Known by many as the “Windy City“, Chicago is the largest city in the state of Illinois, one of the largest cities and metropolitan areas in the United States, an important economic center and base for the Democratic Party. With a humid continental climate and four distinct seasons, Chicago borders the Lake Michigan and connects the Mississippi River and the Great Lakes watersheds.

The city of Chicago is frequently mentioned in “best city” surveys, based on different criteria. All worldwide and regional surveys where Chicago appears in the rankings presented on this site are listed below. Continue reading »

In 2005, DogFriendly.com found Chicago as the most dog-friendly North American city. This is the best city to visit if you have a dog. Chicago (Illinois) is followed by Vancouver (Canada, British Columbia) and Boston (Massachusetts).

The survey looked at the quality dog-friendly places, number of hotels that welcome well-behaved dogs, the way dogs are welcome on public transportation, and reasonably regulations for well-behaved and leashed dogs in public places. The ninth-placed Toronto (Canada, Ontario) was later disqualified because of a newly adopted Ontario province law affecting visitors and residents with dogs. Continue reading »

Based on the number of inhabitants with university degrees, number of international students at the tertiary level, international schools at the primary and secondary level, and top global universities located in the cities, the World’s Most Global Cities survey, presented by Foreign Policy Magazine, A.T. Kearney and the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, finds London (United Kingdom) deserves the top spot, followed by a surprising Chicago (United States) and Tokyo (Japan).

While this kind of ratings may rise eyebrows, the combination of the factors considered by the surveys led to these results. Continue reading »

With its annual 2007 survey for Best Small US Cities to Live In, CNN/Money Magazine posted also an online poll, for big cities. At the time of this article, there have been almost 400,000 user votes and the rankings give winner the city of San Diego (California), followed by Chicago (Illinois) and Phoenix (Arizona).

It is not clear how publishers selected the 10 big cities for this poll, but the results may be relevant enough to get an idea where people think is best to live. American cities do not usually rank in the top spots in worldwide surveys mainly because of some relatively high criminal rates. However, this does not mean that life can not be great there. Continue reading »