Better group of cities: Georgia vs Illinois (best, state, compared)

[Fountain-of-youth]

Georgia and Illinois are two states both dominated by one large city/metro. Which state do you think has the best group of cities outside of its large city/metro area?

[SonySegaTendo617]

Probably Georgia, for this comparison. Illinois does have a few smaller cities that are okay(i.e. Champaign, Bloomington, Peoria, Springfield), but certain ones are obviously past their peak(i.e. Decatur, Danville). I almost wonder if Jacksonville is past its peak, when I street viewed Jacksonville, IL not long ago. Quincy looked alright when I street viewed it, and I've always liked the small towns of Galena and Oregon myself. DeKalb is a nice smaller town, as well.

No denying Georgia has some cities that aren't doing well, such as Albany. That said, I do really like the hilliness of northern Georgia, myself. Southern Illinois has some cool towns like Carbondale, Murphysboro, and Metropolis(if just for the Superman statue), but my guess is Georgia might narrowly beat out Illinois, for secondary cities/towns outside of Chicago(and for Georgia, Atlanta). Will be interesting, how this thread goes.

One last thing for Georgia: I remember visiting Milledgeville years ago, and liking that town. Same for also liking Savannah, and Athens. I kinda want to visit Augusta, if just for the fact I noticed on street view, a few of its downtown streets have railroad street running of trains.

[Need4Camaro]

GA has more interesting places overall, like Athens, Helen, Savannah and other places that are doing fairly well like Rome, Macon and Augusta.

[Fountain-of-youth]

Georgia for me.

[Fountain-of-youth]

Originally Posted by Need4Camaro

GA has more interesting places overall, like Athens, Helen, Savannah and other places that are doing fairly well like Rome, Macon and Augusta.

And my hometown Columbus along with Thomasville and Lagrange are interesting places to visit too.

[Shakeesha]

Georgia better. Illinois is segregated outside of Chicago. I can't stand being in places like that no matter the weed good.

[DaBears02]

Originally Posted by Shakeesha

Georgia better. Illinois is segregated outside of Chicago. I can't stand being in places like that no matter the weed good.

Chicago is also insanely segregated. But yeah I vote Georgia too. Chicago > Atlanta for sure but that’s where Illinois’ biggest advantage ends. Outside the major metros (Chicago and Atlanta) I think Georgia takes it. There’s no answer to a place like Savannah in the rest of Illinois. Champaign and Athens are kinda similar (though CU is going through a very big high rise boom in campustown for a city it’s size) but I prefer the rest of GA’s cities over the IL ones. Columbus is also a neat town.

[SixthCoordinate]

GA. IL is completely dominated by Chicago, whereas GA still has very unique cities like Savannah that draw a lot of people.

[Space_League]

I have never been to IL so totally not qualified to answer, but that will not keep me from doing so.

Georgia should easily win this. We have Savannah. Besides Columbus is a solid city that's underrated

[Columbus1984]

Originally Posted by Need4Camaro

GA has more interesting places overall, like Athens, Helen, Savannah and other places that are doing fairly well like Rome, Macon and Augusta.

Columbus is crushing the downtown development game, more so than Augusta, Macon and Rome for sure. All have a lot going for them compared to Illinois cities.