Illinoisans know how great this state is–we love our status as the busiest transportation hub in the nation and the designation of being home to the best museum in the world. But we also know there are challenges the state faces–a plethora of unpaid bills, state and municipal pension crises and a history of political corruption.
Here is Illinois’ “Wall of Shame”–the worst prizes and designations Illinois has garnered as a state.
Most top 25 violent neighborhoods
According to Neighborhood Scout, Illinois has five of the nation’s top 25 most violent neighborhoods in the country, more than any other state.
Third-highest home foreclosures
According to a study by RealtyTrac, Illinois had the third-highest rate of home foreclosures in the country in June 2014. One in every 645 houses in the state were foreclosed on in that month, compared with one in every 1,228 houses in the United States.
A study from WalletHub found that Illinois has the fourth least-fair tax system in the country, based on tax burdens to each resident and what the American public generally considers fair. Washington was found to have the number one most unfair tax system.
Worst state in the Midwest to raise kids
According to a study by WalletHub, it could cost up to a quarter of a million dollars to raise a baby in Illinois. That high cost, plus health and environmental factors, make it the 11th-worst state in the country to raise a kid, and the worst in the Midwest.
Illinois had the third-highest unemployment rate in the country, according to March numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. At 8.4 percent unemployment, the state actually improved in the rankings–it had been the second-worst state for unemployment. Currently Illinois is ranked as the 15th highest unemployment rate in the country according to August 2014 numbers.
“Worst possible state to live in”
An April Gallup poll found that Illinois residents were one of the most likely to say that their state is the “worst possible” state to live in. A quarter of Illinoisans said they would not live here, given the choice. People from Montana and Arkansas felt their states were the best to live in.
Third-worst state for business
Chief Executive‘s annual survey of more than 500 CEOs nationwide found that Illinois was considered the third-worst state for business. California was considered the absolute worst, and Texas was considered the best.
Eighth-worst job growth in the nation
Since the end of the Great Recession, Illinois has seen some of the worst job growth in the country, according to the Associated Press and Crain’s Chicago Business.
$35.7 billion state budget gap
Fifty-five percent of polled Illinoisans said they wanted to enact spending cuts to help close the state’s budget gap.
The national Public Interest Research Group has called the Illiana Expressway, a planned highway between Illinois and Indiana, one of the country’s top 11 “highway boondoggles,” and says it would be a waste of money to build.
Sadly, our state has more unfortunate designations, but there just wasn’t enough room on the wall:
#4 most corrupt state in the U.S.
15th state with the highest credit card debt
10th highest sales tax in the U.S.
Bloomberg Business also tracked some of the country’s best and worst rankings. Illinois made the following worst-of lists:
- Third-highest income inequality by congressional district
- Tenth-highest number of drunks
- Eighth-highest number of prisoners
- Number one most underfunded pension systems since 2012
- Fifth-highest decline in homeownership since 2004
- Seventh-dirtiest beaches
- Sixth-least upwardly mobile workers
- Chicagoans have the second-longest commutes of any city
- Third-least growth in technology jobs
- Chicago is the 17th most expensive city in which to get married
- Sixth-biggest gender pay gap by congressional district
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