The U.S. may have the largest economy in the world, but in other key measures indicative of quality of life, it is far from number one. Based on the United Nations Development Programme’s Human Development Index, a tool used for gauging and comparing quality of life across geographies, the United States ranks as the 17th best country to live in worldwide.
While quality of life across the U.S. as a whole trails over a dozen other nations, there are parts of the country that, if analyzed through the lens of the HDI, would rank at or near the top of the list of the best places to live globally.
Inspired by the HDI, 24/7 Wall St. created an index consisting of three measures â life expectancy at birth, bachelor’s degree attainment, and poverty rate â to identify the best counties to live in in every state.
DuPage County, located just west of downtown Chicago, ranks as the best county to live in in Illinois. An estimated 49.4% of adults in the county have a bachelor’s degree, the largest share of any of the 102 counties in the state.
With a well-educated labor force and access to jobs in the largest city in the Midwest, the unemployment rate in DuPage County is only 5.5%, well below the 7.1% rate across Illinois. High quality of life in DuPage is also evidenced by a low poverty rate. Only 6.4% of the local population live below the poverty line, nearly half the 12.5% poverty rate across Illinois.
Data on bachelor’s degree attainment and poverty are from the 2019 U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey and are five-year estimates. Data on average life expectancy at birth came from the 2021 County Health Rankings, a joint program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, and are based on mortality data from the years 2017 to 2019. Supplemental data on population and income are from the ACS, and unemployment rates are seasonally adjusted for May 2021 and are from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Only independent cities, counties, and county equivalents with populations of 10,000 or more were considered.
PlacePoverty rate (%)Adults with a bachelor’s degree (%)Life expectancy at birth (years)Alabama: Shelby County7.542.980.7Alaska: Juneau City and Borough7.738.481.1Arizona: Maricopa County13.832.780.5Arkansas: Benton County9.433.479.9California: Marin County7.259.585.4Colorado: Pitkin County6.760.894.4Connecticut: Fairfield County8.947.983.0Delaware: New Castle County11.436.278.4Florida: St. Johns County8.244.781.9Georgia: Forsyth County5.753.182.3Hawaii: Honolulu County8.335.082.5Idaho: Teton County4.541.083.8Illinois: DuPage County6.449.482.5Indiana: Hamilton County4.659.382.0Iowa: Dallas County5.250.482.3Kansas: Johnson County5.456.081.7Kentucky: Oldham County5.942.479.8Louisiana: St. Tammany Parish11.533.878.3Maine: Cumberland County9.047.680.2Maryland: Howard County5.062.683.2Massachusetts: Middlesex County7.456.382.4Michigan: Leelanau County6.144.782.7Minnesota: Carver County4.148.983.3Mississippi: Madison County9.648.476.5Missouri: Platte County6.243.180.2Montana: Gallatin County11.350.182.6Nebraska: Sarpy County5.939.881.3Nevada: Douglas County8.729.480.7New Hampshire: Rockingham County4.641.480.9New Jersey: Hunterdon County4.552.783.5New Mexico: Los Alamos County4.467.483.8New York: New York County15.861.385.3North Carolina: Orange County13.759.782.3North Dakota: Burleigh County8.135.881.6Ohio: Delaware County4.854.382.3Oklahoma: Cleveland County12.033.478.7Oregon: Washington County8.944.482.7Pennsylvania: Chester County6.453.081.4Rhode Island: Bristol County7.549.081.5South Carolina: Beaufort County10.241.282.9South Dakota: Lincoln County4.137.684.3Tennessee: Williamson County4.459.881.7Texas: Collin County6.352.382.7Utah: Summit County5.655.085.1Vermont: Chittenden County12.151.381.8Virginia: Arlington County6.875.385.9Washington: San Juan County10.249.886.2West Virginia: Jefferson County9.731.878.0Wisconsin: Ozaukee County5.349.082.1Wyoming: Teton County6.157.087.5
