee | 227 |
Wheaton | 228 |
Woodstock | 229 |
Pekin | 230 |
Bolingbrook | 231 |
Decatur | 232 |
Villa Park | 233 |
Elmwood Park | 234 |
Round Lake | 235 |
Maywood | 236 |
Roselle | 237 |
Richton Park | 238 |
Sterling | 239 |
Lansing | 240 |
Bridgeview | 241 |
Warrenville | 242 |
Quincy | 243 |
Romeoville | 244 |
Woodridge | 245 |
Steger | 246 |
Dixon | 247 |
Island Lake | 248 |
Rolling Meadows | 249 |
Evergreen Park | 250 |
Pinckneyville | 251 |
Genoa | 252 |
Lynwood | 253 |
Lombard | 254 |
Lakemoor | 255 |
Carol Stream | 256 |
Streamwood | 257 |
Wheeling | 258 |
Oak Park | 259 |
Hanover Park | 260 |
Bourbonnais | 261 |
Rock Falls | 262 |
Jacksonville | 263 |
Sycamore | 264 |
Centreville | 265 |
Palatine | 266 |
Mattoon | 267 |
Peoria Heights | 268 |
Elgin | 269 |
Joliet | 270 |
Bradley | 271 |
Westmont | 272 |
Springfield | 273 |
Cahokia | 274 |
Rock Island | 275 |
Alsip | 276 |
Monmouth | 277 |
Orland Hills | 278 |
Collinsville | 279 |
Danville | 280 |
Edwardsville | 281 |
Kankakee | 282 |
Bensenville | 283 |
Bellwood | 284 |
River Grove | 285 |
East St. Louis | 286 |
Schiller Park | 287 |
Lisle | 288 |
Rantoul | 289 |
Schaumburg | 290 |
Lyons | 291 |
Aurora | 292 |
Rockford | 293 |
Round Lake Beach | 294 |
Crest Hill | 295 |
Park Forest | 296 |
Worth | 297 |
Beardstown | 298 |
Midlothian | 299 |
Melrose Park | 300 |
Sauk Village | 301 |
Highwood | 302 |
Sumner | 303 |
Zion | 304 |
Belleville | 305 |
Alton | 306 |
Chicago Heights | 307 |
Calumet Park | 308 |
Glendale Heights | 309 |
Harvey | 310 |
Carpentersville | 311 |
Waukegan | 312 |
Calumet City | 313 |
Park City | 314 |
Berwyn | 315 |
Blue Island | 316 |
Dolton | 317 |
Cicero | 318 |
Justice | 319 |
Bloomington | 320 |
Savoy | 321 |
Peoria | 322 |
Summit | 323 |
Posen | 324 |
Forest Park | 325 |
North Chicago | 326 |
Riverdale | 327 |
Chicago Ridge | 328 |
Evanston | 329 |
Macomb | 330 |
Chicago | 331 |
Carbondale | 332 |
Normal | 333 |
DeKalb | 334 |
Charleston | 335 |
Champaign | 336 |
Urbana | 337 |