Where does Illinois land on the Best States to Live in 2022 list?

One of the biggest websites for ranking states has come out with their official 2022 ranking for the Best States to Live in, with high taxes, crime in the biggest cities, and not ideal winter weather, where does the Land of Lincoln fall on the list?

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According to Wallethub.com's new 2022's Best States to Live in, Illinois is the 15th best state in the country to live in, just ahead of states like Iowa 16th, Maryland in 17th, and just behind Utah in 13th, and Pennsylvania in 14th. Being ranked 15th for Illinois is much better than the bottom states of Mississippi, Alaska, and Louisianna, but not top 3 either like Massachusettes #1, followed by New Jersey, and New York (east coast bias much???).

Why does Illinois rank 15th? Well, WalletHub ranks the states on 5 big categories, Affordability which IL ranks 36th, Economy which IL ranks 50th, Education & Health which IL ranks 23rd, Quality of Life which IL ranks 4th, and finally Safety which IL ranks 7th. There are a ton of factors that go into each category and to see it all for yourself click here!

For our listeners, on the Missouri side of the river, WalletHub ranks Missouri as the 37th best state to live in this year. This is why I think these rankings are quite difficult to get completely right, we here in the Tri-States cross the border between Illinois and Missouri daily, and there is no way you can tell me that the people in Palmyra or Hannibal are that far off from the people of Quincy as far as best places to live. Do you think they got the rankings correct?

LOOK: Here are the 50 best beach towns in America

Every beach town has its share of pluses and minuses, which got us thinking about what makes a beach town the best one to live in. To find out, Stacker consulted data from WalletHub, released June 17, 2020, that compares U.S. beach towns. Ratings are based on six categories: affordability, weather, safety, economy, education and health, and quality of life. The cities ranged in population from 10,000 to 150,000, but they had to have at least one local beach listed on TripAdvisor. Read the full methodology here. From those rankings, we selected the top 50. Readers who live in California and Florida will be unsurprised to learn that many of towns featured here are in one of those two states.

Keep reading to see if your favorite beach town made the cut.