Given the stellar restaurants, exciting things to do and beautiful views that Chicago affords, we are absolutely not surprised about the fact that our very own town has just been named the second best city in the United States by World's Best Cities.
To come up with its ranking, Resonance, the company behind the effort, analyzed the "principal cities of metropolitan statistical areas with populations of more than 500,000" while looking through user-generated data and core statistics "to measure quality of place when it comes to experiential factors."
In addition to making it to the No. 2 spot on the overall list (New York topped that one!), Chicago also ranked No. 1 on the best convention centers subcategory and No. 2 when it comes to the local nightlife scene.
On the global scale, Chicago ranked No. 16 on the list of the World's Best Cities.
As pointed out by the survey, although the 2020 pandemic certainly hit the Windy City bad, things are clearly looking up.
"The city’s quiet productivity is humming again [...] and is leaner and more efficient than ever, with the second-most Fortune 500 headquarters in the country, behind only in New York," reads the study. "It also ranks in the top five in the country in our prosperity subcategories ranging from job postings and patents to professional services."
Other exciting things to keep in mind are the dozens of summer festivals that call Chicago home, Millennium Park's upcoming 20th birthday, the debut of the second worldwide location of the Guinness Open Gate Brewery in West Loop (a testament to the town's beer culture) and the arrival of new live music venues like The Salt Shed, which opened back in 2022 inside the former Morton Salt factory warehouse.
Clearly, Chicago freaking rocks.
Below is the top ten list of best cities in the U.S. according to the new study:
1. New York
2. Chicago
3. Los Angeles
4. Miami
5. Las Vegas
6. San Francisco
7. Boston
8. Washington, D.C.
9. Seattle
10. Houston