The 10 Worst Chicago Suburbs For 2023

The 10 Worst Chicago Suburbs To Live For 2023

We’ll get the ball rolling with Ford Heights, the absolute worst place to live around Chicago according to the data.

And in the world of worst rankings, Ford Heights beat the competition pretty handily thanks to scoring in the bottom 15% in three major categories. Income is the 5th worst in the Chicago area, and to make matters worse, the city ranks worst when it comes to home values.

But hey, at least it’s cheap to live there. But there’s a reason for that… it’s Ford Heights.

You won’t feel bad about not having a great income for the area, there aren’t a bunch of places to spend your money anyway.

Welcome to Lake Station. Home to KMart, Big Lots, and a lot of gas stations.

This city is 28.5 miles to Chicago. Income levels here are the 14th lowest in the metro area, where families bring in about $50,852 a year, which doesn’t go a long ways even on a shoestring budget.

But on the bright side, there are a lot of fast food joints in the area.

Back up the highway we go for the third worst Chicago suburb you can live in. You might have expected to see East Chicago on here. While the cost of living is low, your entertainment and work options are limited. And that’s an understatement.

In terms of numbers, it’s in the worst 15% for insurance, and the adult high school drop out rate is poor compared to other Chicago suburbs.

But at least there are nice parks to bring the kids during the day.

If you live in Gary, most likely you struggle to make ends meet every month. It ranks as the lowest Chicago suburb when it comes to residents making money.

Not only that, but this is the 15th worst unemployed suburb you can live in if you choose to live near Chicago. Remember, we looked at 166 cities for this study.

Gary is about 24.1 miles to downtown.

Harvey has the distinction of being a Chicago suburb. Which means that’s about all it has going for it.

All snarkiness aside, Harvey has the 4th lowest home values in the metro Chicago area, where the median price is $75,700. To put that into perspective, in Western Springs, the median income is $250,001, which is the best in the area.

Harvey has an unemployment rate of 13.94% which ranks 12th worst.

Dixmoor has 3,036 residents that probably know it’s a pretty crummy place to live when you look at the data. (Or, if you’ve ever been there, you don’t need to look at the data.)

Incomes are towards the bottom and the poverty rate sits at 24.802371541501977%.

Ah, Robbins. You rank as the 7th worst place to live around Chicago.

It’s the place with the 8th most out of work residents in the Chicago metro area (14.26%).

Chicago Heights is a city about 22.7 miles from Chicago, but Chicago probably wishes it was further away. It ranks as the 8th worst burb for 2018.

You’d be hard pressed to find a worse place to live. Chicago Heights has the 33rd most uninsured people, 22nd worst incomes, and has the 13th highest unemployment rate (13.35%) in the entire Chicago metro area.

Homes only cost $111,900 for a reason. That’s cheap for Chicago standards.

If you absolutely have to live near Chicago, then Whiting might be a place for you to consider as it’s only the 9th worst Chicago suburb.

About 8.2% of residents are out of work.

Rounding out the ten worst Chicago suburbs to call home is Burnham.

Located 15.4 miles outside the city, Burnhams is a real pit when you look at the data. Its residents have the 24th highest unemployment rate (9.96%), and poverty is far above the area average.